# The Right Stuff (film) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432 "2011-08-20T15:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/41 "2011-08-22T15:42:34Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I don’t think Glenn’s “fireflies” were figured out until a later mission (Scott Carpenter’s, I think). Speaking of, I wish there was an expanded version of the movie that touched on Carpenter’s & Schirra’s missions. According to the book, Carpenter screwed the pooch big-time & effectively ended his astronaut career. Schirra followed up with a near perfect mission. Whether Carpenter screwed anything up can be debated, but it was an injury that ended his flying career. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/42 "2011-08-22T18:09:08Z")
I just saw this movie (other than bits and pieces) for the first time last month. Absolutely love it (of course, I’m a big fan of space). Now I know the movie takes big liberties with the facts, but does anyone know if they were seriously considering sending surfers and circus performers into space? That part seemed so incredulous that it completely took me out of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/43 "2011-08-22T19:59:07Z")
They weren’t originally supposed to be pilots, just passengers, and maybe acrobats are less likely to puke. And cheaper than highly-trained test pilots. I think Ham had more responsibilities than the astronauts were going to be given. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/44 "2011-08-22T20:57:46Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I don’t think Glenn’s “fireflies” were figured out until a later mission (Scott Carpenter’s, I think). Speaking of, I wish there was an expanded version of the movie that touched on Carpenter’s & Schirra’s missions. According to the book, Carpenter screwed the pooch big-time & effectively ended his astronaut career. Schirra followed up with a near perfect mission. As the movie points out, there were factions and rivalries within the Mercury 7, though the screenplay limits it to the issue of fooling around with “the cookies.” The book expands on the rivalries, and shows how Scottie Carpenter’s flight was a turning point. When it came Carpenter’s time to fly, he brought with him into the capsule a number of materials to be used for conducting scientific experiments (I’m going on memory here so I can’t elaborate). He spent so much of his flight time tinkering with his gadgets that he failed to stay on course. When it came time to position for re-entry, he nearly used up his entire fuel supply trying to compensate for this. Deke Slayton and Wally Schirra were able to use this as leverage to have Carpenter grounded from future missions. Jolly Wally further nailed this point home by striking anything he considered non-essential from his own flight plan, thereby emphasizing his own relative efficiency and Carpenter’s “lack of focus.” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/45 "2011-08-22T21:33:51Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Count me in as a huge fan of that film. > > I think it is perhaps too long for our short-attention-span-society-in-general. The first time I saw this movie was when it was in the theaters. I walked out thinking “I thought that movie was supposed to be three hours long.” Then I looked at my watch - it _had been_ over three hours! That movie just sucked me right in and I lost all concept of time. Sometime soon I plan on showing this movie to my two grandsons who are about 10-11 yrs old and will see how far they make it into the movie before they get bored and start looking for something else to do. (It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it - there’s nothing inappropriate in it for kids that age, is there?) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/46 "2011-08-22T22:26:58Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Sometime soon I plan on showing this movie to my two grandsons who are about 10-11 yrs old and will see how far they make it into the movie before they get bored and start looking for something else to do. (It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it - there’s nothing inappropriate in it for kids that age, is there?) Well, there’s the scene with Cooper and Glenn in neighboring stalls in the clinic’s bathroom launching sperm samples for science. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/47 "2011-08-22T22:27:39Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > During an early Shuttle landing (or launch, I forget) Walter Cronkite was there doing commentary about the early NASA days and someone mentioned this actor’s portrayal of LBJ in the film. Cronkite kind of went off about it saying that it was ridiculous the way they made him look like such a buffoon. He said he would not ever have acted so selfishly, trying to use an astronaut’s possible death as a PR stunt. Kinda has a point, it would have been a reprehensible thing to do. But that was our li’l ol’ LBJ. He was a bit of a cartoon, and I don’t recall us minding it that much. Show us your scar? Lift a beagle by its ears? Try to send my big brother to Vietnam? Okay, we objected to that last one. But LBJ was somewhere between a brilliant politician and a bit of a buffoon. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/48 "2011-08-23T01:50:01Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Well, there’s the scene with Cooper and Glenn in neighboring stalls in the clinic’s bathroom launching sperm samples for science. ‘I am _not_ a pud-knocker!’ ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/49 "2011-08-23T01:58:08Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > As the movie points out, there were factions and rivalries within the Mercury 7, though the screenplay limits it to the issue of fooling around with “the cookies.” The book expands on the rivalries, and shows how Scottie Carpenter’s flight was a turning point. When it came Carpenter’s time to fly, he brought with him into the capsule a number of materials to be used for conducting scientific experiments (I’m going on memory here so I can’t elaborate). He spent so much of his flight time tinkering with his gadgets that he failed to stay on course. When it came time to position for re-entry, he nearly used up his entire fuel supply trying to compensate for this. Deke Slayton and Wally Schirra were able to use this as leverage to have Carpenter grounded from future missions. Jolly Wally further nailed this point home by striking anything he considered non-essential from his own flight plan, thereby emphasizing his own relative efficiency and Carpenter’s “lack of focus.” The book said it was Chris Kraft. He couldn’t have gone up again anyway because he suffered a grounding injury riding a motorcycle. Instead he participated in the SEALAB program and spent a few weeks underwater. Wally Schirra later wrecked his own reputation within NASA during Apollo 7. As far as Gus Grissom goes, I agree that the book does him no justice, but remember that it was written in a contemporary tone, and what he reported was highly implausible to the engineers and his physiological readings were indicative of panic. I’d say that history has vindicated him, but what was portrayed in the book was very much the sentiment back then. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/50 "2011-08-23T02:32:39Z")
Wow, I just rewatched this on Netflix this past weekend! I’m also reading Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz and really loving it. The space race was something great. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/51 "2011-08-23T03:05:05Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I’m also reading Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz and really loving it. I read that. Good account of the Space Program. I found Kranz’s constant flag-waving a little heavy-handed, though. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/52 "2011-08-23T03:11:59Z")
Gene Kranz? Chris Kraft? You are getting old when you remember what these guys looked like. As an Air Force Brat that movie was the soundtrack of my childhood. Yeager lighting the candle on an F-104? My asshole cousin flew them. (shrug) He was a fighter jock, so “asshole” was a given. Stole my name, though. Asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/53 "2011-08-23T06:59:10Z")
If you want more detail on the space program, I highly recommend the miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”. It’s really good. In particular, the episode that detailed the design and engineering of the LEM was just awesome. But the whole thing is worth watching. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/54 "2011-08-24T02:36:42Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I was working at Edwards AFB when _The Right Stuff_ was made. I was even an extra in it. (Alas, not in the final cut.) This is one of my favourite films because, I was there, man! OK, I wasn’t there in the time period depicted in it. (Heck, I wasn’t old enough to _drink_ when I started there!) But I smelled burning kerosene every morning, and was greeted by a large photo of Jack Ridley as I walked into Mission Control. I’d see X-planes sitting on the ramp every day, and sometimes I saw them fly. My badge would get me into NASA when I was on the Space Shuttle Support Team. On the B-1B team I drove by Doug Benefield’s Porsche 924 on the way to the hangar, waiting in the lot for its owner who would never return. The ‘arthritic’ (as described in the book) Joshua trees grew everywhere. (‘You know when you’ve been in the Antelope Valley too long when you think of Joshua trees as real trees.’) I never met Pancho Barnes, but I learned to fly at Barnes Aviation. The heat, the wind, the big ‘M&M’ hangars where the film was shot… all were familiar to me. Plus I got vacation pay and minimum wage and excellent food for being an extra on the film. > > What a film! Despite its many inaccuracies and liberties. When _Apollo 13_ came out, _The Right Stuff_ paled a bit. _Apollo 13_ was a much more serious film, while _The Right Stuff_ was almost a comedy – was a comedy in several parts. The former took pains to maintain accuracy; the latter, as I said, took liberties. Still the Antelope Valley part of the Mojave Desert is beautiful, both on-screen and in real life. And I was impressed that the makers of _The Right Stuff_ went to the effort of including a very convincing stand-in for the D-558-2. There’s one on a pedestal at the local college. > > The book is better, but the film is beautifully shot and well acted. Casting was great. Sorry, Ron Howard. Scott Glenn ]is Alan Shepard; not Ted Levine! And Fred Ward made a great Gus Grissom. Even looked a bit like him. Speaking of whom, this is my One Big Complaint of _The Right Stuff_. Grissom was slandered. Yes, his hatch blew. Yes, he was suspected of having blown the hatch. But he was officially exonerated. If he really ‘screwed the pooch’, I don’t think it likely he would have commanded the first Gemini flight, nor the tragic first Apollo mission. The film made him out to be a screw-up, and I think it’s an unfair depiction. But back to casting. Pancho Barnes wasn’t so attractive as she was depicted in the film. Not to be unkind to a great aviation pioneer and famed friend to pilots, but she really wasn’t very attractive. I liked Chuck Yeager as ‘Fred’. (‘Y’all want a drink o’ whisky?') Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer were great as the Recruiters, though the scene aboard the aircraft carrier was a bit over the top. > > One shot that always bugs me is when Yeager flies the X-1 to break the sound barrier. Barbara Hershey is standing next to a jeep. When Yeager hits mach 1 and the boom is heard, people think he’s ‘bought the farm’. Hershey, her arms crossed, looks down in loss. Only they used another take of that shot _before_ the boom. There was no reason for it. It’s a nitpick, I know, and nobody else noticed it. It’s just that it’s always bugged me. > > _The Right Stuff_ is where I first heard ‘pudknocker’. We have woodpeckers up here, and I call them pudknockers. My g/f at the time (well, mid-to-late-'80s) and I would frequently say, ‘There aren’t any snakes here, are there?’ ‘Yeah, in the bushes.’ > > Living in the area in my mid-teens to mid-20s, flying in the same endless blue bowl of the sky that the test pilots did, working at Edwards and knowing a bit of the culture, and having been young when the film debuted might colour my perception of _The Right Stuff_. It’s not all whiz-bang like _Top Gun_ and its knock-offs would be, and which excited general viewers. _The Right Stuff_ won critical acclaim and four Academy Awards, but it still lost money on its original release. I guess audiences weren’t ready for a historical drama – even with added comedy – and preferred wait for the red-hot fighter jocks and rock soundtracks. _Apollo 13_ was more in the vein of _The Right Stuff_ and did very well. I wonder how it would have faired in the early-'80s, or if no one knew Tom Hanks? i only came in here to say how insanely jealous i am of you, **LA**. i think i’d have sold my mother to get to do what you did. and yes, i have a dvd of ‘the right stuff’ and watch it fairly often. i list it in my top ten of favorite movies i watch over and over. i agree, as does most of indiana where i live now, that grissom was most definitely slandered. these guys were **test pilots** , folks. nerves of frickin’ stainless steel and that’s what they were hired for. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/55 "2011-08-24T04:09:18Z")
Using the vernacular, Fucking A. I never questioned Gus Grissom’s courage. Balls of stainless steel, if you’ll pardon me. And yeah, that’s what they were hired for. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/56 "2011-08-24T04:17:12Z")
And, to be honest, I’m not entirely clear how to separate these guys from the demigods of Greek mythology, except I saw some of them die. They were legendary and, with a couple thousand years, the legends would take over. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/57 "2011-08-25T05:21:04Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > As far as Gus Grissom goes, I agree that the book does him no justice, but remember that it was written in a contemporary tone, and what he reported was highly implausible to the engineers and his physiological readings were indicative of panic. I seem to remember reading that Grissom’s heart rate was actually _ **the lowest** _ of the first three Mercury astronauts during this part of the mission. It added to the conflicting facts about the whole incident. It does seem rather ridiculous to think Grissom panicked. Why? Claustrophobia? Motion sickness? Fear of drowning? These guys were probably the most highly tested individuals on the planet at the time. There’s simply no way he could have suddenly experienced any of those things. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/58 "2011-08-25T10:31:53Z")
It was a cool line in the film from his wife: “Instead of being Mrs honorable astronaut I’m Mrs squirming hatch-blower.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/59 "2011-08-25T14:32:03Z")
I don’t remember if the F-104 was there in the hangar when I was being a ‘prop that eats’, but the T-33s were. Pretty planes. But has there ever been a more beautiful interceptor than the F-104 Starfighter? Not a great showing in air-to-air combat, and its safety record was abysmal. (The _Luftwaffe_ lost 30% of its Starfighters, and Canada lost 50% of theirs. Spain didn’t lose any, though.) Still, what a Sexy Beast! It was beautiful in the film. There’s an [NF-104](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NF-104.jpg) – the one with the rocket in the tail, which is the kind Yeager was supposed to be flying in the film (the film aircraft didn’t have it) – [mounted on a pedestal outside of the Test Pilot School](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/USAF_TPS_PAM_36-7_22_June_2007.png/300px-USAF_TPS_PAM_36-7_22_June_2007.png). Funny story: When I was at EAFB, stealth aircraft ‘didn’t exist’. When the NF-104 was removed from the pedestal for refurbishment, some wag put a hand-painted sign in front of the empty pedestal that said ‘STEALTH’. 😛 (In another example of whimsey, the lake beds would fill with water every Spring. Someone put a black, three- or four-foot shark’s fin made of plywood out there next to Rosamond Blvd.) Speaking of planes, did you all catch this anachronism? Yeager is getting ready to fly the X-1, and the B-29 carrying it is taxiing out. In the background you can see a T-34A Mentor. The scene took place in 1947, but the T-34 was not produced until 1953. ([This is the plane itself](http://www.t-34.com/aircraft/G-117/G-117_4oclock.jpg), owned by the Edwards AFB Aero Club.) ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432/60 "2011-08-25T14:52:36Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > It was a cool line in the film from his wife: “Instead of being Mrs honorable astronaut I’m > Mrs squirming hatch-blower.” “No…Jackie?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-right-stuff-film/593432.md?page=4)