The So-So Stuff
Written: Mar 01 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of information, sprinkled with entertaining anecdotes.
Cons: Neither a good history, nor a good drama. Lacks identity.
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| Chuck_Hansen's Full Review: Right Stuff Books |
Although critically acclaimed, the film version of "The Right Stuff" never made it big at the box office. It suffered from being too long for the public's notoriously short attention span, and also had the misfortune of being <shudder> historical! Those two elements alone aren't enough to keep a good movie down (witness the success of "Braveheart"), but when you factor in the lack of a villain, no gratuitous nudity, and the fact that everyone knows the ending, the general public took the film with a shrug and plunked down their dollars to see the latest sex-n-violence blockbuster on screen 7 of the multiplex. Had the film had a less sweeping story, been an hour shorter, and starred Tom Hanks, it would probably have drawn moviegoers the way "Apollo 13" did. But it wasn't, it didn't, and no amount of critical acclaim could cheer its box office blues.
Always a sucker for anything dealing with the space program, I ate up "The Right Stuff" when I saw it. It was pure fascination from opening frame to closing credits for me, and still is. The film riveted me with it's portrayal of the test pilots who became the new American hero, the Mercury Astronauts. When my eyes lit on a copy of Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" on a giveaway shelf in a local library I snatched it up like it was one of Wonka's Golden Tickets. Like a true book hoarder, I inwardly chuckled with miserly glee as I went home and prepared to indulge my new treasure. After all, the book is always better than the movie.
Actually, in some rare instances, the movie actually is more satisfying, and does a better job at its task than the book which spawned it. I refer to this as "Jurassic Park" Syndrome. It is nearly as rare as hen's teeth, but it does happen. "The Right Stuff" is a case in point.
"The Right Stuff", both film and book, is the story of the earliest days of America's space program. Wolfe chronicles the development of the Mercury missions from inception to completion, and weaves together all the elements of the day that bore on the problem, from Cold War Posturing, to the political wrangling between the factions in Congress, to the ever capricious whims of public sentiment. The many engineering hurdles, costly failures, and triumphant successes are all set down herein, as well as the infighting, petty jealousies, and personality conflicts that never saw the light of day in the era of a more discreet press bent on making heroes of the astronauts (as well as selling lots of magazines). Often, one gets the impression that the chaos surrounding the space program could never actually get a man off the ground, let alone into orbit, despite the fact that we know they did just that. "The Right Stuff" does make for an interesting read if you are at all interested in our space program, and the novel's treatment of these times is more complete than the movie's, yet it still doesn't quite satisfy.
Wolfe's prose is readable, and his wry sense of humor is entertaining when he lets it bubble up into view, but his book lacks a central identity. Wolfe tries to provide a good story and a good history at once in these pages, but ends up with a book that wanders from one to the other without any sense of self. Written for a lay audience, it isn't documented at all, and Wolfe often glosses over details or only lightly touches important aspects of his chronicle. On the other hand, Wolfe does try to give us glimpses into the characters and personalities of many of the astronauts, pilots, and their wives, but he never manages to make you feel as if he really knows these people, let alone that you know them. Everything reads like third or fourth-hand information, hearsay passed on by someone who knew a guy who had a friend who was John Glenn's cousin. Consequently, Wolfe's historical authority feels weak and uneven at the same time that his dry, flat renderings of the principle people involved makes the personal elements dull and lackluster. Had Wolfe written a detailed history or a truth-based novel, either one might have worked. Instead Wolfe tried to incorporate both elements, and ended up with neither.
What makes the movie version so much better and more satisfying is that it knew what it wanted to be. It is a dramatic story based on real life people and events. It tells the tale of the day at the same time that it lets the audience share in the drama with the people involved.
Those of you out there with an interest in the space program should pick this up. There are a lot of interesting anecdotes and bits of information in this book. Historians looking for meat, on the other hand, should pass this one by. Everyone else? Go down to Blockbuster and rent the movie. It's around 4 hours long, but well worth the buck-fifty. You may even rediscover how exciting and adventurous the space program really is, instead of taking it for granted the way most Americans do these days.
Recommended:
Yes
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Chuck_Hansen
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Member: Chuck Hansen
Reviews written: 128
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