The Right Stuff 1983

type: Movie

language: English

duration: 184 min

genre: historical

theme: war

director: Philip Kaufman

Score: 7 / 10

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

More details

author	Philip Kaufman Tom Wolfe
award	Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Original Score Academy Award for Best Sound Academy Award for Best Sound Editing National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
contentLocation	California
director	Philip Kaufman
editor	Douglas Stewart Glenn Farr Lisa Fruchtman Stephen A. Rotter Tom Rolf
events	aviation Cold War
genre	adventure drama historical
keywords	air force base alarms the united states government albert scott crossfield annie annie glenn bell x-1 buck rogers deke slayton donald deke slayton edwards air force base fly gordon cooper gordon gordo cooper gus grissom happy bottom riding club houston jack ridley john glenn kill lock lockheed nf-104a marine corps mercury-atlas 6 mercury-atlas 9 mercury-redstone 3 mercury-redstone 4 mercury seven nasa national hero open pancho barnes pitch-yaw-roll project mercury public speaking rid rock sam houston sam houston coliseum scott carpenter scott crossfield slick goodlin sound barrier space race speak speed records sputnik sputnik crisis stutter suicide mission supersonic survive test test pilot tree branch united states air force united states marine corps united states navy virgil gus grissom vostok 1 walter schirra war hero
musicBy	Bill Conti
nomination	Academy Award for Best Cinematography Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Original Score Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Production Design Academy Award for Best Sound Academy Award for Best Sound Editing Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
producer	Irwin Winkler Robert Chartoff
productionCompany	The Ladd Company
publisher	Warner Bros.
recordedAt	California San Francisco
theme	docudrama war