Charting the early days of the space race, from Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier in 1947 to John Glenn's 1962 orbit of the Earth, this epic adaptation of Tom Wolfe's book failed to find an audience back in 1983. With hindsight, though, it emerges as a thoughtful, poetic work that pays due homage to the heroism of these space-age pioneers, while vicariously revelling in their thrilling exploits.
On an educational note there’s a revealing PBS doc on Glenn, while a timeline charts the developments in the space programme. Seeing as Kaufman’s first cut ran for five hours, however, you might have expected more deleted scenes than the scratchy off cuts assembled here.