The Right Stuff is a 1983 American epic historical drama film written and directed by Philip Kaufman. It was adapted from Tom Wolfe’s best-selling 1979 book of the same name about the Navy, Marine, and Air Force test pilots who were involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The film was a box-office failure, grossing about USD 21 million against a USD 27 million budget. It received widespread critical acclaim and eight Oscar nominations at the 56th Academy Awards, four of which it won.
About The Right Stuff (film) in brief
The Right Stuff is a 1983 American epic historical drama film written and directed by Philip Kaufman. It was adapted from Tom Wolfe’s best-selling 1979 book of the same name about the Navy, Marine, and Air Force test pilots who were involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The film was a box-office failure, grossing about USD 21 million against a USD 27 million budget. Despite this, it received widespread critical acclaim and eight Oscar nominations at the 56th Academy Awards, four of which it won. In 2013 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” The film begins in 1947 at the Muroc Army Air Field in California, with civilian and military test pilots flight-testing high-speed aircraft, including the rocket-powered Bell X-1. In 1957, the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite triggers a crisis for the U.S. government. Politicians such as Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and military leaders demand America wage and win an emerging Space Race. NASA is founded, and seeks to develop the first U. S. astronauts. 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, become national heroes along with their wives for their exclusive compensation in Life magazine. They are dubbed the ‘Mercury Seven’ and the ‘Right Stuff’ The film ends in 1983, with Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid, and Barbara Hershey, and Levon Helm narrates, and plays Air Force flight pilot Jack Ridley.
In the film, Yeager and friendly rival Scott Crossfield repeatedly break each other’s speed records, while Yeager, unnamed, shakes his hand as the former record-holder. They often visit the Happy Bottom Riding Club run by pioneering aviatrix Pancho Barnes for raucous nights of drinking. Publicity has replaced secrecy to generate continued funding, adding further pressure to the pilots. The wives of the pilots fear becoming widows as the ever more gripping competitions of man versus machine, man versus Nature, and man versus man grow, but cannot change their husbands’ powerful ambitions and what they lead to. Yeager breaks his ribs the evening before his historic flight, an injury which inhibits his ability to lock the door on the X- 1. He confides in friend and fellow pilotJack Ridley, who solves the problem by giving Yeager the stump of a broom handle to use as leverage. Yeager goes supersonic and lives. Yet the attendant sonic boom initially causes people to think his plane has exploded, but an officer immediately classifies his achievement, denying him the fame of his accomplishment, which some people thought couldn’t be done in an airplane. Six years later, MuroC, by then Edwards Air force Base, remains a beehive of danger, competition, and risky behavior. The pilots decide to try out for the program as their opportunities are limited.
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