the year: 1995
the genre: drama
the cast: Tom Hanks (Jim Lovell); Bill Paxton (Fred Haise); Kevin Bacon (Jack Swigert); Gary Sinise (Ken Mattingly); Ed Harris (Gene Krantz); Chris Ellis (Deke Slayton)
the plot: based on the true story of the ill-fated 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon. Astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert are scheduled to fly Apollo 14, but then moved up to 13. Having already achieved a lunar landing goal, Americans have little interest in this "routine" flight...until things go very wrong, and prospects of a safe return fade.
don't miss: the medical mutiny.
watch for: the real-life Jim Lovell - he plays the captain of the USS Iwo Jima in the final minute of the movie. You can see Tom Hanks' character shake hands with with him while Hanks narrates the line "And as for me..."
listen for: "Don't you worry. If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it."
did you know: Ron Howard's mother played Blanche Lovell.
did you also know: the cast and crew flew between 500 and 600 parabolic arcs in NASA's KC-135 airplane (nicknamed the "Vomit Comet") to achieve real weightlessness. Each of the arcs got them 23 seconds of zero gravity.
extra bonus points: if you can name another movie that co-starred Chris Ellis, Tom Hanks, Clint Howard. (Hint: Ellis played Phil Horace, Hanks played Mr. White, and Howard played a disk jockey.)
also listen for: "We've got to find a way to make THIS...fit into the hole for THIS...using nothing but THAT."
3 comments:
Wow, I'm the first one to make a comment. This has never happened to me before. Let me just take a moment to savor this feeling. Ahhhhh
If I savor it for too long, though Erika will hit the post button first and I'll have wrecked the whole think. Curse your non-procrastinating fingers, Erika!
As for the movie, I will forever feel the injustice of the fact that "Babe" won the Oscar for best special effects over Apollo 13 that year. I haven't watched the pig movie since in stolid protest.
I owe my speediness to daylight savings. I read "let's see" with my breakfast. You know, if you moved to TX you wouldn't have to work so hard to beat met... :)
Bonus answer: That Think You Do
Correct! That Thing You Do!
Post a Comment