WHAT: The Right Stuff (1983, DCP)
WHEN: November 13, 2019 1 PM & 7 PM
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
WHAT ELSE: First Division military patch carried by astronaut Michael Collins on the Apollo 11 Moon mission will be on display in the lobby beginning at 6 PM. This item comes to us courtesy of the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, IL. Special guest John Maniatis will be in our lobby to talk about its fascinating history. For more information, Click Here!
Organist Jay Warren performs pre-show music at 6:30 PM.
HOW MUCH: $12/$10 advance & $8 for the 1 PM matinee. For advance tickets, Click Here!
On November 13, 2019, the Pickwick Theatre Classic Film Series will present a post-Veterans Day screening of The Right Stuff. Critically acclaimed in 1983, the film’s reputation and popularity have only increased in the thirty-six years since its initial release. Featuring one of the exceptional ensemble casts of the 1980s, The Right Stuff is a great modern epic. In 2019, the same year in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon mission, we thought we would travel further back in time to honor the origins of what became the “Space Race.” And looking ahead to 2020, The Right Stuff will be turned into a television miniseries on National Geographic. Consequently, we knew this would be the ideal film (and time) in which to take full advantage of the Pickwick’s Megatheatre. Our venue features one of the largest theatre screens in the Chicago area. We’re ready to take our “Mach Meter” to the next level and punch a hole in the sky. Let’s light this candle!
The Right Stuff is based on Tom Wolfe’s 1979 bestseller of the same name, which chronicles the lives of the pilots and astronauts who were willing to risk death in order to push the envelope. When it came to “the right stuff”– those unmentionable qualities that put some men higher up on the pyramid– there was one man at the very top. The film opens in 1947 with Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard), the first man to break the sound barrier. After this historic feat, The Right Stuff skips ahead to follow the lives of the test pilots who would become the first astronauts in space (as part of NASA’s Project Mercury). The cast includes Dennis Quaid as “Gordo” Cooper, Fred Ward (Gus Grissom), Ed Harris (John Glenn), Scott Glenn (Alan Shepard), Lance Henriksen (Wally Schirra), Scott Paulin (Deke Slayton), and Charles Frank (Scott Carpenter). Against this broad landscape are woven intimate details and a glimpse into their private lives. The film reveals the mental toll on the wives of these pilots. Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed, and Mary Jo Deschanel (wife of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel) also star. Other standout performances include Donald Moffat as Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Royal Dano as the ever-present minister– a spectre of comfort for the families of the dead pilots. And the real Chuck Yeager portrays Fred the bartender at Pancho’s saloon.
The Mercury Seven
Produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff and financed by The Ladd Company, The Right Stuff became a major cinematic achievement– and a lasting tribute to the daring pilots who paved the way for the space program. Winkler chose Philip Kaufman to direct based primarily on his ability to shoot a successful adventure in the Arctic in The White Dawn (1974). Kaufman did not like the first draft of William Goldman’s screenplay, which concentrated exclusively on the seven astronauts. Instead, he wrote his own draft in eight weeks that restored Chuck Yeager to the story. The film balances the unpublicized and classified exploits of the unheralded Air Force guys like Yeager (who were making $250 a month) with the publicity and acclaim surrounding the astronauts. The Yeager storyline was essential because the roots of the space program came directly from the early successes of the test pilots out in the desert. As the screenplay evolved, Chuck Yeager became the pivotal character.
Although actor Sam Shepard did not exactly look like Yeager, he did have a quality that was similar to Yeager. Shepard’s a laconic, Gary Cooper-like figure cast in a modern Western romance in which he must chase that demon in the sky; the test pilot being the 20th century version of the cowboy hero. The rest of the cast were made up of relative unknowns who would go on to become major names in the industry. Interestingly, Kaufman cast an acrobatic troupe to portray the monstrous press corps seen throughout the film– most notably during the 1959 NASA press conference which introduced the astronauts to the world.
The film was shot during the course of nine months at basically two locations– Edwards Air Force Base and San Francisco. Kaufman brought an authenticity and a sense of place to the production. The film evokes the era of the 1950s and early 1960s and incorporates newsreel footage into the proceedings. The film uses as much of the book as possible, but some dramatic liberties were taken, it should be noted. For instance, the real-life astronauts never had an argument with German engineers over the design of the space capsule. In fact, the head designer in the film– a generic, less dynamic version of Wernher von Braun– would not have been involved. Von Braun’s responsibilities were in relation to propulsion, not the design of the craft. A larger controversy was the depiction of astronaut Gus Grissom. Based on the reactions of NASA officials and those of his own wife, the film suggests Grissom panicked in the wake of his splashdown in the ocean. This was proven to be unfounded. On the other hand, the scenes involving the test pilots were accurate primarily because Chuck Yeager himself was on set as a technical advisor throughout these scenes.
Using models, mock-ups (such as the Bell X-1– “Glamorous Glennis”), and authentic aircraft of the period, The Right Stuff has a realistic visual design. The flying sequences are exciting and the space flights, particularly John Glenn’s orbital flight, were effectively realized. Jordan Belson, an avant-garde filmmaker, also worked on the backgrounds during the sequences in space. These effects, made in the days before CG, are stunning and innovative to this day.
Ed Harris as John Glenn in the Friendship 7 capsule.
The Right Stuff had its world premiere in Washington, D.C., and became a critical success around the nation. Film critic Roger Ebert would hail it the best film of the year. Unfortunately, instead of rocketing towards the heavens at the box office, the film became a box office failure and flew no further than a champagne cork. The film went into wide release in early 1984, but by then its fate had already been decided. At the time of its release, some in the press wondered if the film wasn’t in some way propaganda for John Glenn, who was then running for President at the time. This was never the case, however, but as author Tom Wolfe pointed out in an interview, this connection to civics and current politics hung like an albatross over the production’s neck. The film did win four Academy Awards, including one for Bill Conti’s rousing score. It’s hard to imagine the iconic image of the suited-up astronauts walking down the corridor without Conti’s music!
The Right Stuff was set in an era when the public rallied around national heroes. It was a time when we had one common objective, which was ultimately met on July 20, 1969. The importance of the space program at that time was incalculable, following as it did in the wake of assassinations, war, and racial unrest. It was a bright spot in our nation’s history. Yet, today our news channels are filled with people made up of the wrong stuff. Ironically, only the astronauts in the film are depicted with any integrity while the politicians and bureaucrats come off as buffoonish caricatures! During this Veterans Day week, we look back at some of the real heroes from our nation’s past; in this case, the pilots of the Air Force, Navy and Marines.
For an oral history on the making of The Right Stuff, Click Here!
~MCH