r/Ijustwatched • u/screen_stack • 3d ago
IJW: The Right Stuff (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Rating: 9/10
Watched: October 6, 2026
Watching a movie like The Right Stuff, I couldn't help but feel painfully aware of the bigness of the events that go into it. I wasn't alive when all this was happening, but I grew up in a world where men trained vigorously to do something no one anywhere had ever done before.
Even though it's been fictionalized in places, and dramatic license was taken, it's all in the name of telling one helluva good story. I'm not someone who really enjoys biographies or documentaries, so when they take the iron core of a historical event like this one and jazz it up a bit to make it more compelling, I take no issue.
And that's why the bigness hits harder for more than if I were to watch a documentary of the same. I know, I know, that might make me a poseur or something, but it's hard for me to connect with that sort of telling for some reason. When a story this important is told by people like Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid and Fred Ward?
That's how you tell it. I've seen a lot of star-studded movies so far this month, but The Right Stuff looked at other movies and said 'we're going to go bigger than all of you combined' and then they went and got a powerhouse stable of men and women that dominated Hollywood for at least two decades. In some cases, longer still!
But before I get to any other particulars, I want to talk a bit about one of the scenes. If you're lucky, you've got the clip to watch. If not, it's one of the early scenes, where Scott Glenn as Alan Shepherd is undergoing a medical test.
The test itself is bonkers. It's the one where they jam an iron needle into his hand and crank up the juice and keep going until I was waiting for a damned Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother to show up and demand he stick his hand in a box. That moment was so wild and nasty that I actually had to pause and Google, because to my mind, there was no way that that could be a real medical test, done by professionals.
I mean, I knew that the tests for the very first astronauts were basically 'let's try this and see what we learn', but holy cats. Learning that they really did to that exact thing to real people is crazy to me.
At the end of the day (and the movie), watching something like The Right Stuff is a great trip through history. The filmmakers do a great job of integrating historical footage into the movie so we can a true sense of accomplishments and struggles alike, while also giving us a good look into the lives of the men and women involved.
Is some of it untrue in the strictest sense?
Yes, I suppose so, but that doesn't mean a dang thing. The Right Stuff is a fantastic movie worth your time.
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u/SlyBry2025 3d ago
My dad was a rocket engineer for the US Navy, so I grew up with the space program. I had a chance to visit Kennedy Space Center about 20 years ago and check out the Rocket Garden. Dwarfed among the others was a mock up of the Mercury vehicle. I stared at that, marvelling that it really just an ICBM with a human payload perched at the top.
I got quite teary, and all I could think of was, "What balls."
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u/bongozap 3d ago
“I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract”.
- John Glenn, but also attributed to Alan Shepard
Balls, indeed.
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u/Sea_Dust895 2d ago
And you get in it. And it is so small and cramped. Feels like youre in a canvas camping chain, inside a filing cabinet
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u/Most-Artichoke6184 3d ago
One of the very rare occasions when I absolutely adored a book and then the movie came out and it was just as good.
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u/Ancient_Barnacle4245 3d ago
Oh, I love this movie. I credit The Right Stuff for being the reason a twelve year old me learned about the space race.
I saw it on premium cable in early 1984 as I recall.. My Mom wanted to watch it one Saturday and we hadn't actually spent any time together just hanging out for a while, so we watched it together. I was astonished at how well the film pulled me in and kept my attention, even at its substantial length.
I'm not sure I've ever seen another cast as stacked as the one in The Right Stuff. It's a monumental motion picture achievement and the gold standard for docudramas.
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u/MRM_philosophy 3d ago
This is an awesome memory with your Mom! I mentioned this earlier, too, that the runtime of over three hours was unusual at that time and it is one of the most engaging, captivating and beautifully shot and acted films and truly one of the greatest assembled cast of all time
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u/attitude_devant 3d ago
LBJ fuming in his car when Annie Glenn refuses to admit him….
At the time the movie was released John Glenn was running for president and there was some talk that the movie might sway voters. But I remember a political cartoon (remember those?) with two guys walking out of a theater, one saying, “Forget John Glenn, I’m voting for Chuck Yeager!”
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u/Fit_Explorer_2566 3d ago
Watched it in the theatre when it came out, own the DVD. Love this movie. The climax is fantastic.
I grew up following the Mercury, Gemini and then Apollo programs, and vividly remember the tragedy of Apollo I and the loss of White, Grissom and Chaffee. In elementary school, the entire school would come into the All Purpose Room to sit on the floor to watch launches and splashdowns on the one B&W TV.
Watching The Right Stuff lets me relive a bit of the thrill I had as a kid following our space program, and the immense national pride that we had when we sent 12 men to the Moon and returned them safely to Earth.
I highly recommend Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Netflix).
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u/Thewatcher12b 3d ago
I watched it in the theatre when it came out, fantastic movie and still one of my faves.
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u/toughlovekb 3d ago
I'm not a fearful man
But I'm scared of you
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u/MRM_philosophy 3d ago
Oh this scene with Sam Sheperd and Barbara Hershey IS SO AWESOME!
It’s indelibly burned into my brain.
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u/asromatifoso 3d ago
It's a great movie with an amazing cast! The book, which is non-fiction, is even better. Won the National Book Award. It's one of those books I re-read every few years.
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u/MRM_philosophy 3d ago
Me also!!! Tom Wolfe is such an amazing author! Highly recommend reading. The movie is still one of my top-three favorites of all time.
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u/5o7bot 3d ago
The Right Stuff (1983) PG
How the future began.
At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.
Drama | History
Director: Philip Kaufman
Actors: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward
Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 74% with 1,017 votes
Runtime: 193 min
TMDB
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u/buzzskeeter 3d ago
There is an autobiography of Chuck Yeager. It's fascinating as well? It's called "Yeager".
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u/snikle 3d ago
Also a sequel, Press On.
I will say that I found Yeager’s escape and evasion report on the National Archives site recently. The story he tells in Yeager of being shot down over southern France and making his way to Spain is…. Well, way, way more colorful than the one he filed after his return to the US army.
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u/Guilty-Coconut8908 3d ago
I saw it in the theater when it first came out and that was the fastest three hours in my memory. Excellent movie.
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u/Chicago_Falcon_51 3d ago
Not a religious person, but to this day I still occasionally recite The Astronauts Prayer.
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u/Key-Employee3584 2d ago
It's a great movie. It does take some liberties with reality but that's ok. It's supposed to be entertainment. And it made so many people astronaut and Yeager fan-bois. I was one as well until I learned about how AoA for NF-104s test flights were determined and how Yeager took liberties with them. Still respect though, just to get to ARPS director is a bit of a test. And astronauts really are steely-eyed missile operators.
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u/MRM_philosophy 3d ago
I saw this film when it came out at the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. Huge screen and beautiful ornate, iconic theater.
The experience was incredible and the film is one of the absolute the best ever!! I was in my early 20’s but already a student of American history and loved this time period. Most movies weren’t nearly this long back then - it’s over 3 hours. But it didn’t seem long - it was fully engaging with one of the greatest and largest casts in history of principal players. Look up the cast - it’s a Who’s Who of actors and actresses!
The history of the space program is some of the greatest times of innovation in American and world history. There are many smaller stories being told in this film but they fully immerse you in the experience and historical context of this time period.
This is one of my three favorite films of all time, still to this day! And the soundtrack, composed by Bill Conti, who won the Oscar, was so perfect and is one of the most rousing, exciting, gorgeous and memorable scores of all time!