Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Thomas Drufke For many people The Right Stuff is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, and certainly of the 80's. And while it's most definitely a good film, I find it hard to call it one of the all-time greats. The cast from top to bottom is great, and everyone fits their role perfectly. The visual effects and cinematography for a 1983 film are astounding. In fact many aspects of the film are Oscar worthy, but the main thing I think the film is lacking is direction and editing.Yep I said it, the Oscar winning editing for The Right Stuff is dreadful. And I think the directing is at best average. The film has no focus. It goes from being Sam Shepard centric, to a media satire, to a government propaganda film, and finally to an American classic all within the 190 minute runtime. The reason I say that the editing is trash is due to the near 45 minutes to begin the film that don't really impact the story at all. If you want to set up Shepard's character as the greatest pilot on the earth all you need is a few scenes of his glory with a few of the astronauts praising him. Instead you get 45 straight minutes of Shepard and then almost a 2 hour gap without a scene with him. To me that's just awkward film making.With that being said once the team of astronauts is assembled and we get introduced to Ed Harris' character the film becomes really good. I really enjoyed watching each of the characters go through their struggles both inside the space suit and outside. It was cool seeing a young Dennis Quaid alongside a few other Hollywood future stars. There are many classic scenes along with several Oscar worthy acted scenes, but I do wish the film would have took each of the characters missions and combined them to a more team centric story. I know this film is based on a book but I don't think being entirely faithful to a book is the way to go.The film is not bad at all, it's truly a really solid film but I don't see the classic status that many people (smarter than me) give it. Perhaps I'm missing the point of it but otherwise it's a fun watch. You just have to be prepared to set aside 3 hours of your time, and perhaps at least an hour too much, if you wish to witness the beginning of the space race.+Ed Harris & entire classic cast +When the team is together +Effects & cinematography for it's time -An hour should be shaved off -Individual stories are interesting but perhaps unnecessary -So why was Shepard's character important? 7.0/10

jan-hm I saw this movie almost 30 years ago and remember I liked it. Saw it today and was a quite disappointed. "The Right Stuff" suffers from a number of faults.  First of all: Most of the "humour elements" are really just not working. Many politicians, most administrators, both military and civilian, and definitely "ze German Rokketmän" were serious, intelligent and dedicated  people. Not semi-idiots. And, I doubt that the pilots and astronauts really were that laconic. What about civilians stumbling seasick on a flat top flight deck? Never! Thyen the heavy handed twists: Like always showing the press people with the sound of locusts and/or rattlesnakes? Please … stop!  All these minor annoying elements together really damages the film. Then there are certain scenes that could be shortened or removed, like the briefing room- scenes (A clerk is shown running through the corridors with breaking news of soviet shots while people are watching soviet newsreels about the same event. Logical?)  On the other hand, there are many short glimpses that really need better explaining 50-60 years on. Like who was the landlady? (A forgotten legend).  Other issues are more serious. Did Grissom freak out and blow the hatch? The movie suggests this, but if NASA really doubted  Grissom  he would not have been in the Apollo- project. And, so on … On the upside: Production, props and locations still make this a beautiful, beautiful movie to watch, there is a lot of very good acting, and, most important: "The Right Stuff" still captures the MAGIC of early space exploration, a time when dreams came true.  So "The Right Stuff" is still worth watching, but maybe someone can make a "fan edit", closer to the (brilliant) book and historical facts. Cutting down the silliness and removing loose ends, while getting down to the core of the story will make this slightly faded movie great again. (sorry about any errors, English is not my native language)

SBSultans I am a movie fanatic and this movie is one of my all time favorites. I loved how this movie had several themes going on: The best pilot did not have a college degree so he could not be considered for the project. (Yeager) All the tests they gave without having any idea which were really needed since no one had been in space before. There were some very funny scenes and suspense and emotions. One of my favorite scenes was when they all had a big bar-b-que celebration and with all the activities going on, each one of the team looks at each other and communicate without saying a word. I have seen this move at least 20 times and could watch it again tonight and enjoy it once more.

ma-cortes This story broadly painted deals with the beginnings of the US space career and the first seven Mercury astronauts , being based on Tom Wolf's nonfiction novel . The space began when Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard who played legendary pilot , is actually afraid of flying) broke the sound barrier and scorching Mach 2 and following to other aviation pioneers , the Mercury mission with 7 astronauts , the suicide squadron who volunteer for astronaut training is formed by a motley cast (Fred Ward , Dennis Quaid , Lance Henriksen , Ed Harris , Scott Glenn and Scott Paulin) , showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select volunteers to be in it. It was after the Soviets successfully launched the Sputnik satellite in 1959, that the U.S. redoubled its efforts to surpass at their trail of glory in the sky . Electrifying film with credible interpretations but overlong and oddly uninvolving , based on Tom Wolfe's ambitious book about the history of the U.S. Space program , it reads like a novel . However , Tom Wolfe, was unhappy with the film because he felt it made too many changes to the book. William Goldman, the original screenwriter before he left the project also disliked it because he didn't like the way Philip Kaufman portrayed Chuck Yeager as the only hero in the film, while the rest of the astronauts only got lucky and didn't match up to him in any way. The film has that same fictional quality ; furthermore is thrilling , imaginative , rowdy and overlong -at more than three hours , including unnecessary material - all at once . The picture attempts hardly to tell the tale of human beings as well as the space conquest . The movie tries to narrate parallel stories , though it never quite successfully integrate them . It covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager -Sam Shepard- as a test pilot of the old breed , giving a nice and charming performance . It provides an all-star-cast who bolster a fine movie with special mention to Ed Harris playing John Glen who subsequently was running for President . The main cast is perfectly completed by known secondaries as Barbara Hershey , Pamela Reed , Veronica Cartwright , Kathy Baker , David Clennon , Scott Wilson , Jeff Goldblum , Royal Dano , Donald Moffat among others . Special effects work and production design by Geoffrey Kirkland is spectacular and could hardly be bettered ; however , some moments relies heavily from stock-shots . Colorful and atmospheric cinematography by Caleb Deschanel , the role of Annie Glenn was the first film role for his wife , Mary Jo Deschanel . Imaginative and evocative musical score composed and conducted by Bill Conti . The film's music temp track consisted of music from Holst's The Planets, Henry Mancini's score for The White Dawn and various other classical pieces which were favorites of Director 'Philip Kaufman'. ¨Right stuff¨ results to be Philip Kaufman's one of the most successful films . He's a good filmmaker and little prolific who left some great moments in histories that not be forgotten , giving enough inspired images to make linger in the memory such as happens in ¨Right stuff¨ . Kaufman realized a Western ¨Great Northfield Minnessota Raid¨, a youthful tale as ¨The Wanderers¨, Sci-Fi ¨ as ¨Invasion body snatchers¨and two sexual stories ¨Unbearable lightness of being¨ and ¨Henry and June¨.