Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Let them write the history, let the pilot fly the plane
By Edward Copeland
After some fellow fliers mocked Gus Grissom (Fred Ward) following his landing mishap, test pilot extraordinaire Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) silences them by saying, "It takes a special kind of man to volunteer for a suicide mission, especially when it's on TV." It takes a special kind of filmmaker to make a film as great as The Right Stuff, even if Philip Kaufman has never come close to equaling it again 25 years later. It seems as if too many films these days are too long which makes it all amazing to re-watch The Right Stuff and feel how fleetly its 3-hour-plus running time flies by. It's a remarkable feat that its pacing holds up so well for someone pushing 40 and watching it on DVD from a bed as it did when he was 14 and saw it in a theater. Part of this can be attributed to Kaufman's approach to the material. In an extra on the DVD, Kaufman says he attempted to adapt Tom Wolfe's stylized nonfiction book with a similarly stylized film (going so far as to hire an acrobatic comedy troupe as the slapsticky press corps). It's easy to forget
what a cast the movie has, especially if it's been awhile since you've seen it. Fans of Robert Altman's Tanner '88 will enjoy seeing Pamela Reed and Veronica Cartwright interact as astronauts' wives years before their work in the great HBO series. Then there is the fun comic relief of Harry Shearer and Jeff Goldblum as NASA recruiters. It's hard to forget Donald Moffat's LBJ, shaking his limo in anger because John Glenn's wife won't cave to his PR desires. "Isn't there anyone that can deal with a housewife?" LBJ asks in frustration. Of course, there are the astronauts and pilots themselves. I'd forgotten Lance Henriksen played Wally Schirra, though he has few lines. Ed Harris is a wonder as John Glenn, seemingly imbued with a light and decency seldom seen in Harris' subsequent roles. Dennis Quaid oozes charm as Gordo Cooper and Scott Glenn is a solid presence as Alan Shepard. Watching The Right Stuff now, you can't help but compare it to Apollo 13. Ron Howard's film is fine, but it lacks so much depth when compared to Kaufman's film. The astronauts of The Right Stuff are heroes, but they are human and flawed, prone to hard drinking and hard living. You also get a sense of the manipulation and politics surrounding the Mercury program that's completely absent in Howard's film. One thing both films do have in common is the amazing ability to create suspense out of real-life events whose resolution the viewer already knows. Both films also amaze when you think that we were ever able to get into space with the technology available at the time. However, of all the great aspects of The Right Stuff, to me the real star remains cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. He is one of the very best, yet amazingly he doesn't have an Oscar despite five nominations. He really should have won here, though it's hard to argue with Sven Nykvist's win for Fanny and Alexander.Labels: 80s
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A fine piece on a fine film. I remember seeing this for the first time in 70mm, and it blew me absolutely away. And I was a fan of Tom Wolfe's book, too. The movie didn't disappoint.
Over at Jonathan Lapper's blog, we were discussing another Kaufmann film, the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," which preceded this one ... most of us agreed that the remake was at least the equal if not the superior of the original.
Over at Jonathan Lapper's blog, we were discussing another Kaufmann film, the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," which preceded this one ... most of us agreed that the remake was at least the equal if not the superior of the original.
This is a great film that I have seen countless times. It has kinda been forgotten over the years which is a shame. As you point out, it has a killer cast and really pushed the envelope in the biopic genre at the time... it manages to be both reverential and satirical. No easy feat but Kaufman pulls it off, I think.
Have you checked the BFI book on the film by Tom Charity (I believe)? It is very good and he interviewed Kaufman for it where he talks about some of the avant garde techniques he utilized to pull off some of the outer space and sound barrier effects.
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Have you checked the BFI book on the film by Tom Charity (I believe)? It is very good and he interviewed Kaufman for it where he talks about some of the avant garde techniques he utilized to pull off some of the outer space and sound barrier effects.
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