X-15
by Richard Donner
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DVD details
Actor: Brad Dexter, Charles Bronson, David McLean, Kenneth Tobey, Ralph TaegerDirector: Richard Donner
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of X-15
DVD Review: The Good Old Sixties
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading so many bad reviews I was hesitant to make the purchase. But I had seen the movie at the theater when it first came out in 1961 and had kept a found memory of it. I had an urge to see it again. Frankly, it was not as bad as I expected.
What people say about the aspect ratio problem is true. Indeed it is disappointing, especially when you consider the fact that with today's technology it would have been relatively easy to make the necessary corrections. That being said, I decided I was going to enjoy it the way it was presented, since there are no alternatives.
This production has two main components. One has to do with the main subject itself, the X-15, and I gather would be quite technical for the general public. The other aspect is the typical run-of-the-mill 1960's melodrama, which turns what would have been a dry documentary into a movie. During the entire proceeding we go back and forth between those two polarities. It is actually quite well made in that regard. Remember that we are talking about the early sixties here. Of course we don't make movies like this anymore and some scenes are quite laughable. But yet, it has that charming flavor of what were then very promising times. We now know that they were the golden years of aerospace. Today that atmosphere can only be found at air museums or in movies like this one. Also, back in 1961 was the beginning of space flight and the X-15 program was competing with the Mercury program. This tension is alluded to right from the beginning, and hangs there like a backdrop to the main theme. In this regard it reminded me of Tom Wolf's "The Right Stuff", which came out quite a bit later.
A nice feature of this DVD is that subtitles are available in English, French or Spanish. I recommend to anyone to select the English subtitles, rather than no subtitles at all, for the sound is not very good and some of the exchanges are a bit technical. So if you don't want to miss anything go for the subtitles in the original language.
Enjoy!
DVD Review: X-15 (1961) A bad film about one of the greatest accomplishments of the U.S. Air Force
Summary: 2 Stars
I had to go it alone in 1961 to see the grand opening of the X-15 story at the old ASCOT Theater in the Bronx. All of my friends, amateur rocket buddies and charter members of the New York Rocket Society would not go to see this then promising film and somehow had the intelligence to tell me not to waste my time. They were all eggheads and must have read some bad reviews in the NY Times.
It was indeed a very bad movie about a great aircraft. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film even though the discussed wide screen problems hampered my viewing. It was the first full length movie to be released about the beginnings of the real space program and I was thrilled to see it. With the possible exception of ON THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE, an early film which documented the U.S. Air Force MAN-HIGH balloon project, the X-15 story is almost in a class by itself. It was a film about a rocket research project, and the featured characters were almost incidental.
In order to appreciate my excitement about seeing this film you must understand that the X-15 had been spoken about since about 1957 when I was 11 years old. My first glimpse of the X-15 was in released Air Force photos that showed it covered by a large canvas which cloaked the exact shape of the rocket. This only permitted a tantalizing first impression of the shape of the X-15 and really helped capture my imagination. I was a fan of this vehicle from that day forward, if such a thing can be said.
The film story was about a rocket powered extreme altitude aircraft, and nothing in the movie except the actual Air Force footage of the X-15 was worth looking at. The X-15 went on to achieve a maximum altitude record of 67 miles and a velocity record of 6.7 times the speed of sound. Although function determined much of its form, the X-15 was also one of the most beautiful rocketplanes ever designed, and resembles the SR-71 in profile.
The X-15 demonstrated the use of reaction attitude control jets, the application of Inconel X high temperature alloy, early Air Force pressure suit technology, a powerful and fully throttleable rocket engine, and did much of the pioneering research that made the space shuttle possible in later years. Although it is seldom mentioned, the X-15 was one of the most successful research programs of the U.S. Air Force and NASA.
According to what I have read it only failed to better its performance to Mach 8 as was hoped for and attempted. However, it did outperform most of its original specifications. It also gave many of us something important to be proud of during the early days when America appeared to be falling behind the Russians in space flight capability.
DVD Review: X-15- The "wrong" stuff
Summary: 2 Stars
I won't add to all the complaints/ explanations about the stretched out footage. Shame on MGM for not fixing this. I have a VHS copy I recorded off of TNT nearly 20 years ago- I'll just watch that version until somebody decides to fix something.
Sadly, the actual aerial footage, now stretched like taffy, is the main selling point of the movie and the best reason for watching this "semi-documentary" (only the names and all the historical facts have been changed to protect the innocent).
The subplot about the test pilots and the women who love them is laughable. Mary Tyler Moore looks like she just walked off the set of "Dick Van Dyke"- she even dresses the same, even though you never saw Dick shove her down on the sofa, fall on top of her and start kissing her, as in this movie, when she tries to renew her engagement to one of the pilots (Guess Dick didn't have the "Right Stuff"). I think the son of one of the pilots is the same kid who played "Chip" in "My Three Sons", but I'm not sure.
One of the pilots, whose wife has had several miscarriages, is told by a USAF psychiatrist that his wife is subconciously auto-aborting the fetuses because she doesn't think he's going to live long. Someone should have told her that the cigarettes and booze that everyone inhales would be much more hazardous to their health than an X-15! None of this matters, of course, because the film abruptly ends during the last mission without any resolution to all these "personal" problems. You can guess from the beginning that at least one of these guys is going to get killed- but I won't spoil the plot by saying who.
A fun movie just for all the silver jets and yellow sand of Edwards AFB (at least shown in correct aspect ratio on the ground). Watch it on VHS and fast-forward through all the "mushy" stuff!
DVD Review: Fast craft - slow acting !
Summary: 3 Stars
X-15 is very much a creature of its time.
With narration by James Stewart and the semi-documentary approach it is embedded in the cold war era.
The stock footage of the X-15 flights is stunning and the speed of the approach and landings remind you of how this craft paved the way for the space shuttle.
If only the acting could have had a fraction of the speed of the X-15.
Charles Bronson plods through the film - one can also imagine him breathing a sign of relief when his character no longer takes part in the procedings.
Mary-Tyler-Moore is used for decoration purposes only, and none of the characters seem to exist beyond their script outlines.
The film is one for people who will only watch it for the X-15.
My son as every summed it up as:
Many people in crew cuts and short sleeve shirts saying `Roger' to each other !
DVD Review: Slow suicide....
Summary: 1 Stars
What a piece of garbage...Amazon should immediately refund everyone's money and then bring legal action againest whomever is resposible for this abomination of a DVD. Did no one attempt to watch this prior to it's release? Probably did and were promptly bored to death....Lynn Stubblefield, Nashville, TN...btw, one star because there is no way to leave them all blank...
Description of X-15
Before Top Gun, Apollo 13 or The Right Stuff, this breathtaking, jet-fueled journey of high-altitude filmmaking blasted audiences from zero-G to 4,000 miles per hour with its thrilling tale of America's victory in the space race. Starring David McLean, Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore, X-15 sets the sky as the limitfor excitement! The courageous pilots of the Air Force's X-15 program are determined to take an experimental rocket 100 miles above the earth at four times the speed of sound! At stake is American air supremacy and proof that space travelis possible. But also at stake are their lives and the lives of the terrified wives they've left behind!Frank Sinatra was among the producers for X-15, an interesting space-race film that marked the feature debut of Richard Donner (the Lethal Weapon series, Timeline) and provided an early lead role for Charles Bronson, who leads a solid cast in this occasionally tense, hardware-driven drama. Bronson, David McLean, and Ralph Taeger are test pilots for the X-15 research vehicle, which brought man to the brink of outer space for the first time. The film divides its running time between scenes of the crew testing the rocket and domestic drama involving their wives and girlfriends (played by Mary Tyler Moore, Patricia Owens, and Lizabeth Hush). James Stewart's narration offers an all-American layer to the script, written by James Ward Bellah (whose stories were adapted by John Ford for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Sergeant Rutledge, among others) and producer Tony Lazzarino. Eagle-eyed fans might notice future California congressman Robert Dornan among the ground crew. MGM's widescreen DVD offers no extras. --Paul Gaita
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