Last night I pulled out my excellent special edition of this landmark US-released film to watch a few scenes upconverted. Wouldn't you know it---- I couldn't stop myself from staying up til all hours and watching the whole, GWTW-length (3:15) movie for about the fifth time.
This classic hit theatres 25 years ago and should have won the Best Pic Oscar (over the well-acted but, well--- ordinary, "Ordinary People). It DID cop Oscars for the stirring Bill Conti score, film editing, sound and sound editing-- all highly deserved.
The film also served as a major career boost for a whole generation of teriffic actors, most of whom are still at the forefront of film today (Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Shephard, Scott Glenn, Harry Shearer, Veronica Cartwright, Barbara Hershey, Pamela Reed-- and the incredible Fred Ward, plus many more!)
Writer-director Phillip Kaufman's brilliant adaptation of Tom Wolfe's slightly cynical take on the Mercury 7 astronauts is just about as good a film as you will ever see from the 1980s-- or even a decade before or after!
In an era of upcoming change, when our country is unsure about which direction to take to restore our national and international prestige, it would be inspiring to see this terrificaly-entertaining film with its thrilling tribute to the men and the movement that so inspired my generation of young people in the late 1950s and early 1960s-- the days before assasinations, internal turmoil and unwarrented war changed thinking forever.
So, come on, Warners!!!! You've got about seven months to show that YOU have "The Right Stuff" by providing the US and the World a Blu-Ray look at the people and the country that indeed DID have "The Right Stuff."
It's the 25th-Anniversary, folks!!! Let's see it before Christmas!! Please!!
"It's gratifying to live in a country that encourages a man to live up to his full potential."--- Ed Harris as "John Glenn"-- Mercury astronauts' first press conference-- "The Right Stuff"
06-02-2008, 06:27 PM
The Right Stuff (1983)
Linear Mode
