When Gordo Cooper was asked by the press 'Who was the best pilot you ever saw?', we know he really wanted to say it was Chuck Yaeger, before his ego intervened.
2024: As much as I dislike some parts of this film, this scene is one of my favorites. I was a baby when the Mercury program was going on, having been born a month to the day after John Glenn made his historic flight
this scene does not do Yeager justice, but it is a movie. Reading his autobiography, Yeager was the ultimate professional. He would never just wing something as shown. Yeager was some sort of guy - few of us hit our slot in life. I'd love to have had a coffee with his wife and get her take. But as Jack Reacher would say, "in an investigation, details matter." - these 104s were modified with thrusters on the aircraft. Everyone already knew that once you lost atmosphere, flight surfaces would not work. USAF had been going to space for 10 years before NASA ever formed - NASA absorbed all of their data. That day, the nose thrusters failed - there was no way to put the 104 (which could barely fly anyway) into an envelope to regain control. To USAF and the early astronauts!...
Bill Conti plagiarized Tchaikovsky’s violín concerto to create the main theme for The Right Stuff, and he won an Oscar I think... But truthfully the new arrangement is what gives these strong scenes more potency... I say well done. But the story behind this, even if it was different ... this movie helps to reminds us of it
Bill made something original, and it was rejected, and he was ordered to create something that was both awesome and yet completely last minute at the same time. Bill did what he had to do.
I just listened to the ENTIRE Tchaikovsky concerto for 35 minutes waiting to hear the plagerization you were referring to. And I heard nothing like this score. Bullshit.
Chuck Yeager deserves his own candle! He has brought more spiritual enlightenment to this world… bringing spiritual evolution to all that began to know him! My family thanks you
LJUBIM TE TEĆO ŽIKICO, OVDE TVOJ LEPTIRIĆ, UVEK LETI SAMO NA 7 NAJBOLIJH MINUTA. Zajedno idemo u našoj ambasadi u parizu da osyvariś tvojih dva sana. Prvi pukovnik ataše a drugi u crazy hors. 💖🐦
Don't forget to honor the stuntman who died during this sequence. Sad taint to such a perfect movie. "During the filming of a sequence portraying Chuck Yeager's ejection from an NF-104, stuntman Joseph Svec, a former Green Beret, was killed when he failed to open his parachute because he may have been unconscious from smoke." (from Wikipedia)
The great Levon Helm delivering that line perfectly in reference to the great Chuck Yeager played by the great Sam Shepherd. Two legends lionizing a legendary hero.
And today not even race car drivers of the highest category behave like that... like men. Rubber champions, cry babies... from the farming land which is Netherlands... not even NASCAR ... pathetic
The F104 was a beautiful aircraft but it wasn't meant to fly. It earned the nickname "Widowmaker" due to accidents associated with it. And also in service with various NATO countries although it was plagued by bribe scandal. It was immortalized here. Just beautiful cinematography
