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?

I saw this movie almost 30 years ago and remember I liked it. Saw it today and was a quite disappointed. "The Right Stuff" suffers from a number of faults.  First of all: Most of the "humour elements" are really just not working. Many politicians, most administrators, both military and civilian, and definitely "ze German Rokketmän" were serious, intelligent and dedicated  people. Not semi-idiots. And, I doubt that the pilots and astronauts really were that laconic. What about civilians stumbling seasick on a flat top flight deck? Never! Thyen the heavy handed twists: Like always showing the press people with the sound of locusts and/or rattlesnakes? Please … stop!  All these minor annoying elements together really damages the film. Then there are certain scenes that could be shortened or removed, like the briefing room- scenes (A clerk is shown running through the corridors with breaking news of soviet shots while people are watching soviet newsreels about the same event. Logical?)  On the other hand, there are many short glimpses that really need better explaining 50-60 years on. Like who was the landlady? (A forgotten legend).  Other issues are more serious. Did Grissom freak out and blow the hatch? The movie suggests this, but if NASA really doubted  Grissom  he would not have been in the Apollo- project. And, so on … On the upside: Production, props and locations still make this a beautiful, beautiful movie to watch, there is a lot of very good acting, and, most important: "The Right Stuff" still captures the MAGIC of early space exploration, a time when dreams came true.  So "The Right Stuff" is still worth watching, but maybe someone can make a "fan edit", closer to the (brilliant) book and historical facts. Cutting down the silliness and removing loose ends, while getting down to the core of the story will make this slightly faded movie great again. (sorry about any errors, English is not my native language)

Director Phil Kaufmann and Producer Alan Ladd brought to the screen a movie masterpiece in The Right Stuff. Starring Sam Shephard and a roster of great actors such as Ed Harris, Charles Frank, Barbara Hershey a truly ensemble cast. Two cast members stand out the superb Kim Stanley one of the great all time actresses and Dennis Quaid who is memorable as Gordon Cooper. The ending is one of the best ever of all time. I also want to mention the thrilling score of the film. Memorable!I love this movie and as a Veteran of our Armed Forces, the greatest in the World, it is a paen to Aemrica and to the valor of the American Military!. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!This Movie should have won the Academy Award, not its competitor Terms of Endearment.

This is one of my favourite movies but it is not perfect but that has more to do with the book on which it is based. Tom Wolfe doesn't seem to be sure about whether he wants to write about breaking the sound barrier or the early days of the space program which makes it somewhat bi-polar. I tend to view it as two movies in one and can separate and appreciate both aspects.On the whole it is very well executed and certainly the desert scenes bring a realism to the early test pilot days.I am not sure about some of the acting in the astronaut sequences. I find Dennis Quaid to be especially irritating but don't know whether he is playing character to type, or over-hamming it. I thought his role could have been throttled back somewhat. I also thought the character of Lyndon Johnson was also a bit over-cooked although quite entertaining. My favourite line is when he asks Werner von Braun whether or not 'we can beat the Ruskies?' to which WVB replies 'of course, our Germans are better than their Germans'. Classic.Highly recommended and makes a good companion piece to Apollo 13 and From the Earth to the Moon.