`The Right Stuff' is the story of the original Mercury 7 astronauts and their journey through the fledgling NASA program and eventually into space. It is well-written and well-acted, featuring a veritable `Who's Who' of then slightly unknown actors such as Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn and Lance Henriksen. While it had an over three hour running time, and I actually had to get up to turn over the DVD because of its length, the pacing was such that I never once considered that any particular scene should have been shortened. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the film was the introduction of Chuck Yeager (Shepard) and his contribution to history by breaking the sound barrier, and then the periodic simultaneous comparison of the accomplishments of the astronauts and the Air Force and civilian test pilots, as well as exhibiting their eventual mutual respect.
If I had to point out any kind of glaring fault, it would have to be that they focused on some astronauts more than others obviously concentrating heavily on the bigger names, and glossing over the `lesser-known' ones. An example would be Walter Schirra (Henriksen) his name is mentioned a couple of times, and he probably had a tenth of the screen time of the others. Plainly, with an already three hour running time not everyone could have equal time, so this is certainly a mild criticism. `The Right Stuff' isn't profound or exceptional, but it is certainly a good and interesting film.
--Shelly
If I had to point out any kind of glaring fault, it would have to be that they focused on some astronauts more than others obviously concentrating heavily on the bigger names, and glossing over the `lesser-known' ones. An example would be Walter Schirra (Henriksen) his name is mentioned a couple of times, and he probably had a tenth of the screen time of the others. Plainly, with an already three hour running time not everyone could have equal time, so this is certainly a mild criticism. `The Right Stuff' isn't profound or exceptional, but it is certainly a good and interesting film.
--Shelly