Rating: PG
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 06/25/1997
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 193 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Covering some 15 years,
The Right Stuff recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts.
Scott Glenn plays
Alan Shepard, the first American in space;
Fred Ward is
Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and
Ed Harris is
John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are
Deke Slayton (
Scott Paulin),
Scott Carpenter (
Charles Frank),
Wally Schirra (
Lance Henriksen) and
Gordon Cooper (
Dennis Quaid).
Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including
Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (
Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while
Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
