SummaryThe story of the original Mercury 7 astronauts and their macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program.
Directed By:Philip Kaufman
Written By:Philip Kaufman, Tom Wolfe
The Right Stuff
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
91
User score
Generally Favorable
7.9
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
94% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
The movie has the happy, enthusiastic spirit of a fanfare, and it's astonishingly entertaining considering how divided it is in spirit...Whatever one's reservations, the film is great fun to watch.
100
A GREAT American movie in a new epic form, The Right Stuff fuses the comic and the heroic to emerge as a knockabout social comedy that also packs a thriller inspirational and -- why deny it?-- patriotic wallop.
User score
Generally Favorable
84% Positive
37 Ratings
37 Ratings
11% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
5% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
May 4, 2024
10
If you don't get chills watching this film and soundtrack, there is something missing in you. Incredible special effects.
Oct 15, 2018
10
This is the only film I have ever seen where the entire cinema audience, spontaneously, stood up at the end with a standing ovation. It's that engrossing, and that well done, and stays true to the spirit of Tom Wolfe's book, which is itself one of the great masterpieces of American literature, vividly conveying the drama, humor, tragedy, and glory of US experimental aviation and spaceflight in the 1950s and early 60s. One of the greatest ensemble casts ever put together delivers many simultaneous career-best performances as the Mercury Seven. Astoundingly well-cast, with the slight exception of Sam Shepherd who's just a little too movie-star for the Yeager part and whose fake drawl doesn't quite make it. However, they managed to get the *actual* Yeager in there, as a local yokel in a bar scene, so it all evens out I guess. Considering the relatively primitive special effects technology available in those times, it's notable how good the flight scenes are compared to more recent big-budget films -- in many scenes better than "First Man", for example. The director, editor, and cinematographer just had superior skills and execution compared to their counterparts today. They did much more, with much less. This film needs to be brought back for another go-round, another wide release, so that a new generation can stand up and cheer one of the great stories of American history.
100
Kaufman (like Tom Wolfe, whose book The Right Stuff this is taken from) is well enough aware of the media circus surrounding the whole project, but still celebrates his magnificent seven's heroism with a rhetoric that is respectful and irresistible.
100
Kaufman's love for the Yeager character pays off in the magical closing sequence of the film, when the "best pilot in the world" eyeballs anew Air Force jet and says, "I have a feeling this little old plane right here might be able to beat that Russian record."
90
In a brash, beautiful, deeply American film, Kaufman has combined the resources and ingenuity of movie making with the freewheeling, damn-the-conventions style of of the New Journalism and come up with a generous, high-spirited look at the bravery and lunacy that was that era.
80
Efficient and absorbing...In spite of Kaufman's frequent faults of taste and judgment, the film flies on the strength of its collective performances—which range from the merely excellent (Scott Glenn) to the sublime (Ed Harris).
50
It is long. Very, very long...And it feels its length, feels every bit the 190 minutes of it. This is a problem for a movie. A movie can be any length at all if its audience remains unaware of its artifice, remains suspended in time. But in The Right Stuff, we are always aware that there's a movie going on, rather than lives on a screen; by the end, there is the feeling of having been dragged through recent history, feet first. The Right Stuff is exciting from time to time; it has its jolts and its snaps and its nostalgic tweaks. But there is more to a roller coaster than a bumpy ride, and The Right Stuff does not thrill. [16 Oct 1983, p.L1]
Jan 21, 2021
8
An entertaining and compelling biopic that at times becomes a slog with it's 3 hour plus running time.
Oct 20, 2019
6
Reasonably entertaining, well-acted and directed but not always compelling over a long runtime.
Production Company:
- The Ladd Company
- Chartoff-Winkler Productions
Release Date:Oct 21, 1983
Duration:3 h 13 m
Rating:PG
Tagline:By flying higher and faster than any other man had ever dared before, Chuck Yeager set the pace for a new breed of hero. Those that had just one thing in common...THE RIGHT STUFF.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 4 Wins & 8 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 3 Nominations
