Right Stuff

UPC: 085392002726

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity]

Summary: Covering some 15 years, The Right Stuff recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard, the first American in space; Fred Ward is Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and Ed Harris is John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are Deke Slayton (Scott Paulin), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank), Wally Schirra (Lance Henriksen) and Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid). Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Picture - Drama – null Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: ccSoundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive menus
Production notes
Theatrical trailer
Scene access
Languages: English and Fran?ais
Subtitles: English, Fran?ais, Espa?ol

Right Stuff

Format: DVD

Release Date: 06/25/1997

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 193 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 -- WIDESCREEN
0. Scene Index: Side A
1. Opening: the demon. [5:05]
2. Sizing up the X-1. [1:38]
3. Poncho's Happy Bottom Riding Club. [4:38]
4. Catching Glamourous Glennis. [2:47]
5. Beyond the sound barrier. [8:43]
6. Top secret. [2:30]
7. "The best pilot" arrives at Edwards. [3:47]
8. Pudknockers reunion. [2:45]
9. Wives compare notes. [3:52]
10. "No bucks, no Buck Rogers." [3:31]
11. Where the demon lives. [4:10]
12. Sputnik: spaceman candidates. [10:34]
13. A TV personality. [2:14]
14. Count the aviator in. [1:51]
15. Put to the test. [8:59]
16. Dueling specimens. [4:01]
17. The Coopers recouple; the ordeal of capsule life. [6:03]
18. America's Mercury Astronauts. [8:55]
19. Quiet time with Mr. and Mrs. Dudley Do-Right. [2:30]
20. Misfires. [2:07]
21. The issues: zippers and monkeys. [6:43]
22. Critiquing the spacecraft. [4:15]
Side #1 -- WIDESCREEN
0. Scene Index: Side B
1. Chapter 1 [1:44]
2. Chapter 2 [2:00]
3. Chapter 3 [1:03]
4. Chapter 4 [3:43]
5. Chapter 5 [3:50]
6. Chapter 6 [6:03]
7. Chapter 7 [5:32]
8. Chapter 8 [8:19]
9. Chapter 9 [4:55]
10. Chapter 10 [5:40]
11. Chapter 11 [1:58]
12. Chapter 12 [6:53]
13. Chapter 13 [1:22]
14. Chapter 14 [4:02]
15. Chapter 15 [5:22]
16. Chapter 16 [1:53]
17. Chapter 17 [6:27]
18. Chapter 18 [3:37]
19. Chapter 19 [7:15]
20. Chapter 20 [9:06]

Nathan Southern

As adapted from Tom Wolfe's seminal novel about the early years of the space program, this stunning, soaring epic (magnificent in the purest sense of the word) manages to capture the exact overtones and themes of its source material while evincing extreme faithfulness to the individual experiences of the first astronauts. Director and scriptwriter Philip Kaufman (who inherited and quickly jettisoned an early adaptation by William Goldman) models his story within the framework of the American western, via countless homages to the cinema of John Ford. In fact, (as film critic Danny Peary notes) Kaufman utilizes the basic dramatic structure and premise of Ford's classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); just as, in that picture, John Wayne rubbed out the villain (and thus, helped tame the west) enabling Jimmy Stewart to take credit for the feat, here Kaufman reveals how aviator Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) pioneered the early space program while allowing the media to bestow laurels on the undeserving astronauts. Undeserving, that is, until the men proved themselves once and for all by demonstrating that they had "the right stuff" to qualify as heroes. Throughout, Kaufman interweaves strands of liberal satirical humor, penetrating social commentary and even mysticism (in Australian scenes involving aboriginal rites) within a brilliantly crafted narrative; he also utilizes a healthy amount of footage by the San Francisco-based experimental filmmaker Jordan Belson, who helped create many of the visual effects for outer space. That collaboration paid off: throughout, we are continually dazzled by the showstopping grandeur of extraterrestrial exploration. An epic to end all epics, this picture boasts first rate work by an all-star cast - Shepard, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Scott Glenn, Scott Wilson and Barbara Hershey (to name only a few) deliver some of the finest performances of their careers. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mary Apick  Actor 
Tom Dahlgren  Actor 
O-Lan Jones  Actor 
Richard Duppell  Actor 
John Dehner  Actor 
John X. Heart  Actor 
Lynn Stalmaster  Actor 
William Hall  Actor 
Ed Corbett  Actor 
Gen. Chuck Yeager  Actor 
Maureen Coyne  Actor 
Bob Elross  Actor 
Michael Pritchard  Actor 
James Brady  Actor 
David Gulpilil  Actor 
Ed Holmes  Actor 
William Russ  Actor 
Edward Anhalt  Actor 
Katherine Conklin  Actor 
Kaaren Lee  Actor 
Eric Sevareid  Actor 
Toni Howard  Actor 
Robert Beer  Actor 
Levon Helm  Actor 
Robert Chartoff  Producer 
Bill Conti  Composer (Music Score) 
William Goldman  Screenwriter 
Philip Kaufman  Director 
Philip Kaufman  Screenwriter 
Irwin Winkler  Producer 
James D. Brubaker  Executive Producer 
Sam Shepard  Actor 
Scott Glenn  Actor 
Ed Harris  Actor 
Dennis Quaid  Actor 
Fred Ward  Actor 
Barbara Hershey  Actor 
Kim Stanley  Actor 
Veronica Cartwright  Actor 
Pamela Reed  Actor 
Scott Paulin  Actor 
Charles Frank  Actor 
Lance Henriksen  Actor 
Donald Moffat  Actor 
Mary Jo Deschanel  Actor 
Scott Wilson  Actor 
Kathy Baker  Actor 
Mickey Crocker  Actor 
Susan Kase  Actor 
Mittie Smith  Actor 
Royal Dano  Actor 
David Clennon  Actor 
Jim Haynie  Actor 
Harry Shearer  Actor 
Jeff Goldblum  Actor 
Scott Beach  Actor 
Jane Dornacker  Actor 
Anthony Munoz  Actor 
John Ryan  Actor 
Darryl Henriques  Actor 

Country: USA