1983
Directed by Philip Kaufman
I think this film was supposed to appeal to the child in all of us that wanted to be an astronaut. Unfortunately, no such child has ever existed in me and this was an extremely dull way to spend 193 minutes.
The movie follows the lives of the test pilots and military pilots who were involved in Project Mercury. Honestly, it seems like it would be exhausting to go into more detail than that. Suffice to say, it is one long history lesson.
You have some great actors in this, but there wasn't one character whose story particularly stood out to me. I sound so heartless talking about this as though it's fiction. Obviously, the real astronauts were incredibly brave. It's my own fault; I have never taken to films about space. Why do they always have to be so long?
I should also add that I wasn't alive for the space race and reminiscing probably adds to a lot of people's enjoyment of this film. Just not my genre.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
A parachute stuntman died while filming the scene where Yeager is ejected from the aircraft.
