The Right Stuff

Director: Philip Kaufman
Year Released: 1983
Rating: 2.0

Starts off with a forty-five minute short film about Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, then goes onto a separate story of the first American Astronauts and how their lives would have looked in comic-book form, then tries to cull up some deep dramatics for the last act just to let you know it's very serious business. Hard as he tries, Kaufman can't tie together the Astronauts' story and Yeager's - when it cuts back to Yeager and his wife later on, he's straining to draw parallels - or grant these fascinating characters with meaningful dialogue.