The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Philip Kaufman

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Actor: Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn
Director: Philip Kaufman
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Caleb Deschanel
Writer: Philip Kaufman
Editor: Douglas Stewart
Producer: Irwin Winkler
Producer: James D. Brubaker
Producer: Robert Chartoff
Writer: Tom Wolfe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 193 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-10
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video

DVD Reviews of The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition)

DVD Review: Right Stuff
Summary: 5 Stars

I ordered the movie The Right Stuff and I got the Right stuff at a good price. I'm satisfied.

DVD Review: The Right Stuff--2 Disc Special Edition
Summary: 5 Stars

First, let's be clear: 'The Right Stuff' is at the top of the ol' pyramid of movies made about the true story of humans in space. Better than Apollo 13 by far. It's also one of the greatest movies ever made, period. A true modern epic. The cast is perfect--Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Scott Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, and Lance Henrickson (in perhaps his first role), among many others who all lend strong, top-notch support. Philip Kaufman's Directing is superior. The musical score is Bill Conti's finest--which is really saying something considering the hits he's had (Rocky, Karate Kid, etc.). And finally the story itself, based as it is on Tom Wolfe's book of the same name, is inspired. Having read the book also, I think both are well-worth looking at, and each can stand alone on its own merits.

The plot: Chuck Yeager (Shepard) breaks the sound barrier in '47, creating a whole new industry of supersonic jets and the test pilots--military and civilian--who fly them. Then the Soviets launch the first satellite, Sputnik, in a Cold War gambit, starting the space race as the United States scrambles to catch up. Hastily beginning the Mercury Space Program, the U.S. picks 7 test pilots to become its first astronauts. Scott Carpenter's (Scott Glenn) first American manned spaceflight, Gus Grissom's (Fred Ward) disasterous capsul loss, and John Glenn's (Ed Harris) inaugural orbital spaceflight all are highlighted. Along the way we are treated to a generally and brilliantly satirical (vintage Wolfe) viewpoint of the politics, training, blunders, image-making, and ambitions of the pilots, rocket scientists, and politicians involved. We also see a thoughtful exploration of the interpersonal conflicts and personal struggles that the wives of these elite pilots and astronauts endure.

Balancing these is a very serious, appropriately salutory, and heroic rendering of what, precisely, comprises 'The Right Stuff." Kaufman juxtaposes the old school test pilot, hell-for-leather, blunt-spoken, it's-the-results-that-count ethos embodied by Chuck Yeager against the new school emphasis on a more polished, politically correct, college-educated astronaut image represented by John Glenn, that began to evolve as publicity of the space race skyrocketed, and as the political stakes grew. As time passes, all glory--and funding--is given to the latter while the former is either frowned upon or simply relegated to an anachronism. Yet, as the movie points out, the 'right stuff'--that ineffable confluence of skill, knowledge, courage, and 'luck' enabling a pilot or astronaut to go up again and again and return alive against the steepest and gravest of odds--transcends education, image, mission priority, and political relevance or correcteness.

This film should have won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Shepard) in addition to the four it did win (including one for Best Score). And while it didn't receive either the awards recognition or box office turnout it warranted back in 1983, this two-disc special edition has, finally, given it the superb treatment it has always deserved. Bonus features, including several documentaries exploring the true-life astronauts (John Glenn in particular is highlighted) of the U.S. space program, are all excellent.

DVD Review: The Right Stuff..
Summary: 3 Stars

I really enjoyed this movie. It was cool to see movie stars when they were young...

DVD Review: Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars

One of my favorite movies, it shows historical fact while still being interesting and engaging. A must see for any aeronautic or space fan.

DVD Review: Artistic History
Summary: 4 Stars

I read The Right Stuff, and I saw the movie when it came out. After seeing it again on DVD, I had a new appreciation of the men who broke such new ground, or sky I should say, with their flights. The movie is an artistic, heroic representation of historic events. Men like Chuck Yeager and Charles Lindbergh pushed the edge of the envelope for those who would become astronauts and for much technology that drives our times in 2009.

Description of The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The up close and personal story of americas space program at its conception. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/15/2005 Starring: Dennis Quaid Sam Shepard Run time: 193 minutes Rating: Pg

Philip Kaufman's intimate epic about the Mercury astronauts (based on Tom Wolfe's book) was one of the most ambitious and spectacularly exciting movies of the 1980s. It surprised almost everybody by not becoming a smash hit. By all rights, the film should have been every bit the success that Apollo 13 would later become; The Right Stuff is not only just as thrilling, but it is also a bigger and better movie. Combining history (both established and revisionist), grand mythmaking (and myth puncturing), adventure, melodrama, behind-the-scenes dish, spectacular visuals, and a down-to-earth sense of humor, The Right Stuff chronicles NASA's efforts to put a man in orbit. Such an achievement would be the first step toward President Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon, and, perhaps most important of all, would win a crucial public relations/morale victory over the Soviets, who had delivered a stunning blow to American pride by launching Sputnik, the first satellite. The movie contrasts the daring feats of the unsung test pilots--one of whom, Chuck Yeager, embodied more than anyone else the skill and spirit of Wolfe's title--against the heavily publicized (and sanitized) accomplishments of the Mercury astronauts. Through no fault of their own, the spacemen became prisoners of the heroic images the government created for them in order to capture the public's imagination. The casting is inspired; the film features Sam Shepard as the legendary Yeager, Ed Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as "Gordo" Cooper, Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard, Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, Scott Wilson as Scott Crossfield, and Pamela Reed and Veronica Cartwright are superb in their thankless roles as astronauts' wives. --Jim Emerson

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