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Released in 1983 and running 193 minutes I took 1 star off because I have a few minor issues.As much as I love Chuck Yeager the famed test pilot who broke the sound barrier before anyone else,he was NOT a astronaut and the tie in with the 7 mercury astronauts is tepid at best.Also there is no back story on the astronauts' and since the film was really long at over 3 hours,you would think there would be some.Now that said,I loved the way the film told the "fly by the seat of your pants" program pushed at every turn by the Russians successes as well as funny easily pressured German scientists,a inept LBJ,tempted by the flesh,because of their popularity,astronauts who were still like frat boys, but who could really blame them flying on the back of death every time they went up and even aborigine mysticism.So remember the simpler time,the attitudes and the almost camp attitudes of washington in those contexts.Finally,always remember those real heros who had the right stuff,Alan Shepard,John Glenn,Gordon Cooper,Gus Grissom,Scott Carpenter,Wally Schirra and finally,Deke Slayton.As flawed as this movie may or may not be,depending on how you judge docudramas,their names should be remember for as long as men want to fly !!!Trailer URL follows the pix and a IMDB summary below.
Tom Wolfe's book on the history of the U.S. Space program reads like a novel, and the film has that same fictional quality. It covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it. Thrilling, funny, charming and electrifying all at once. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
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