August 24: The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

In the middle of the 20th Century, America pondered its future – and looked to the skies. Based on Tom Wolfe’s book, The Right Stuff is the tale of how that future began, a thrilling epic of intrepid test pilot Chuck Yeager and the seven pioneering astronauts of the Project Mercury space program. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Philip Kaufman scripts and directs, pushing the envelope with a filmmaking bravado that matches this soaring story of training and heroism; and of sudden fame for which there is no training. Ed Harris, Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid and Fred Ward are among the perfect cast of this winner of four Academy Awards that remains the stuff of must-see entertainment. Let’s light this candle, flyboys! (Warner Bros)