I guess the title says it all. Why do space documentaries have to be so bad? Of all the ones ever made, I can only think of a few that are anything but irritating. I was there, I remember. And the music! God who writes this stuff? This particular attempt fails on every level. It fails as history, it fails as nostalgia, it fails as entertainment. The filmmaking technique is amateurish - poor film to video transfer, poor editing, poor choice of material. But the main thing is that it is somehow viscerally irritating. Of the list of things that do not need any window dressing, the Space Race must be on top. So one wonders how, again and again and again, documentary filmmakers manage to get it so wrong. Don't waste time on this turkey - see "In the Shadow of the Moon" and its companion pieces about the engineering effort, "Moon Machines".-drl

I saw this documentary off Netflix the other day, and I hope this is the right one, since there were several options on IMDb for "Rocket Men". Just a coincidence that I watched this only a couple days before seeing the recent premiere of the mini-series, "The Astronaut Wives Club", which I referred to as "The Right Stuff: The Feminist Revisionist Version"- basically that same story from the perspectives of the women in the various different astronauts' wives in the Mercury and Apollo (and Gemini perhaps??) space programs. "Rocket Men" is also a good companion piece to TRS, basically showing a lot of the same events in documentary format of course. The film even goes into the Challenger and Columbia disasters a bit. I especially liked the narration by actor, Michael J. Reynolds. Like Levon Helm's narration in TRS, it provided a very down-to-earth homey feel to a literally out of this world subject. But I definitely enjoyed this- found it quite mesmerizing in fact. Again, I hope this is the right movie I'm reviewing-?? LOL

Very seldom do I want to buy and own a movie.This is one of them. My girlfriend and I stumbled upon this film when my internet (and thereby Netflix) went down last night. KCET just so happened to be airing this "documentary" about the first 50 years of American manned spaceflight. And I hesitate to call it a documentary because it's not what you'd consider a traditional one. There was no agenda, no call to action, no extended interviews.It was a "film" in the grandest sense, as art. The combination of the cinematography, much of it from NASA's own cameras, some of it previously unseen, the music with original scores made just for this film, and the pacing of these snapshots in time - all culminated in a surreal experience. I literally sat at the edge of my seat, holding my breath. I have never been so enthralled.The only real negative about the film is the distribution. I couldn't find it easily. I had to go all the way to Amazon.de (Germany) to find it and get it shipped internationally. But that's not necessarily a fault of the film, just its limited distribution.This is not the film to learn about the American space program. There are plenty of documentaries and books that cover the details. This is a film to experience with your total attention. Turn down the lights, turn up the sound - because you're in for a ride.

A slight but nicely done overview of the U.S. space program, from its earliest days prior to the Mercury flights, through Gemini and Apollo, to the shuttle program.I stumbled onto this documentary when it aired on public television recently. Billed (at least on Direct TV) as "Apollo astronauts discuss the fear and exhilaration of going into space," it turned out instead to cover a lot more ground, albeit rather lightly.Written and produced by Richard Dale, and narrated throughout by actor Michael J. Reynolds, this is less an extensive history than a dramatic overview, more poetry than nuts-and-bolts. A gorgeous original score by Richard Blair-Oliphant accompanies some of the best NASA film and video from over 40 years of space exploration, both the familiar shots as well as some never before seen outside of raw mission footage.No one will accuse this film of getting into too much detail. Only the highlights of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs are covered, and Apollo-Soyuz and the Skylab missions are never even mentioned. The Soviet space program, which in the early days mirrored (and in some cases exceeded) the achievements of the American program, is also ignored.While thin on facts, the writing is generally good, though the script has a tendency toward the melodramatic. For example, Gus Grissom is repeatedly said to have "cheated death," for contrast with the inevitable pathos of the Apollo 1 fire. Similarly, the selection of subjects dwells a bit too much on the Challenger and Columbia disasters for my taste; Apollo 13, on the other hand, is never mentioned at all. But ultimately, the tone is one of pride and inspiration, emphasizing the courage of the "rocket men" who risk their lives in the exploration of space.While hardly a source of new information, those already familiar with the history of NASA may enjoy "Rocketmen." It's a difficult film to find, but well worth the 90 minutes.