The Right Stuff
The Right Stuff is a 1983 American epic historical drama film written and directed by Philip Kaufman and based on the 1979 book of the same name by Tom Wolfe. The film follows the Navy, Marine, and Air Force test pilots who were involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as well as the Mercury Seven, the seven military pilots who were selected to be the astronauts for Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight by the United States. The film stars Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid, and Barbara Hershey; Levon Helm narrates and plays Air Force test pilot Jack Ridley.
Plot
In 1947, over the Muroc Army Air Field in California, a number of test pilots are killed while flying high-speed aircraft such as the rocket-powered Bell X-1. After another pilot, Slick Goodlin, demands $150,000 to attempt to break the sound barrier, war hero Captain Chuck Yeager receives the chance to fly the X-1. While on a horseback ride with his wife Glennis, Yeager collides with a tree branch and breaks his ribs, which inhibits him from leaning over and locking the door to the X-1. Worried that he might not fly the mission, Yeager confides in friend and fellow pilot Jack Ridley. Ridley cuts off part of a broomstick and tells Yeager to use it as a lever to help seal the hatch to the X-1, and Yeager becomes the first person to fly at supersonic speed, defeating the "demon in the sky".
Awards
Cast
- Alan Shepard
- Anastas Mikoyan
- Anthony Muñoz
- Barbara Hershey
- Bill Dana
- Charles Frank
- Christopher Kriesa
- Chuck Yeager
- David Clennon
- David Gulpilil
- Dennis Quaid
- Donald Moffat
- Ed Harris
- Ed Sullivan
- Edward Anhalt
- Eric Sevareid
- Fred Ward
- Georgy Malenkov
- Harry Shearer
- James E. Webb
- Jane Dornacker
- Jeff Goldblum
- Jim Haynie
- John Dehner
- John F. Kennedy
- John P. Ryan
- Kathy Baker
- Kim Stanley
- Kliment Voroshilov
- Lance Henriksen
- Levon Helm
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Mary Jo Deschanel
- Mittie Smith
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Nikolai Bulganin
- O-Lan Jones
- Pamela Reed
- Peggy Davis
- Robert Beer
- Royal Dano
- Royce Grones
- Sam Shepard
- Scott Beach
- Scott Glenn
- Scott Paulin
- Scott Wilson
- Susan Kase
- Veronica Cartwright
- William Russ
- Yuri Gagarin