After Action Report: The Right Stuff

The Wing Commander movie club's consensus is that The Right Stuff has the right stuff. It's a movie that tells both a fascinating story and provides a unique look at the psychology behind some of our heroes (we all agreed that we did NOT have what it takes to ride rockets). Despite the three plus hour run time, The Right Stuff remains snappy and modern. It grabs you from the start and despite the complete second act shift in the narrative it feels cohesive and like everything matters. The only aspect that really sticks out as odd today is the flashes of then-modern humor that punctuate it. This was surely something that in the 80s served to distinguish it from big, slow epics but it feels somewhat dated today. But nowhere near enough to drag down this excellent film!

We talked about the literal reference to Casey having 'the right stuff' in the intro but the character you really come away from the movie appreciating is Maniac. He's exactly the type A, endlessly competitive personality that Wolfe said was needed to be one of those pioneering astronauts. In fact, the games take his career in exactly the same direction as the historical Chuck Yeager complete with lots of time spent as the hottest test pilot in the galaxy… with the Morningstar as his version of the X-1!

We also noticed that Fleet Action steals a scene from The Right Stuff. The part in the novel where a woman doesn't realize the gilded mugs at the pilots' bar represent comrades killed in action is pretty clearly taken from the scene where Gordo Cooper embarrasses himself by telling Pancho Barnes she'll be putting his picture on the bar's wall (of dead test pilots).

"Say, I like these mugs up here," the woman who had been talking to Jason announced, going up to the wall and taking one down. The bar went silent.

"Especially the ones with the gold handle. How can I get one?"

"You get killed in action, that's how. Gallagher gilds the handle of the mug when he hears that the owner bought a permanent piece of space," Jason said quietly, and the woman looked at him wide eyed and then turned pale.