I've read Wolfe's book twice and seen this a dozen times, and although I enjoy the exciting story and the comedic interludes, there's something about both the book and the film that leaves me dissatisfied. And the book and the film are two rather different things, so I guess I'll try to ignore the book except to say that I can appreciate Wolfe's adoration of these guys, who are good-natured doers, not thinkers. But I wish he hadn't taken gratuitous swipes at liberals. Wolfe describes the immense popularity of the astronauts in the early 60s, due to the fact that they put their lives on the line, and contrasts it with the contemporary admiration of the Kennedys because, after all, THAT was based on "movie-star good looks." Kennedy of course was assassinated, as were Lincoln and McKinley, and others like Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt were wounded, and numerous others were shot at. Being an astronaut or president seems to be a dangerous business, and there's no need for discriminating between them on the basis of their political attitudes.
That said, the film still baffles me. I love seeing the planes and rockets blasting through space, backed up by an reverential and triumphant score. But the movie rather oversimplifies the things that are reported in the book and renders them almost childish. I'll give two examples of the sort of thing I mean, both involving John Glenn (Ed Harris).
At the first public presentation of the astronauts, the press ask them nudnik questions like, "Do you go to church regularly?" Scott Glenn replies, "As far as church is concerned -- I attend regularly," and he grins broadly, obviously lying. The others follow the same tack until we get to John Glenn, who launches into an enthusiastic and sincere speech ending in a peroration to American values. In the book, the others are aghast. Glenn has been an object of sport throughout the training period, an earnest dull man. But in the film, as Glenn is warming to his task, Gordo Cooper (Dennis Quaid) smiling at the audience says, "I don't believe this." If the remark was in the book it would definitely have been aimed at Glenn's speech. In the film it's not clear whether he's talking about Glenn or about the size and stupidity of the audience. At any rate Cooper too winds up giving a patriotic 100 percent American speech, which did not happen. It leaves a viewer feeling that the writers and the director were worried that too much cynicism (which the astronauts had in abundance) would alienate Middle America, so they took the edge out of the scene.
Later, when Glenn discovers that the others have acquired groupies, he gets into an argument, and almost a fistfight, with Shepherd. While the astronauts argue about whether they should keep their pants zipped, Gus Grissom (Fred Ward) stops them by shouting that their enemy isn't other astronauts, it's a monkey. Everybody stops fighting and turns to Grissom for an explanation. He explains that their real enemy is the chimp that the suits want to send into space first. The others agree with him and now form a solidary group. But that's no way to stop a fight! It leaves the zipper issue hanging, so to speak. What ABOUT those succulent numbers down at the bar? As an attempt to manipulate the audience the scene simply doesn't work, anymore than it would work with two testosterone-ridden pilots whose blood was up.
And there's more manipulation still, which I'll mention only briefly. The families are leaving a party after having met for the first time. Cooper's wife amiably greets Glenn's wife, who doesn't reply but simply stares back until Glenn puts his arm around her and guides her away. "Well -- she seems pretty snooty to me," says Cooper's wife, and Cooper adds, "Maybe she thinks she's too good for the Air Force," or something like that. In the next scene it's revealed that Glenn's wife has a speech impediment that embarrasses her when she talks to strangers. Let's face facts. Glenn has had years of marriage to get used to handling these kinds of situations, and the best he can do is to hustle his wife away without any explanation? All he has to do is say, "My wife has a slight stutter with people she doesn't know well. Excuse us."
The scene towards the end, when the astronauts are being feted in Texas, is a laugh a minute in the book. An entire gymnasium filled with loud good old boys drinking bourbon out of plastic glasses and pounding each other on the back and Sally Rand up there on the stage doing her fan dance. I saw the ancient Sally Rand in Las Vegas about the time this story takes place and it was embarrassing. Here, she is a beautiful young lady dancing gracefully to Clair de Lune, while the assembled astronauts smile proudly at one another and then gaze up towards the sky. What could have been a fine scene, bursting with irony, turns into sentimental slop.
I still watch it sometimes when it's on TV, but it still frustrates me too. It pushes the envelope and comes THAT close, but in the end it screws the pooch.
That said, the film still baffles me. I love seeing the planes and rockets blasting through space, backed up by an reverential and triumphant score. But the movie rather oversimplifies the things that are reported in the book and renders them almost childish. I'll give two examples of the sort of thing I mean, both involving John Glenn (Ed Harris).
At the first public presentation of the astronauts, the press ask them nudnik questions like, "Do you go to church regularly?" Scott Glenn replies, "As far as church is concerned -- I attend regularly," and he grins broadly, obviously lying. The others follow the same tack until we get to John Glenn, who launches into an enthusiastic and sincere speech ending in a peroration to American values. In the book, the others are aghast. Glenn has been an object of sport throughout the training period, an earnest dull man. But in the film, as Glenn is warming to his task, Gordo Cooper (Dennis Quaid) smiling at the audience says, "I don't believe this." If the remark was in the book it would definitely have been aimed at Glenn's speech. In the film it's not clear whether he's talking about Glenn or about the size and stupidity of the audience. At any rate Cooper too winds up giving a patriotic 100 percent American speech, which did not happen. It leaves a viewer feeling that the writers and the director were worried that too much cynicism (which the astronauts had in abundance) would alienate Middle America, so they took the edge out of the scene.
Later, when Glenn discovers that the others have acquired groupies, he gets into an argument, and almost a fistfight, with Shepherd. While the astronauts argue about whether they should keep their pants zipped, Gus Grissom (Fred Ward) stops them by shouting that their enemy isn't other astronauts, it's a monkey. Everybody stops fighting and turns to Grissom for an explanation. He explains that their real enemy is the chimp that the suits want to send into space first. The others agree with him and now form a solidary group. But that's no way to stop a fight! It leaves the zipper issue hanging, so to speak. What ABOUT those succulent numbers down at the bar? As an attempt to manipulate the audience the scene simply doesn't work, anymore than it would work with two testosterone-ridden pilots whose blood was up.
And there's more manipulation still, which I'll mention only briefly. The families are leaving a party after having met for the first time. Cooper's wife amiably greets Glenn's wife, who doesn't reply but simply stares back until Glenn puts his arm around her and guides her away. "Well -- she seems pretty snooty to me," says Cooper's wife, and Cooper adds, "Maybe she thinks she's too good for the Air Force," or something like that. In the next scene it's revealed that Glenn's wife has a speech impediment that embarrasses her when she talks to strangers. Let's face facts. Glenn has had years of marriage to get used to handling these kinds of situations, and the best he can do is to hustle his wife away without any explanation? All he has to do is say, "My wife has a slight stutter with people she doesn't know well. Excuse us."
The scene towards the end, when the astronauts are being feted in Texas, is a laugh a minute in the book. An entire gymnasium filled with loud good old boys drinking bourbon out of plastic glasses and pounding each other on the back and Sally Rand up there on the stage doing her fan dance. I saw the ancient Sally Rand in Las Vegas about the time this story takes place and it was embarrassing. Here, she is a beautiful young lady dancing gracefully to Clair de Lune, while the assembled astronauts smile proudly at one another and then gaze up towards the sky. What could have been a fine scene, bursting with irony, turns into sentimental slop.
I still watch it sometimes when it's on TV, but it still frustrates me too. It pushes the envelope and comes THAT close, but in the end it screws the pooch.