The Right Stuff

An awe-inspiring salute to human achievement and the pull of the unknown, The Right Stuff captures the drama, risk and sheer nerve behind America’s early space race. Director Philip Kaufman follows test pilot Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) as he pushes to break the sound barrier.

It then opens out to the epochal journeys of the seven Mercury astronauts, including Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn) and John Glenn (Ed Harris). Triumphs, setbacks and personality clashes all come into view as America’s space programme finds its footing.

With striking practical effects and NASA archival footage, The Right Stuff delivers images of real cosmic majesty, while keeping its focus on the courage, competition and fallibility that powered mankind beyond Earth.