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Perfect cast and a good story

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I watched this movie a few months ago on my grandmas VHS tapes ( I'm 12 ), and when I saw the first scene ( the sound barrier scene ), I quite enjoyed it. But then I finished the first tape ( the movie was split into two tapes because it was too long for one ), and I never wanted to watch the second tape. Nothing happened. Literally... nothing. All that happened was sitting in a bar and training to go up into space. This movie is The Wrong Stuff.

Based upon the book by Tom Wolfe, the subject matter and thematic content is 'a pooch that can't be screwed' in the words of that venerable old ace pilot Chuck Yeager as played by Sam Shepherd. I actually would have preferred seeing John Travolta play Yeager because of the undeniable physical resemblance and Travolta's well documented love of flying, but real life Yeager's cameo in the film is amusing and one can say makes up for the missed call about Travolta. This film is a fascinating exposition of the Western Ethos, which, among other things, asserts that you can figure it out and do something about it and that there is paradise on the other side of The New Frontier should you be willing to risk life and limb and accept this mission. This film is very interesting to compare with THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and of course, Kurosawa's internationally acclaimed SEVEN SAMURAI. While it would be presumptuous of me to claim it has the stature of the Kurosawa masterpiece, it deals with similar issues of bravery, duty and the willingness to sacrifice for values and ideals that are larger than oneself.Having read the book, I was somewhat disappointed that all six missions were not presented in a telescoping and accelerated manner, as the book was an excellent breakdown of different salient points of the Space Program in its embryonic beginnings. Scott Carpenter's mission was important to the film because he was actually doing experiments in the manner of a Space Scientist. He got so involved in his experiments he missed his landing site by over a hundred miles. Or was it a malfunction of the automatic stabilizer? Hmmnnn...? Wally Schirra's mission which was composed of maneuvering tests got more thoroughly into the actual mechanics of how one would pilot a craft in space and would have been interesting to see on film. A shame these missions were omitted. That being said, one cannot argue against the spell cast upon the viewer by the picaresque and elegiac flow of scenes and the compelling and at times rousing musical score of Bill Conti.Since I lived through the events of the Mercury program and remember vividly John Glenn's conversationally homey way of sharing his experience with all the world, the film has a great sense of resonance with me. Until the moon landing, it was probably the greatest reality show of its day. Ed Harris captures the force of the Glenn persona perfectly. Scott Glenn also gives us a fully colored, multi-layered Alan Shepard. The rest of the crew from Fred Ward as Gus Grissom to Scott Paulin as Deke Slayton to Lance Heriksen as Wally Schirra and Pamela Reed playing Trudy Cooper with Dennis Quaid as her husband Gordon Cooper to all the rest of the astronauts' wives and Barbara Hersey as Glennis Yeager as well as Kim Stanley as Poncho Barnes round out an ensemble that makes this more a character driven story in spite of its technological trappings and gravitas.But make no mistake, despite all the humor and memorable quotes by the truckload, this is a film that casts technology in an almost religious light and posits test pilots as members of a priesthood inevitably prone to spawn martyrs. Like the single combat warriors of a bygone age that Wolfe compares them to, or the samurai of more recent times, it appears that they live by a code as binding as the Bushido. Something unspoken and unwritten that has to be lived to be fully understood. Sam Shepard plays Chuck Yeager as a combination of Wyatt Earp, Abe Lincoln and Daniel Boone. He is all that the Western Heroic Mythos is about. The willingness to handle deadly force, the careful judiciousness of a humble servant of the people just doing his duty, the restless spirit of a frontiersmen anxious to play a part in a pioneering vision. Whether this is actually Chuck Yeager or not, it is still an attractive and charismatic portrayal.The last scenes say it all. While not as stirring as it was in the book, the scene involving Chuck Yeager's reach for the edge of Space, while the public relations machine all about LBJ grinds and dances around the Mercury Seven, still nails down that quality beyond macho that you find in a good parent, a good teacher, a good scientist or artist or inventor or a skilled expert at his trade having the time of his or her life against all odds. When the narrator who started this whole thing comes back in to wrap it all up the way Mark Twain would, we have a sense that we may have finally gotten a glimpse of people, warts and all, who truly have the - What was that question again? How many times did Gordon Cooper orbit the Earth? I think he went twenty-two times around, didn't he?

For many people The Right Stuff is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, and certainly of the 80's. And while it's most definitely a good film, I find it hard to call it one of the all-time greats. The cast from top to bottom is great, and everyone fits their role perfectly. The visual effects and cinematography for a 1983 film are astounding. In fact many aspects of the film are Oscar worthy, but the main thing I think the film is lacking is direction and editing.Yep I said it, the Oscar winning editing for The Right Stuff is dreadful. And I think the directing is at best average. The film has no focus. It goes from being Sam Shepard centric, to a media satire, to a government propaganda film, and finally to an American classic all within the 190 minute runtime. The reason I say that the editing is trash is due to the near 45 minutes to begin the film that don't really impact the story at all. If you want to set up Shepard's character as the greatest pilot on the earth all you need is a few scenes of his glory with a few of the astronauts praising him. Instead you get 45 straight minutes of Shepard and then almost a 2 hour gap without a scene with him. To me that's just awkward film making.With that being said once the team of astronauts is assembled and we get introduced to Ed Harris' character the film becomes really good. I really enjoyed watching each of the characters go through their struggles both inside the space suit and outside. It was cool seeing a young Dennis Quaid alongside a few other Hollywood future stars. There are many classic scenes along with several Oscar worthy acted scenes, but I do wish the film would have took each of the characters missions and combined them to a more team centric story. I know this film is based on a book but I don't think being entirely faithful to a book is the way to go.The film is not bad at all, it's truly a really solid film but I don't see the classic status that many people (smarter than me) give it. Perhaps I'm missing the point of it but otherwise it's a fun watch. You just have to be prepared to set aside 3 hours of your time, and perhaps at least an hour too much, if you wish to witness the beginning of the space race.+Ed Harris & entire classic cast +When the team is together +Effects & cinematography for it's time -An hour should be shaved off -Individual stories are interesting but perhaps unnecessary -So why was Shepard's character important? 7.0/10

I am a movie fanatic and this movie is one of my all time favorites. I loved how this movie had several themes going on: The best pilot did not have a college degree so he could not be considered for the project. (Yeager) All the tests they gave without having any idea which were really needed since no one had been in space before. There were some very funny scenes and suspense and emotions. One of my favorite scenes was when they all had a big bar-b-que celebration and with all the activities going on, each one of the team looks at each other and communicate without saying a word. I have seen this move at least 20 times and could watch it again tonight and enjoy it once more.