Steineded How sad is this?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

digitalbeachbum This movie was awesome when it came out. I saw it and thought "wow what an awesome movie! I want to be an astronaut". However when I started to learn about the US Space Program and NASA I started to realize that the director and writers for this movie overstepped their rights for artistic license.So much of this movie is made up and bullshit that it is more fiction than it is truth. In fact, my research has led me to believe that 7/10 scenes in this movie are completely fabricated. Even character names, quotes and actions were changed for a variety of reasons, most common to make the movie fit a narrative of the director and writers.Listing all the problems with the movie would take too much time and effort for me. However I'll say that if you forget about all the real life facts and suspend your reality for a few hours, it isn't a bad movie.I did like this movie when it was released but over time it has lost the glimmer and shine. There are much better, more realistic, more historical movies out about the space race and NASA program.

gilligan1965 A movie can't get much better than with this cast depicting these great Americans! Even the name scheme works - Ed Harris plays John Glenn; Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard; Sam Shepard plays Chuck Yeager; and, Scott Wilson plays Scott Crossfield!?!? Pretty cool! :)Although not one of the 'Original Seven,' the movie gives much credit to Chuck Yeager for his speed records and contributions to flight. The movie does the same for Scott Crossfield, also not one of the original seven, for his record as the first man to fly at Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound).I grew up after the period in which this movie takes place, but, as a child, I did follow NASA's space program throughout the late 1960s and all through the 1970s; so, to me, this is a very exciting and groundbreaking, fact-based film.The movie follows Alan Shepard, the first American in space (Russian Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space); Donald "Deke" Slayton, NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office; Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom, the second American in space and first American to fly in space twice; John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth in the Friendship 7; Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit the earth; Wally Schirra, Commander of Apollo 7; and, Gordon Cooper, who manned the longest and final Mercury spaceflight in 1963.I could go on and on about how detailed and informational this exciting film is, but, it's best to experience it for yourself. Anyone who likes speedy and exhilarating thrill-rides about awesome flying machinery that began America's space program...this is for you! :)

James Turnbull This is one of my favourite movies but it is not perfect but that has more to do with the book on which it is based. Tom Wolfe doesn't seem to be sure about whether he wants to write about breaking the sound barrier or the early days of the space program which makes it somewhat bi-polar. I tend to view it as two movies in one and can separate and appreciate both aspects.On the whole it is very well executed and certainly the desert scenes bring a realism to the early test pilot days.I am not sure about some of the acting in the astronaut sequences. I find Dennis Quaid to be especially irritating but don't know whether he is playing character to type, or over-hamming it. I thought his role could have been throttled back somewhat. I also thought the character of Lyndon Johnson was also a bit over-cooked although quite entertaining. My favourite line is when he asks Werner von Braun whether or not 'we can beat the Ruskies?' to which WVB replies 'of course, our Germans are better than their Germans'. Classic.Highly recommended and makes a good companion piece to Apollo 13 and From the Earth to the Moon.

nuhc I caught this movie on one of the movie channels again the other night, and realized how much I love this movie. I am a flight/space buff so of course it appeals to me. But aside from that, the acting, special effects, story line, everything is good to the point of making it a good film. It has just the right mix of seriousness and comic relief to make it enjoyable to watch and entertaining as well. The movie shows how pitifully far behind the Russians we were in the space race, yet we somehow managed to catch up.The one issue I have with the movie is how it portrays Gus Grissom being at fault for blowing the hatch to his capsule, while in actuality NASA concluded that he was correct. The astronauts had to punch a large switch with the side of their closed fist to blow the hatch, leaving tell-tale bruising on their hands. Grissom never had any bruising on his hand so could not have blown the hatch himself.However, this is one of those movies which I've seen several times, but every time it comes on again I'll want to sit and watch the whole thing.