The Right Stuff (film)
The Right Stuff is a 1983 film about the about the test pilots who were involved in high-speed aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base as well as those selected to be astronauts for Project Mercury.
- Written and directed by Philip Kaufman, based on the book by Tom Wolfe.
Narrator
- [opening narration] There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, 750 miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.
- [closing narration] The Mercury program was over. Four years later, astronaut Gus Grissom was killed, along with astronauts White and Chaffee, when fire swept through their Apollo capsule. But on that glorious day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper went higher, farther, and faster than any other American. Twenty-two complete orbits around the world, he was the last American ever to go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen.
John Glenn
- It's important to America to get a man up there first. I'm planning on being the first man to ride the rocket.
Dialogue
- Recruiter #1: I guess you've heard about our project. We're going up against the Russians all the way. It's got the highest...
- Recruiter #2: Priorities.
- Recruitrer #1: It's a hazardous undertaking. In fact, it's extremely hazardous, if you get my meaning.
- Recruiter #2: It's so hazardous, that, if, uh, you decide not to volunteer, it will not be held against you in any way.
- Alan Shepard: Sounds dangerous.
- Recruiter #1: It is.
- Recruiter #2: Very dangerous.
- Alan Shepard: Count me in.
- Reporter 1#: Gentlemen, I'd like to know from each of you whether your wives and children had anything to say about this. Mr. Slayton?
- Deke Slayton: Uh, mine think it's fine.
- Reporter 2#: Thank you. Mr. Schirra?
- Wally Schirra: Uh, they're all for it.
- John Glenn: You know, I don't think any of us could really go on with something like this if we didn't have pretty good backing at home. Really. My wife's attitude toward this has been the same as it's been all along through my flying. If it's what I want to do, she's behind it, and by golly, my kids are too, a hundred percent!
Cast
- Sam Shepard — Chuck Yeager
- Scott Glenn — Alan Shepard
- Ed Harris — John Glenn
- Dennis Quaid — Gordon Cooper
- Fred Ward — Gus Grissom
- Barbara Hershey — Glennis Yeager
- Kim Stanley — Pancho Barnes
- Veronica Cartright — Betty Grissom
- Pamela Reed — Trudy Cooper
- Scott Paulin — Deke Slayton
- Lance Henriksen — Wally Schirra
- Donald Moffat — Lyndon B. Johnson
- Mary Jo Deschenal — Annie Glenn
