Hidden Movie Gems: “The Right Stuff”

Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from John Algerholm.

Movie Title: The Right Stuff (1983)

Director: Philip Kaufman

Writer: Philip Kaufman, based on the novel by Tom Wolfe

Lead Actors: Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, and Barbara Hershey.

Plot Summary: The story of the original U.S. Mercury 7 astronauts and their macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program.

Why This Film is a Hidden Gem: Do the math above. (Plus — add marketing costs to the production budget). No one saw it in the theaters. How many people bought tickets? (Although it’s exactly like Michael Jordan’s last second basket in the NBA Finals — we all claim we were there that night).

Once again, please? Hidden? Isn’t this “The Right Stuff”?

For reference, 3 years later the film “Top Gun” was released: Similiar macho pilots. American heroes. Very fast planes. Death was never far away. The competition once again the Soviets. Motorcycles, now, instead of horses, okay, but “Top Gun” also had some steamy sex. And a REALLY GREAT soundtrack. Top Gun’s worldwide gross? $ 357 Million. Top Gun played in 1,531 theaters.

But WHY Was “The Right Stuff” Hidden? Why Wasn’t it a Major Blockbuster Like “Top Gun”?

I think there might have been a couple of reasons.

First, it portrayed the astronauts in a satirical way. There was a lot of humor in the film. Normally that’s good, but perhaps not when you’re dealing with larger-than-life heroes. And in the ’60s, these guys were the biggest of heroes (some of whom died in the process). Now, I enjoyed watching Alan Shepard “Requesting permission to urinate, sir” in his spacesuit, and the blinking moisture sensor lights back at Houston. But others may not have.

Secondly, the film approached the space program with skepticism. When dealing with courage, with heroism and patriotism, some may have been put off by that. The program’s dirty linen was displayed for all to see. LBJ wasn’t portrayed in a very good light. He was almost a cartoonish character (but you don’t rise to V.P. with that C.V.).

Finally, and most importantly, the film may have gotten caught up — confused — with Sen. John Glenn’s real life Presidential bid. How can you separate the patriotic film — in which John Glenn was one of the Mercury 7 astronauts — from Mr. Glenn’s candidacy? A lot of folks would stay away just because of that. (Consider this summer’s visit to Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp, by Angela Merkel. It was a historic first visit by a German Chancellor, yet the trip was severely criticized, as it came during her re-election campaign. So goes politics).

My Favorite Moment in the Film: When astronaut-applicant Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid) is ordered to produce a sperm sample, he goes into the men’s room, closes the stall door, then learns that the neighboring astronaut-applicant — in the very next stall — is singing his service’s anthem to help matters along. Cooper then breaks into his anthem. Beautiful scene. (Anyone who has ever witnessed inter-service rivalries will recognize this behavior immediately).

My Favorite Dialogue in the Movie: Every single line, actually, every single scene with the pilots’ wives in it. This was a film that had rich, complex female characters (rare even today). The “Fly-Boys” were their husbands, but every time they took off, the women were in real danger of becoming widows. They were expected to keep a lid, a “code of silence”, on those risks. Then they experienced first-hand the paparazzi falling out of trees and hiding in the bushes outside, descending on them like locusts. They realized their own Government was using them as PR tools.

As a kid growing up in the 1960s watching the space race on TV and reading about the astronauts’ adventures in Life and Look magazines, we saw the matching silver Corvettes. The upscale homes in Florida right on the canals. The White House receptions. The swagger. The wives, always presented as ornamentation. Happy and stable. But we never were invited in to see the costs imposed on their families. (Television’s “I Dream of Jeannie” wasn’t like this).

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Film:

There are two parallel stories going on: Test pilot Chuck Yeager’s story; and the seven men competing and then being accepted as the original Mercury 7 astronauts. I personally find Yeager’s journey to be the more satisfying. And if you hold up his Hero’s Journey to Michael Arndt’s great essay: “Eight Steps for Setting a Story Into Motion”, it provides a wonderful lesson in effective screenwriting:

1) Show Your Main Character: The audience is introduced to Col. Yeager. The Second World War has ended. The Cold War takes its place. And testing experimental new planes for the Air Force is what he’s about.

2) Introduce the Universe That They Live In: The California desert in 1947 is frontier-like. There’s his wife Glennis. The watering hole (his society). And the ever present competition from the other “Fly-Boys”. Along with the silent minister, who came with the territory in those risky days.

3) Show Your Character’s Grand Passion: The night before attempting to break the sound barrier (Mach 1) — in an unfamiliar plane, mind you — Yeager severely damages his shoulder, and his left arm goes limp. Does he opt out? Not on your life.

4) Show Your Character’s Hidden Flaw: In Col. Yeager’s case, it’s pride. Just like the Protagonist Woody in “Toy Story”, he enjoys his position on the top of the social order. Yeager’s “the ace of aces”. The Government plays down the news of his breaking the sound barrier — kept quiet for 5 years — but that’s okay. The other pilots know who’s on top.

5) Hint at Storm Clouds on the Horizon: The two parallel stories intersect: the clueless U.S. Government agents come poking out west to find candidates for the new space program.

6) Turn Your Character’s World Upside Down: But Yeager’s not invited to the astronaut camp. In the film “42”, whereas Jackie Robinson is chosen by the Dodgers because he is a college grad, the lack of a college degree slams the door on Yeager: “He doesn’t fit our profile.” Yeager is left behind to stay out in the desert. He has lost his greatest possession: his status as the best.

7) Add Insult to Injury: First the Soviets shock the world by launching Sputnik (1957). Then they follow that by launching Sputnik II with a dog (!) onboard. As the Americans scramble to keep up, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space (1961). And the Soviets don’t stop there — they also set the world altitude record in a plane. And unlike the Mercury 7 astronauts, Yeager has to watch the stakes rise from the sidelines.

8) Have Your Character Make the Wrong Choice: Spurred on by all of this, along with his wife’s declaration that: “I hate when old guys sit around talkin’ about the good ol’ days. If I ever see that happen (with you) . . . I’m headin’ right out the front door”, he takes an unauthorized jet up to the stars, nearly 120,000 feet, before ejecting back to earth and crashing the jet.

As Roger Ebert has noted, this courageous act effectively announces that “the age of the individual explorer had ended, and “Team Man” now stepped into the limelight”. Perhaps. Chuck Yeager certainly had the right stuff. The Mercury 7 astronauts had the right stuff. And this story — a Hidden Gem — also has the right stuff.

Video clips:

Opening sequence of the film (Yeager breaking the Mach 1 sound barrier):

Ending sequence of his risky flight into the stars — in a jet:

One of Yeager’s AC Delo ads (in his new found role as American Hero, after the film):

Thanks, John! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!

Tomorrow: Another Hidden Movie Gem!

Note: We filled up the month of October, so I don’t need any more guest posts. Thanks to everyone who participated!

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