"The Right Stuff"(1983-30th Anniversary Edition)blu-ray coming Nov. 5th, 2013!*

Forum member Vidiot, AKA Marc Wielage, did the film to HD remastering work for "Dances With Wolves", in both the 4 hour blu-ray available at Amazon for $8 and the theatrical cut...which is also available from Amazon UK on a region-free blu-ray for only US $12(7.5 British pounds sterling)...so you can have BOTH cuts of the film for roughly $20 total!!!

 

I was a huge fan of the US space program as a kid. I can still name the astronauts for each Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission. (It was good practice for my later music obsession... )

I loved Tom Wolfe's book and I think Phil Kaufman did a masterful job in translating it for the screen. Definitely one of my all-time favorite films.

And having Ed Harris as John Glenn has got to be one of the greatest casting jobs in movie history IMO.

 

Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard and Fred Ward as Gus Grissom were great choices too. I was born in 1952 so I too grew up with the space program and watched every launch too from Mercury to Apollo. I had the good fortune to work with Neil Armstrong's nephew in the early eighties. I had the front page from the Denver Post from the day of the moon landing and asked him if he thought Neil would sign it. Jay sent it to his father who passed it on to Neil and it was returned to me some weeks later framed and signed. One of my most prized possessions to this day.

 

For me the four hour version really rounds out the story. I always thought the theatrical release seemed choppy and incomplete. I really wasn't that big of fan of the film until I saw the long cut. It's a beautiful film to watch in HD.

 

I prefer the 4-hour cut myself...just thought you'd wanna know BOTH versions are available in blu-ray for a reasonable price...

 

They left the best part of the book out: how the astronauts favorite pastime was getting ripped at the bar and then racing on the highways! Times have really changed!

 

What a great memory of the event! That is an extrememly cool document. I hope you get to keep it in your family for a very long time so others can see it.

 

I appreciate that!

 

Now with EXTRA self-righteousness!

 

You're not a fan of the movie? I've lived in NM all my life and grew up in a town next to the Navajo reservation so I grew up with native Americans. I'm not sure I understand the "self righteousness" comment. Do you mean the Costner's character was self righteous?

 

To me, "Dances with Wolves" has way too much "white man bad, native man good". That's not a perfect rule, but it's too close for my liking. It creates a one-dimensional, self-righteous - dare I say overly politically correct? - portrait, IMO:

http://www.dvdmg.com/danceswithwolves.shtml

 

I certainly respect your opinion. I think that history has shown that in many cases it was a "white man bad, native man good" scenario that was played out on the frontier, from the Sand Creek massacre to Wounded Knee. I guess growing up in that small town on the outskirts of a reservation just left me with a different outlook. I still enjoy the movie and as I said I do respect your opinion.

 

Sure, and I respect yours as well. If I had your experiences, I'm sure I'd see the movie differently...

 

Thanks, and back to The Right Stuff.

 

Ah, yes - "The Right Stuff"! This'll get us back on topic!

 

I agree about Scott Glenn and Fred Ward as well !

My father was a career Air Force man and his enthusiasm for the space program definitely filtered down to me. We watched every launch together . I remember that we always watched CBS and Walter Cronkite's coverage of the launches. No one else but Uncle Walter.

Now that my dad is gone, I am so glad to have those memories.

That is such a cool story about Neil Armstrong and I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing !

 

This will be a must buy for me, should be a treat to watch it on Blu-ray.

 

Cronkite was the man. I'll never forget his broadcast when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Not to get too far off the subject but I really wish From The Earth To The Moon would be released in HD. That was such a great series.

 

I own this on DVD and still watch it from time to time. I agree it is a great series. I especially love the episode that documents the Apollo 1 accident and the subsequent investigation.

 

I would love to see this on the big screen. I remember Siskel & Ebert raving about it and being upset at the poor reception the movie got by the viewing public. Oddly enough, it was considered a box office failure when released.

 

Has anyone gotten their copies of this yet? Mine shipped out today from Amazon Prime and I'm expecting it to arrive tomorrow!!!

 

They had a full scale replica of the Mercury capsule that looked like the real thing. One of my summer jobs--I worked for the company that provided security-- allowed me to to spent a lot of time looking at that brilliantly constructed prop.We were hired because one of the crew was ripping off props, scripts,etc.and selling them on the side but they were never able to pinpoint who. They had the capsule stored at Hamilton Air Force Base in Marin (which no longer exists). It had beenc,posed at that time. They also shot the test sequences set there and used it as the base of operations in North California. My biggest thrill was meeting Caleb Deschanel as they there. I didn't see the film. Til a couple of years later but knew it quite well from reading one of the scripts left onsite and seeing the storyboards for the flying sequences and visual effects.

It was a fun time. Never did get to meet the full cast thoughts not everything was shot there.

 

I've had my review copy for a week but haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Hopefully I'll get to it on Wednesday - "Man of Steel" has priority tonight!