The Right Stuff [Region 2] |  | Director: Philip Kaufman
Actors: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward
Category: DVD
Buy Used: $29.11
Used (2) from $29.11
Rating:  153 reviews
Sales Rank: 262147
Format: Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Running Time: 193 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 7321901244991
ASIN: B00009PBHL
Theatrical Release Date: October 21, 1983
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Philip Kaufman's intimate epic about the Mercury astronauts (based on Tom Wolfe's book) was one of the most ambitious and spectacularly exciting movies of the 1980s. It surprised almost everybody by not becoming a smash hit. By all rights, the film should have been every bit the success that Apollo 13 would later become; The Right Stuff is not only just as thrilling, but it is also a bigger and better movie. Combining history (both established and revisionist), grand mythmaking (and myth puncturing), adventure, melodrama, behind-the-scenes dish, spectacular visuals, and a down-to-earth sense of humor, The Right Stuff chronicles NASA's efforts to put a man in orbit. Such an achievement would be the first step toward President Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon, and, perhaps most important of all, would win a crucial public relations/morale victory over the Soviets, who had delivered a stunning blow to American pride by launching Sputnik, the first satellite. The movie contrasts the daring feats of the unsung test pilots--one of whom, Chuck Yeager, embodied more than anyone else the skill and spirit of Wolfe's title--against the heavily publicized (and sanitized) accomplishments of the Mercury astronauts. Through no fault of their own, the spacemen became prisoners of the heroic images the government created for them in order to capture the public's imagination. The casting is inspired; the film features Sam Shepard as the legendary Yeager, Ed Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as "Gordo" Cooper, Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard, Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, Scott Wilson as Scott Crossfield, and Pamela Reed and Veronica Cartwright are superb in their thankless roles as astronauts' wives. --Jim Emerson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 148 more reviews...
 Great movie about the "Race to Space"! June 23, 2009
Jessie Lofland (Texas)
My husband and I both love this movie. It captures the spirit of all America during the 60's when space travel was brand new. The movie is entertaining and features some great actors, many of whom were not very well known when this was filmed. Sam Shepard played the famous Chuck Yeager, who was the first to break the sound barrier. The astronauts chosen to be trained for the space program included actors, Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn and Fred Ward. It not only gave insight into the program it gave us a glimpse of what it must have been like to be married to one of these special men. There was so much publicity that these men were catapaulted to fame overnight. Great movie!
 The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1983)-Entertaining story but had many facts wrong!. May 30, 2009
Keith Mirenberg (www.spaceanimations.org)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1983) is a fine and very entertaining film, but not a terribly accurate documentary about Project Mercury which I rate at four stars. This version of the DVD includes a very interesting special on the shuttle flight of John Glenn in his senior years.
Much of The Right Stuff was accurate and very entertaining. However, several technical facts were just plain wrong:
1) Never was there any question about a chimp or an astronaut being first aboard a US rocket. A chimp had to go first.
2) John Glenn was never going to orbit the Earth seven times and his "Go for at least seven orbits" meant that his orbital elements would support such a flight.
3) John Glenn was brought down after three orbits, just as planned.
4) The team of capsule designers was not made up of German rocket scientists. The discussion concerning a capsule window took place with an Amercian designer and probably under very different circumstances.
5) Von Braun never negotiated capsule design with John Glenn or any of the astronauts. Dr. Von Braun was a propulsion engineer and as Carpenter said during his interview, he was almost always correct.
6) Gus Grissom should not have been portraid as a "bumbling hatch blower" and was eventually cleared of all responsibility for the sinking of Liberty Bell 7. The Gus character did not give due credit for his abilities as a test pilot or an engineer (or provide him proper honor in his subsequent death aboard the Apollo 1 disaster).
Right Stuff March 24, 2009
V. Tasiemski (Southern California)
I ordered the movie The Right Stuff and I got the Right stuff at a good price. I'm satisfied.
The Right Stuff--2 Disc Special Edition February 7, 2009
Brian Keltner (Denver, CO USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First, let's be clear: 'The Right Stuff' is at the top of the ol' pyramid of movies made about the true story of humans in space. Better than Apollo 13 by far. It's also one of the greatest movies ever made, period. A true modern epic. The cast is perfect--Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Scott Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, and Lance Henrickson (in perhaps his first role), among many others who all lend strong, top-notch support. Philip Kaufman's Directing is superior. The musical score is Bill Conti's finest--which is really saying something considering the hits he's had (Rocky, Karate Kid, etc.). And finally the story itself, based as it is on Tom Wolfe's book of the same name, is inspired. Having read the book also, I think both are well-worth looking at, and each can stand alone on its own merits.
The plot: Chuck Yeager (Shepard) breaks the sound barrier in '47, creating a whole new industry of supersonic jets and the test pilots--military and civilian--who fly them. Then the Soviets launch the first satellite, Sputnik, in a Cold War gambit, starting the space race as the United States scrambles to catch up. Hastily beginning the Mercury Space Program, the U.S. picks 7 test pilots to become its first astronauts. Scott Carpenter's (Scott Glenn) first American manned spaceflight, Gus Grissom's (Fred Ward) disasterous capsul loss, and John Glenn's (Ed Harris) inaugural orbital spaceflight all are highlighted. Along the way we are treated to a generally and brilliantly satirical (vintage Wolfe) viewpoint of the politics, training, blunders, image-making, and ambitions of the pilots, rocket scientists, and politicians involved. We also see a thoughtful exploration of the interpersonal conflicts and personal struggles that the wives of these elite pilots and astronauts endure.
Balancing these is a very serious, appropriately salutory, and heroic rendering of what, precisely, comprises 'The Right Stuff." Kaufman juxtaposes the old school test pilot, hell-for-leather, blunt-spoken, it's-the-results-that-count ethos embodied by Chuck Yeager against the new school emphasis on a more polished, politically correct, college-educated astronaut image represented by John Glenn, that began to evolve as publicity of the space race skyrocketed, and as the political stakes grew. As time passes, all glory--and funding--is given to the latter while the former is either frowned upon or simply relegated to an anachronism. Yet, as the movie points out, the 'right stuff'--that ineffable confluence of skill, knowledge, courage, and 'luck' enabling a pilot or astronaut to go up again and again and return alive against the steepest and gravest of odds--transcends education, image, mission priority, and political relevance or correcteness.
This film should have won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Shepard) in addition to the four it did win (including one for Best Score). And while it didn't receive either the awards recognition or box office turnout it warranted back in 1983, this two-disc special edition has, finally, given it the superb treatment it has always deserved. Bonus features, including several documentaries exploring the true-life astronauts (John Glenn in particular is highlighted) of the U.S. space program, are all excellent.
 The Right Stuff.. February 3, 2009
Wendy Q. Longley (Seattle,Wa USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this movie. It was cool to see movie stars when they were young...
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