why the yeager and mercury 7 storylines both belong together in The Right Stuff
Posted by
dug (aka chris)
May 29 '09, 10:23
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although the movie is ostensibly about the astronaut program, as the title says, it's really about that elusive quality that the test pilots of the era possessed generally. of whom, Yeager was one of the first and maybe best.
but because he didn't have a college degree, he wasn't eligible for the Mercury program. i guess they could have cut his storyline and the film would have still told the astronaut's story fine. but i think he is the dramatic anchor that lets us see the progress of flight from the first supersonic flight into the jet age. while the Mercury 7 are being regaled in public as the new American heroes, they aren't really doing anything more than sitting on top of a rocket (they have to even fight Von Braun to get a window or steering system in the flight pods). at first, Von Braun wanted to send a chimp up instead because a monkey could do their job. but the public wouldn't accept that.
Yeager was the real one who kept pushing the edge of the envelope every day, "chasing that demon" who lived out past mach whatever. and the astronauts knew this. the key scene is when Cooper is asked at the end who the best pilot he ever saw was. and he almost says Yeager, coming close to saying the words "the right stuff" that pilots are never allowed to talk about themselves. but then the moment passes and he just gives his usual answer "you're lookin at him" that moment wouldn't mean anything if we hadn't seen all of Yeager's story up to that point.
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