Philip Kaufman
Drama
1983
Four Academy Awards! Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Sam Shepard and a stellar cast give soaring life to the glory years of America's space program. From Tom Wolfe's best seller.
Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid
Gus Grissom: I did NOT do anything wrong. The hatch just BLEW. It was a GLITCH. It was a- a TECHNICAL MALFUNCTION. Why in hell won't anyone believe me? Chuck Yeager: I'm a fearless man, but I'm scared to death of you. Glennis Yeager: Oh no you're not. But you oughta be. Lyndon Johnson: And as I was sayin', whoever controls the high ground of space controls the world. The Roman Empire controlled the world because it could build roads. Later, the British Empire was dominant because they had ships. In the Air Stage, we were powerful because we had the airplane. And now the Communists have established a foothold in outer space. Pretty soon they'll have damned space platforms so they can drop nuclear bombs on us, like rocks from a highway overpass. Now HOW IN THE HELL did they ever get ahead of us?