IMDb > The Right Stuff (1983)
The Right Stuff
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The Right Stuff (1983) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 3)
The Right Stuff (1983) -- The original US Mercury 7 astronauts and their macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program.
The Right Stuff (1983) -- MattTrailer.com - Trailer (Flash)
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Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   23,016 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Philip Kaufman
Writers:
Tom Wolfe (book)
Philip Kaufman (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Right Stuff on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 October 1983 (USA) more
Genre:
Adventure | Drama | History more
Tagline:
They were ordinary men and women who shared a common ambition and what they achieved together captured the imagination of the world [UK Theatrical] more
Plot:
The original US Mercury 7 astronauts and their macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won 4 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 11 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(14 articles)
Sam Shepard to Star in Epix's Tough Trade
 (From MovieWeb. 20 November 2009, 4:36 AM, PST)
Roger Corman, Anjelica Huston, Sally Kellerman: Governors Awards 2009
 (From Alternative Film Guide. 15 November 2009, 5:25 PM, PST)
User Comments:
Real Heroes, And An Era That Went By All Too Fast more (145 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Sam Shepard ... Chuck Yeager

Scott Glenn ... Alan Shepard

Ed Harris ... John Glenn

Dennis Quaid ... Gordon Cooper

Fred Ward ... Gus Grissom

Barbara Hershey ... Glennis Yeager

Kim Stanley ... Pancho Barnes

Veronica Cartwright ... Betty Grissom
Pamela Reed ... Trudy Cooper

Scott Paulin ... Deke Slayton
Charles Frank ... Scott Carpenter

Lance Henriksen ... Wally Schirra
Donald Moffat ... Lyndon B. Johnson
Levon Helm ... Jack Ridley / Narrator
Mary Jo Deschanel ... Annie Glenn
more
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
193 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | Russian
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)
Certification:
Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | Finland:S | France:U | Ireland:12 | Norway:11 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Norway:12 (original rating)
Filming Locations:
California & Montgomery, Financial District, San Francisco, California, USA more
Company:
Ladd Company, The more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The production was beset by 15 mile per hour, dust-laden winds when they were filming at Edwards Air Force Base. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: After the first manned Mercury flight on 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard is seen stepping from an SH-3 Sea King helicopter onto the recovery aircraft carrier. The SH-3 would not become part of the Navy's operational inventory for another month (June 1961; albeit either in gloss gray or midnight blue colors) and the white over gray color scheme on the SH-3 seen in the movie would not become standard on Navy helos until approximately 1967, six years later. In reality, Shepard stepped from a UH-34 Seahorse (Marine variant of the Sikorsky S-58), number 44, painted in field green with white Marine lettering and numbers. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator: There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.56)" (2005) more
Soundtrack:
The Wayward Wind more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
23 out of 25 people found the following comment useful.
Real Heroes, And An Era That Went By All Too Fast, 27 May 2006
8/10
Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

An interesting insight into the United States' space program, beginning with the exploits of fighter pilot Chuck Yeager (Sam Shephard) and concluding with the dramatic flights of the first astronauts.

Those astronauts - the Mercury 7 pilots - are a varied group of aviators and they are all pretty interesting guys. John Glenn (Ed Harris) gets favorable treatment in here among the group. Gordon Cooper might be the wildest with the cocky and humorous Dennis Quaid playing him. Overall, it's a good cast including not just the fliers but their wives. I also enjoyed Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard and Barbara Hershey as Yeager's wife.

Yeager's feats were perhaps the most interesting and they set a fast tone to this 3-hour film as we witness him breaking several sound-barrier records prior to the formation of the astronaut team. Then we are treated to a long-but-interesting segment of how those first astronauts were trained.

The only unnecessary and ludicrous parts of this film were the ones on Lyndon Johnson, where they made him into a total fool. It was as if the screen writers had a personal vendetta against him, to make him look almost like a cartoon figure. And the bit with the Australian Aborigines smacks too much of Hollywood's love affair with tribal religions. I sincerely doubt some sparks from a fire on earth could be seen miles and miles above in space.

At any rate, this was an informative look at a period in our history than came-and-went way too fast. Sad to say, most people know very little about those first astronauts, who were true heroes. At least this film gives them their due, as well as to Yeager, who deserved this tribute, too

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