Line #118 Film/TheRightStuff


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4f6014678d6690f5ab06a14f19c39ebb.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Who's the best pilot you ever saw?"''
4
5	''The Right Stuff'' is a 1983 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film adaptation]] of Creator/TomWolfe's best-selling book, about the attempt to break the sound barrier and the subsequent [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace Space Race]]. Directed and written by Philip Kaufman, it received eight UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations, winning four.
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7	Briefly considered to be a campaign promo for John Glenn's presidential aspirations in 1984 (though it actually didn't help much), the film provided [[StarMakingRole breakout roles]] for a number of now-established actors: Creator/ScottGlenn (unless you count ''Film/UrbanCowboy''), Creator/DennisQuaid (unless you count ''Film/BreakingAway''), Creator/FredWard (unless you count ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz''), and Creator/EdHarris (unless you count ''Knightriders''). And while Music/SamShepard never worked too hard to advance his acting career, if he can be said to have had a breakout role, it was in this; his performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Among the others in the large ensemble cast are Creator/LanceHenriksen, Creator/ScottPaulin, Creator/BarbaraHershey, Creator/VeronicaCartwright, Creator/PamelaReed, Creator/ScottWilson, Creator/JeffGoldblum, and Creator/HarryShearer.
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9	Although the movie is centered around the men and their fast, expensive, and dangerous toys, the women in the movie receive a great deal of character development, from Pancho Barnes and Nurse Murch to all of the astronauts' wives.
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11	Interesting trivia: the actor named Glenn played Shepard, and the actor named Shepard played Yeager. Glenn was played by ... the actor named Harris.
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13	Not to be confused with the {{Anime}} online store ''[[http://www.rightstuf.com The Right Stuf]]'', which has one "F". Or the song by Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock.
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15	Another adaptation of the novel, [[Series/TheRightStuff an 8-part miniseries]] produced by Magazine/NationalGeographic, premiered in 2020 on Creator/DisneyPlus.
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17	----
18	!!This film provides examples of:
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20	* TheAce: Pretty much half the cast given what the movie is about, but Chuck Yeager manages to stand out as the "Ace of Aces."
21	* AcePilot: Figuratively ''everyone'', but literally Chuck Yeager, who had 10 aerial victories in WWII.
22	* AnachronismStew: Although most of the film [[ShownTheirWork is good with the history]], the first reconnaissance film shown to the White House briefing room after Sputnik suffers a bit from this. It includes footage of a Soyuz rocket, which was first launched four years after the date range of this film. It also mentions the first two cosmonauts, Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. Russia wouldn't even select their first batch of cosmonauts until 1960, almost a full year after the Mercury Seven were chosen. Another is that Pancho Barnes' Happy Bottom Riding Club burned down in 1953, years before that portrayal in the movie timeline.
23	* ArcWords:
24	** Gordo's ego about his flying ability led to a frequent line, which was paraphrased as the last line of the film.
25	---> Gordo Cooper: Who's the greatest pilot you ever saw? You're lookin' at him!
26	** And Chuck Yeager and Jack Ridley had an Arc Conversation, kind of a ''de facto'' pre-flight ritual between them that would play out several times in the film where Yeager would bum a stick of Beeman's chewing gum from Ridley.
27	--->'''Yeager:''' Hey, Ridley, you got any Beeman's?\
28	'''Ridley:''' Yeah, I think I got a stick.\
29	'''Yeager:''' Loan me some, will ya? I'll pay you back later.\
30	'''Ridley:''' Fair enough.
31	* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
32	** [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson LBJ's]] quote as UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace part began. "The Romans ruled the world because they could build roads" is arguable, leaning towards false. But "the British ruled the world because they had ships" and "we won the war because we had planes" is downright absurd. However, that line was lifted nearly verbatim from LBJ's own words.
33	** No test pilot ever historically crashed with the original X-1.
34	** The Happy Bottom Riding Club, Pancho Barnes' dude ranch, burned down in 1953. Three years before Gus Grissom and Gordo Cooper arrived at Edwards AFB.
35	** Jack Ridley died in a plane crash in Japan in 1957. He would not have been around for later scenes, especially not Yeager's F-104 crash in the penultimate scene.
36	** John Glenn is shown serving as CAPCOM at mission control for Mercury-Atlas 9. He was actually aboard the ''Coastal Sentry Quebec'' tracking ship off the coast of Japan. Gus Grissom was CAPCOM at launch.
37	** Chuck Yeager did not, in fact, casually take an NF-104A for a record-breaking joyride. The crash occurred during planned testing sessions. As commandant of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Air_Force_Test_Pilot_School ARPS]], he was doing a series of preliminary test flights before letting the students have at it. (And also, along the way, set a new altitude record.)
38	* TheBartender: The real-life Pancho Barnes is worth a movie all by herself, and all she got was a made-for-TV piece of junk starring, of all people, Valerie Bertinelli.
39	%%* BattleaxeNurse: Nurse Murch.
40	%%* BiggerIsBetter: the Atlas rocket.
41	* BugBuzz: The sound of locusts is played in the background of scenes that involve the Permanent Press Corps.
42	* CactusCushion: The night before his sound barrier-breaking flight, Yeager rides a horse smack into a Joshua tree, breaking his ribs in the fall. [[note]]In the RealLife event, it was a gate at the horse paddock. He was riding around drunk and didn't notice someone had closed it, and he fell off the horse trying to avoid hitting the gate.[[/note]]
43	* CatchPhrase: "Who's the best pilot you ever saw?"; "Hey Ridley, got any Beeman's?"; "No bucks, no Buck Rogers"; "Fucking-A Bubba"; "My name Jose Jimenez"; "One hundred percent;" etc.
44	* CentrifugalFarce: In a rare example of being used for its intended purpose, the centrifuge appears as part of astronaut training.
45	* ChekhovsGun: The conversation the Mercury Seven have with the scientists about having a window, manual controls and explosive bolts. Later on, all three become an important part of at least one flight.
46	%%* {{Chiaroscuro}}: used to good effect in the cabinet room.
47	* CombatByChampion: Discussed. The Mercury Seven are essentially America's champions against the Soviets on the battlefield of the Space Race.
48	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Hubert Humphrey insisting ''The first American in space will NOT be a chimpanzee!''
49	* CoolPlane: Oodles, including the X-1, the first plane to break the sound barrier.
50	* CrypticBackgroundReference: During the X-1 flight, Yeager has a line that seems like a throwaway: "Hey, Ridley. Make a little note here, would ya? ''Elevator effectiveness regained.''" Nothing else is mentioned about it. However, in earlier RealLife prep flights of the X-1, Yeager had noticed that when approaching Mach 1, the plane's elevator controls would go all wonky. He and Jack Ridley worked for weeks on modifying the plane's elevator system to overcome the issue. Yeager's note that the elevator was working was a signal to Ridley that he was ready to take his shot at pushing past Mach 1.
51	* DangerDeadpan: The original. The real Yeager makes a cameo as well (see RealPersonCameo below).
52	* DeathNotification: The widow of a test pilot cowers in fear from the [[SinisterMinister black-clad priest]] sent to inform her of her husband's death.
53	* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: "Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up."
54	* DoNotCallMePaul:
55	-->'''Life Magazine publisher Henry Luce:''' Now, I want them all to meet my people who will write their true stories, Naturally these stories will appear in Life magazine under their own bylines: For example, "by Betty Grissom", or "by Virgil I. Grissom", or...\
56	'''Gus Grissom:''' Gus!\
57	'''Luce:''' What was that?\
58	'''Grissom:''' Gus. Nobody calls me by... that other name.\
59	'''Luce:''' Gus? An astronaut named "Gus?" What's your middle name?\
60	'''Grissom:''' [[RedScare Ivan]].\
61	'''Luce:''' Ivan... ahem... well. Maybe Gus isn't so bad. Might be something there.... All right, all right. You can be Gus.
62	* DrowningMySorrows: Gus Grissom, after the sinking of ''Liberty Bell''.
63	* DudeWheresMyReward: Betty Grissom. She spends much of the movie dreaming about the big payoff she'll eventually get from the military for all those years of her sacrifices and Gus's heroics. When the grand payoff for Gus's space flight (that almost got him drowned) turns out to be [[spoiler: a cheap motel room with some beer in the fridge]], she has a conniption.
64	%%* {{Eagleland}}: Unapologetically Type 1.
65	* EverybodyKnewAlready: Twice a character runs down the hall to inform the meeting of a Soviet advance. Both times they knew already.
66	* FamousForBeingFirst: The first part of the movie deals with the attempts to break the sound barrier, culminating in Chuck Yeager's Mach 1 flight in the Bell X-1. Through the rest of the film, he continues to be held in high regard for being the first to beat the "demon in the air".
67	* FanserviceExtra: The climax is intercut with a fan dancer.
68	* FailureMontage: A rather spectacular one of rocket after rocket exploding in the run-up to actually launching anything into space.
69	* FauxlosophicNarration: The beginning narration, which poetically describes the sound barrier as a "demon that lives in the air."
70	* FeeFiFauxPas: Gordo gave a line that led to Pancho laying in on him with the line at ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld:
71	-->'''Gordo Cooper:''' I bet you're gonna hang our picture on your wall.
72	* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Jack Ridley narrates the film.
73	* ForegoneConclusion: Anyone familiar with the history of space aviation will know that the Happy Bottom Riding Club will be destroyed, Chuck Yeager will survive his NF-104A, and the Mercury program will end with Cooper's flight into space.
74	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Cooper sinking the model capsule in his drink foreshadows what happens to Grissom during his rescue.
75	** Also for events not included in the movie; Shepard tells his wife "Louise, I'm going to the moon, I swear to God. I'm on my way." He would walk on the moon in 1971 as Commander of Apollo 14.
76	* FreudianTrio:
77	** '''The Air Force pilots''': Cooper (Id), Grissom (Ego), and Slayton (Superego).
78	** '''Naval Aviators''': Marines: Glenn (Superego). Navy: Shepard (Id), and Schirra (Ego). Carpenter is also a Superego, but it is Glenn and Shepard who clash the most.
79	* FriendlyRivalry: Chuck Yeager and Scott Crossfield. When they're not trying to break each other's records, they're usually drinking together at Pancho's.
80	* FriendshipMoment: Almost simultaneously, the astronauts when Glenn's mission is threatened, and the wives when Vice-President Johnson wants to interview Annie Glenn.
81	* FunetikAksent: "A ''pot''?" "A ''spaceman''?" "A ''jimp''?"
82	* GenreSavvy: The reporter "knows" that the clean-cut group spokesman Glenn is going to be the first in space. Turns out that he's only half right.
83	* GermanicEfficiency: Wernher von Braun insists to LBJ: ''Our Germans vill be better than zeir Germans''
84	* GoshDangItToHeck: Ed Harris plays this to the hilt as John Glenn. Even when he wants to curse, he can't bring himself to do it.
85	-->'''John Glenn''': ''Let's ffff....''\
86	'''Gus Grissom''': ''Fuckin' A, bubba.''\
87	'''John Glenn''': ''That's right! Exactly!''
88	* TheGrimReaper: Listed in the credits as "Minister."
89	* HerrDoktor: Wernher von Braun.
90	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Wally Schirra (played by Creator/LanceHenriksen), who helped clear Grissom's name by blowing his capsule's hatch ''on purpose.'' [[note]]To blow the hatch, the astronaut had to smack a very heavy switch that kicked back when the explosive bolts fired, which left a nasty bruise on Schirra's hand. Grissom's hand didn't have a bruise.[[/note]] In the film, he's probably the most forgettable of the seven astronauts, and one of two whose flight isn't even shown (the other being Scott Carpenter).
91	** Deke Slayton has more screen time than Schirra as part of a trio with Grissom and Cooper, but his grounding due to heart murmurs, career managing the astronaut office and selecting crews, and eventual flight on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project are not mentioned.
92	* HiddenDepths: Gordo Cooper spends the bulk of the film slinging his catchphrase "Who's the best pilot you ever saw? You're looking at him!" When a reporter asks him that very question, however, he actually takes a moment to wax introspective about his fellow astronauts, those pilots who've lost their lives in aerospace research, and those who continue to push the envelope with minimal fame or recognition... but when he notices the reporters aren't really getting what he's trying to convey, he gives them what they want: a cocky response.
93	* InnocentlyInsensitive: One of the plot threads is Alan Shepard's use of the José Jimenez accent. While in the waiting room for the first tests, he uses it as a joke, then says hi to a Hispanic orderly (played by real-life NFL player Anthony Muñoz), who tells him off.
94	-->'''Gonzales:''' Yeah. "Buenos dias" yourself.
95	** Then, later in testing, Shepard and another candidate are both at his mercy in a PottyEmergency, getting literally dragged to an elevator so they can go to a bathroom two floors up.[[note]]They had just been put through a test involving a barium enema; if they let go of a stopper, the balloon deflates and they [[PottyFailure immediately empty their...intestines.]].[[/note]] In the elevator, Gonzalez takes the time to give Shepard a good correction:
96	--->'''Gonzales:''' You know, Mr. Shepard, me and my friends think your José Jimenez impression is A-OK, but what you're doing with it is B-A-D.\
97	'''Shepard:''' Oh, you're right! You're absolutely right!
98	* InsistentTerminology:
99	** That... is a ''spacecraft''. We do not refer to it as a "capsule." It's a ''spacecraft''. Similarly, the astronauts are not "occupants" of the spacecraft, but ''pilots''.
100	** As a form of InterserviceRivalry: the Air Force has pilots, the Navy has ''aviators.'' As one of the recruiters was supposedly told, "they're better than pilots".
101	*** TruthInTelevision: A ''pilot'' in the Navy guides ships into harbors.
102	* InterserviceRivalry: While scouting for astronaut candidates, the Recruiters mention that Navy [[InsistentTerminology Aviators]] consider themselves better than mere "pilots." Similarly, Cooper, Grissom, and Slayton boast that none of the Navy "swabbos" can measure up to their Air Force piloting skills.
103	* JumpedAtTheCall: John Glenn is informed that the Soviets have put Gherman Titov into orbit for an entire day.
104	--> '''Head of Program:''' The Free World needs a man in orbit, John, [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace or it's all over]]. So, we're scrapping the Redstone rocket and we're going with the Atlas. You know what that means. [[StuffBlowingUp We haven't had too much luck with that rocket]], John. We're not going to be able to take all the precautions we'd like. It's going to be extremely dangerous...
105	-->'''Glenn:''' ''[cutting him off]'' We're ready.\
106	'''Head of Program:''' I said it's going to be extremely dangerous.\
107	'''Glenn:''' I SAID WE'RE READY! [[CatchPhrase A hundred percent!]]
108	* LargeHam: Donald Moffat gives what may be the most over-the-top screen portrayal of LBJ. "You know what the Russians want?"
109	-->'''LBJ:''' ''[[VillainousBreakdown ISN'T THERE ANYBODY WHO CAN DEAL WITH A HOUSEWIFE?!]]''
110	* LethallyExpensive: While the two White House staffers are showing the film of the Soviet space program.
111	-->'''White House Staffer #1:''' This footage was assembled from sources operating undercover at great risk.\
112	'''White House Staffer #2:''' ''Very'' great.\
113	'''White House Staffer #1:''' We're fortunate this material didn't perish... with a couple of men.
114	* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: When John Glenn has to masturbate for a sperm sample, he hums the Marine Corps Anthem -- for, uh -- ''inspiration''. Cooper then starts humming the Air Force anthem. InterserviceRivalry at its finest.
115	* {{MacGyvering}}: The sawed-off broom handle. According to Yeager's autobiography, 100% true.
116	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Well, [[UsefulNotes/AustralianAborigines Native Australian]]. You may well ask what they're doing in the movie.
117	* MeaningfulFuneral: At the beginning, to underscore the dangerous nature of the test pilots' work.
118	* MissingManFormation: At the funeral, above.
119	* MissionControl: Literally. And they are [[AndMissionControlRejoiced rejoicing]] twice.
120	* MoodWhiplash: A montage of NASA rockets exploding ends with a rocket blowing its top off...with an incredibly dissonant cork-popping sound effect.
121	* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: In both real life and discussed in the film, Chuck Yeager was passed over for the space program. Despite being someone who is now considered to be one of the greatest pilots in the history of aviation, NASA was looking for college graduates (specifically, they needed degrees in Engineering or related fields), the reason being that they were expected to (and in fact did) give input during the design phase of the equipment. Grissom was extremely pivotal in the design of the Gemini spacecraft, for example. Yeager never attended college, nor West Point or Annapolis, but instead was an enlisted man recruited as a pilot, and therefore field-commissioned... after being turned down three times by promotion board because of a court-martial on his enlisted record. Could anybody imagine how utterly awesome it would've been had Chuck Yeager become an astronaut?[[note]]Hopefully he wouldn't have been one of the ones in the Apollo 1 fire, though.[[/note]]
122	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The head German engineer of NASA and the "Soviet Chief Designer" are meant to be portrayals of Wernher Von Braun and Sergei Korolev respectively. Although in Korolev's case, not knowing or revealing his name would've been TruthInTelevision, since his identity was a state secret until his death, while Von Braun was literally a celebrity in America thanks to Creator/WaltDisney.
123	* NoNameGiven: The above-mentioned "Minister"; the "Recruiters" (Creator/JeffGoldblum and Creator/HarryShearer); "Liaison Man" (David Clennon from ''Series/{{Thirtysomething}}''); the mysterious Head of the Space Program (and his even more mysterious Soviet counterpart[[note]]Serious TruthInTelevision on that one; Sergei Korolev was a ''very'' deep secret in the Soviet Union[[/note]]); the "Permanent Press Corps"; etc. etc.
124	* OldMediaAreEvil: The press corps is not portrayed in a very flattering light.
125	* OnSecondThought: "Gus" may not be such a bad name after all, considering the alternative "Ivan".
126	* OtherStockPhrases: The book actually popularized the terms "screw the pooch" and "pushing the envelope" in pop culture.
127	* OutOfTheInferno: Yeager, after crashing the F-104.
128	-->"Is that a man?"\
129	"Yeah, you damn right it is!”
130	** Yeager's face looking like someone had taken a blowtorch to it [[ShownTheirWork actually happened]] in the RealLife event. He spent a long time afterward undergoing burn treatments.
131	* {{Paparazzi}}: You'll notice a locust/rattlesnake noise whenever reporters appear - this is intentional because the reporters are acting like this.
132	* PottyEmergency: "Gordo, I have to urinate," followed by a montage of fire hoses, coffee pouring, water coolers, etc., after which Shepard declares, through painfully clenched teeth, "Request permission to relieve bladder."
133	-->'''Louise Shepard:''' Alan must have had four cups of coffee before going to work today.
134	** That wasn't even his first, either. Earlier, during the testing montage, he leaves a test with a balloon in his bladder, and needing to urinate. Three problems:
135	*** If he lets go of a stopper, the balloon deflates, and he unloads his bladder where he stands.
136	*** The nearest bathroom is two flights up, and the elevator is a good distance walk from the exam room, with the bathroom also a good distance walk from the elevator on its floor.
137	*** And he has to be taken there by Orderly Gonzales, whom [[InnocentlyInsensitive he had offended earlier with his "Jose Jiménez" impersonation]] as noted higher up.
138	*** It was actually a barium enema for examining their GI tracts. However, that doesn't make it any less an emergency.
139	* PragmaticAdaptation: A less-than-500-page book turns into a 3+ hour movie, but it's still actually an AdaptationDistillation. Two of the six Mercury flights (Carpenter's and Schirra's) aren't shown at all, and we only see the end of Grissom's and the beginning of Cooper's. There's no mention of what happened with Deke Slayton, despite the fact that he became one of the pivotal figures in space exploration. Plus, the book goes into great detail about the dangers of Navy flight ops, and that only gets 30 seconds in the film. Etc. etc...
140	* RatedMForManly: Badass pilots become Badass astronauts. And the ballsiest coolest pilot that couldn't make the space program - Yeager - still shows us how a man walks away from a burning wreck.
141	* RealPersonCameo: "You fellas want some whiskey?"[[note]]In case you didn't get it, that was a cameo by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager Brig. Gen. Charles Elwood Yeager]][[/note]]
142	* RedScare: "Pretty soon they'll be dropping bombs on us like rocks from a highway overpass!"
143	* ReentryScare: Justified, in that this actually happened on John Glenn's flight.
144	* TheReveal: The long shot of the astronaut walking out to the first Mercury spacecraft, doesn't show that it's Alan Shepard until he's in the capsule. Of course, this is the CaptainObviousReveal if you knew that already.
145	* ScaryShinyGlasses: After sending Gordo Cooper to get a sperm sample, and him making a rather inappropriate joke about assisting him, the nurse looms over him as she sends him off, her face in shadow and Gordo's reflection in her glasses obscuring her eyes.
146	* SemperFi: John Glenn, "Mr. Clean the Marine."
147	* ShownTheirWork: Wolfe was meticulous about getting the details right in his book, so the movie makers had an easy job of it. There are bits of ArtisticLicense here and there, but that's all.
148	** In the scene where the Mercury Seven are first introduced, and they're asked who will be the first of them in space, John Glenn really did raise both his hands. So did Wally Schirra.
149	** In addition to the events in MacGyvering and OutOfTheInferno, Chuck Yeager also attests to [[https://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager/status/776534558246248449 what was depicted for his first Mach 2 flight.]]
150	** Virtually all footage seen during the montage of failed test launches - including the famous "popping cork"[[labelnote:#]]During this test, the Redstone's rocket engine stopped firing at the moment of liftoff. Consequently, the Mercury capsule, sensing its... extremely low altitude, triggered the escape system parachute.[[/labelnote]] - is actual footage of unmanned launches from the Mercury program.
151	* ShroudedInMyth: The sound barrier, literally shrouded in clouds, which turns out to be not so big a deal.
152	* SinisterMinister: The priest seen in the opening scene reappears again and again. Actually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], as he prays for the safety of the aviators and astronauts.
153	* SnobsVersusSlobs: The scientists (snobs) and the astronauts (slobs) often have conflicts of interests.
154	* SpeechImpededLoveInterest: Annie Glenn, John Glenn's wife, has a really bad stutter which turns out to be central to the plot, mainly through her adamantly refusing to be interviewed by the press due to a fear of public speaking. She ''very'' successfully completed therapy for it in 1973.[[note]]During the 1976 campaign, Annie's stuttering issues were speculated as contributing to Glenn being passed over as [[UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter Jimmy Carter's]] running mate in favor of UsefulNotes/WalterMondale[[/note]]
155	* StuffBlowingUp:
156	** Towards the middle of the film there's a reel of rockets exploding. Justified as it showed the US hadn't exactly perfected the science of rocketry just yet.
157	** When Glenn agreed to make the first US manned orbital flight, he accepted the risk of sitting atop an Atlas rocket. The failure rate of the vehicle at the time was ''forty percent''.
158	* SurvivalMantra:
159	** John Glenn is shown humming "Battle Hymn of the Republic" during his (potentially fatal) re-entry, something the real Glenn did not do.
160	** Shepard's repeated "I'm OK" during his re-entry.
161	%% ZCE * TeamPowerWalk: The TropeCodifier.
162	* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: Pancho Barnes' response to Gordo's FeeFiFauxPas moment:
163	-->'''Pancho:''' I tell you, we got two categories of pilots around here. We got your prime pilots that get all the hot planes, and we got your pud-knockers who dream about getting the hot planes. Now what are you two pud-knockers gonna have?
164	* TickertapeParade: After completing his mission, John Glenn gets one of those in Manhattan.
165	* TitleDrop:
166	** One of the agents mentions the phrase when referring to the test pilot camp in the Californian desert.
167	--->"They got some kind of brotherhood. They think they got the right stuff."
168	** Averted at the last second towards the end...
169	--->''[Interviewer asks Gordo Cooper, "who's the best pilot you ever saw?"]''\
170	'''Gordo''': There is one pilot who I think truly did have The Right ... ''[interrupted by a barrage of interview questions]''
171	*** The glance from Gordo's wife, Trudy, belies the irony in this situation. The movie pays little attention to the fact that Trudy was a capable pilot herself, and could have had a more promising career than Gordo had she not been born with the "wrong" set of chromosomes.
172	* TrainingFromHell: Simply ''applying'' for the program put the subjects through all kinds of nastiness. Since it was still unclear at the time as to what kinds of stresses astronauts would face on a mission, [=NASA=] figured the best option was to stress the applicants in every way they could think of and see who kept coming back for more.
173	* TrueCompanions: Just watch the astronauts, and their wives, rally around each other against a NASA administrator and a vice president who's trying to score political points.
174	* VisionQuest: The old aborigine has apparently had a few. Gordo rolls with it.
175	-->'''Aborigine:''' Who are you?\
176	'''Gordon "Gordo" Cooper:''' Me? I'm an... I'm an astronaut.\
177	'''Aborigine:''' Astronaut?\
178	'''Gordo:''' Yeah.\
179	'''Aborigine:''' Well, what you do here, astronaut?\
180	'''Gordo:''' I came up here because a buddy of mine is getting ready to fly overhead, up in outer space. I'll be talking to him on that dish.\
181	'''Aborigine:''' Fly over? You blokes do that too?\
182	'''Gordo:''' You do that yourself?\
183	'''Aborigine:''' Not me, mate. See that old bloke there? He know. He know the moon. He know the star. And he know the Milky Way. He'll give you a hand. He know.\
184	'''Gordo:''' We'll sure need all the help we can get.
185	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After Grissom's flight and the immediate aftermath, whether he was at-fault for the hatch blowing and losing the spacecraft is never addressed. [[note]] In RealLife it was unlikely that Grissom was at-fault. Kickback from the manual activation switch caused a tell-tale bruise to form on the hand activating it, and Grissom never developed the bruise. Schirra, at the end of his flight, deliberately activated his own hatch to demonstrate how the bruise formed and exonerate his comrade. The most likely explanation for Grissom's hatch blowing is that the ''external'' release lanyard came loose as it was only held in place with a single screw -- a design that was changed to be more secure for subsequent flights. [=NASA=] apparently believed in Grissom's innocence as well, as he remained in a prime rotation spot for subsequent Gemini and Apollo missions. Deke Slayton also wrote in his autobiography that, had Grissom not been killed in the Apollo 1 fire, he would have selected Grissom to be the first man to walk on the moon.[[/note]]
186	* YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive: Shepard after "wetting his diaper".[[note]]He likely really was "cooler" than they were. The undergarment of the Mercury pressure suit was air-cooled, so it was evaporating the urine.[[/note]]
187	-->'''Shepard:''' Alright, [[ItMakesSenseInContext I'm cooler than you are]]. How about you fix your little problems and ''light this candle!''

Context Film / TheRightStuff