esrosedotblog

APOLLO 13(1995)

Today's movie; NYT1000Best; Ron Howard's version of the Lost Moon mission. The other side of the military-industrial coin from yesterday's APOCALYPSE NOW. Quite a contrast. Here the 'copters ferry and save astronouts, the pilots are all working to make scientific breakthroughs, no one shits their pants, and, in as many days as they men were up there, there is only the mildest five o'clock shadow. This was obviously made with a lot of NASA support and it is interesting to now be able to see the after-years. This is the time that we were still giddy with the success of it all. Only a few of the cracks in the NASA system are allowed to show.

It is interesting that when I Googled "Apollo 13", I could only get two or three pictures of the real guys. Almost all of it is from the movie. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it does show where the interest and the inevitable 'story' gets told. I figured that someone ought to show Lovell himself instead of the Hanksfacsimile. That is him to the left. It is not the Hanker.

The film itself is a nicely made, technically impressive, dramadocumentary; the usual Ron Howard formula. The best performance in the film is Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell. She carries the 'heart' of the picture. This film is where we begin to see Tom Hanks mail in his performance. Yeh, he sweats, he firms up his jaw, but the voice is gettin' just a bit narrator-like. Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton are more convincing and even get their hair messed up. I bet the real thing was a godddam mess and they convey some of that. OK. I give it a 3 out of the Netflix 5.

Oh another thing. I had more or less forgotten this whole film. I knew the rough outlines but was even surprised to see that it involved the moon, so I approached it as if it was the first time. I actually had been looking forward to see the other astronaut film THE RIGHT STUFF(1983). It, too, is on the 1000Best but we will have to wait for the R's. Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid (and his abs) and the rest of the gang. It is a much more enjoyable and memorable flick. They drink and carouse and get down. Tom would not be in that picture.