I first saw The Right Stuff in the theater. At the Village 8, as a matter of fact, which just closed its door a few weeks ago.
Heh heh. I still remember walking up to the ticket booth and asking for two tickets to The Right Stuff, and the cashier saying, "That will be $2." I thought I'd misheard her, but no, it was Dollar Night at the Village 8. And the movie? I was just astounded by it. Immediately started seeking out other movies by the director, Philip Kaufman. (The Wanderers...meh; The Unbearable Lightness of Being...one of my all-time favorite movies; Henry & June...got me interested in Henry Miller, so yeah; Quills...definitely not my movie.)
And I've watched The Right Stuff a time or two since then, and recommended to many an other, but it had been awhile. So today, the fifth day in my Covid Quarantine, I went searching for my dvd copy. It was not a short quest. But at last I emerged, dusty but unbowed, with a copy in my trembling hand. I convinced my #2🌞--my constant companion for the past five days, a the reason I am in lockdown mode) to sit down and watch Side A (two-sided dvd...do they even do that anymore?) and even though it wasn't exactly his cup of tea, he hung in there. He wasn't up for Side B, though, and I don't know if he ever will be. As for me... Side B is up tomorrow, for sure.
I still love this movie. And even though I remember the story and have very vivid recollections of most of the scenes, there's still an occasional bit which catches me by surprise and delights me. For instance, when John Glenn (played by the Man in Black himself, Ed Harris) berates the other Mercury Astronauts for banging young girls, Gus Grissom interrupts the tirade by saying, "You've got it all wrong, the issue here ain't pussy. The issue here is monkey."
Now is that a line or is that a LINE?
What Gus is saying is....
Fuckin' A, Bubba.
Man, I love this movie.
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