Production Company(ies)

 
Distributor
20th Century Fox, Fox
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Williamsburg Bridge, New York City, New York, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
R
 
Year of Release
1984
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)
starring Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger, Djimon Hounsou, Ciaran Cronin, directed by Jim Sheridan, written by Jim Sheridan, produced by Paul Myler, Arthur Lappin, drama, PG-13, box office gross $15.5M, reviewed by David Ansen, Nell Minow, Meredith Brody, Emma Cochrane, Nick Schager, Peter Rainer, Eve Tushnet, Rachel Wagner, Nick Rogers, Emanuel Levy, Felix Vasquez Jr., Irish immigrant family, New York City, Hell’s Kitchen, actor, ice parlor, video camera, memories, dead son, culture shock, flat aspect ratio, Dolby SR sound mix
 

Cast & Crew

Samantha Morton

Paddy Considine

Sarah Bolger

Emma Bolger

Djimon Hounsou

Sarah

Johnny

Christy

Ariel

Mateo

Samantha Morton – Sarah
Paddy Considine – Johnny
Sarah Bolger – Christy
Emma Bolger – Ariel
Djimon Hounsou – Mateo
Ciaran Cronin – Frankie

 

Jim Sheridan

Jim Sheridan

Paul Myler

Arthur Lappin

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Jim Sheridan
 
Writer(s)
Jim Sheridan
 
Producer(s)
Paul Myler, Arthur Lappin

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
12 wins & 12 nominations total
 
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
 

Top Reviews

David Ansen

Nell Minow

Meredith Brody

Emma Cochrane

Nick Schager

Newsweek

Common Sense Media

Chicago Reader

Empire Magazine

Lessons of Darkness

IN AMERICA
  All Critics (177) | Top Critics (56) | Fresh (158) | Rotten (19)
  The feelings Sheridan evokes in the last scenes are earned: they encapsulate the whole story. And they stay with you long after it’s over.
 
  March 12, 2018
 
  David Ansen
  Newsweek
  TOP CRITIC
  Moving but slightly graphic; mature teens only.
 
  December 24, 2010 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Nell Minow
  Common Sense Media
  TOP CRITIC
  The result is a blend of kitchen-sink and magical realism: sentimental, but well acted and freshly observed.
 
  October 17, 2007
 
  Meredith Brody
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  Lovingly shot, with a remarkable debut from Sarah Bolger, who along with sister Emma, gives one of the greatest ever child performances.
 
  December 30, 2006 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Emma Cochrane
  Empire Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Superbly evokes the depression, anxiety, joy, misery, and aggravation of family life.
 
  May 4, 2005 | Rating: B+
 
  Nick Schager
  Lessons of Darkness
  TOP CRITIC
  At its best, the movie has a supernal glow that you can practically warm your hands by.
 
  August 7, 2004
 
  Peter Rainer
  New York Magazine/Vulture
  TOP CRITIC
  A haunting, subtle story, making the movie’s comedy more gentle and its sorrows somewhat more shared…
 
  December 20, 2021
 
  Eve Tushnet
  Patheos
  Should be talked about more as one of the great American movies. Incredible
 
  May 8, 2019 | Rating: 9/10
 
  Rachel Wagner
  Rachel’s Reviews (YouTube)
  “In America” serves as a peaceful reminder of the simplicity and clarity with which kids can stare down death and help adults come to a place of comfort – earning its cries as cathartic cleansing.
 
  September 24, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Nick Rogers
  The Film Yap
  Sheridan’s semi-personal immigration drama is simple and modest to a fault but it’s sporadically touching and well acted, particularly by Samantha Morton, who deserves an Oscar nod.
 
  August 25, 2009 | Rating: B-
 
  Emanuel Levy
  EmanuelLevy.Com
  Such a lovely film I couldn’t help but flip over it.
 
  April 29, 2009
 
  Felix Vasquez Jr.
  Cinema Crazed
  August 7, 2008 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Mark Halverson
  Sacramento News & Review…

 

Plot
With the vivid memory of his long-gone childhood friends Max, Patsy, and Cockeye etched in his mind, his ferociously loyal partners-in-crime during their rise to prominence in New York’s Prohibition-era Lower East Side, the defeated, penniless, and guilt-ridden former gangster David “Noodles” Aaronson returns to Manhattan. Not knowing what to expect on his mission to shed light on his opaque past, grizzled Noodles reunites with his only living friend Fat Moe after 35 haunted years of self-exile. However, the relentless, piercing sound of culpability stands in the way of finding closure, as the inscrutable content of a well-worn leather suitcase further complicates matters. And now, against the backdrop of a torn conscience, the sad, bittersweet recollections of more than 50 years of love, death, and everything in-between become inextricably intertwined, leading to even more puzzling questions. But what are a man’s options when he is left with nothing?
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features a standout performance from Samantha Morton as the strong Irish mother.
 

 
Jim-Sheridan.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Columbia Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Bill, Phillips
 
Distributor
Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros.
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Cow Palace – 2600 Geneva Avenue, Daly City, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
PG
 
Year of Release
1984
 

 
Genre(s)
History/Drama
 
Keyword(s)
starring Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, directed by Philip Kaufman, written by Philip Kaufman and Tom Wolfe, History, Drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Adam Nayman, Dave Kehr, Arthur Knight, Dolores Barclay, Sheila Benson, Gary Arnold, Taylor Baker, Diego Galán, Federico Furzan, Josh Larsen, Sean Axmaker, PG, NASA, space program, Mercury astronauts, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Chuck Yeager, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Glennis Yeager, Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler, Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros., Surround, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Dolby, Flat (1.85:1)
 

Cast & Crew

Sam Shepard

Chuck Yeager

Scott Glenn

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.

Ed Harris

Capt

Col. Chuck Yeager

Test Pilot

Capt. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.

Mercury Astronaut

Sam Shepard – Capt, Col. Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot
Scott Glenn – Capt. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., Mercury Astronaut
Ed Harris – Maj. John Herschel Glenn Jr., Mercury Astronaut
Dennis Quaid – Gordon Cooper
Fred Ward – Gus Grissom
Barbara Hershey – Glennis Yeager

 

Philip Kaufman

Philip Kaufman

Robert Chartoff

Irwin Winkler

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Philip Kaufman
 
Writer(s)
Philip Kaufman, Tom Wolfe
 
Producer(s)
Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
11 wins & 16 nominations total
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Adam Nayman

Dave Kehr

Arthur Knight

Dolores Barclay

Sheila Benson

The Ringer

Chicago Reader

Hollywood Reporter

Associated Press

Los Angeles Times

THE RIGHT STUFF
  All Critics (51) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (2)
  Where 2001: A Space Odyssey depicted astronauts (and mankind) as being at the mercy of some higher, alien intelligence, The Right Stuff finds its characters imposing their will on the unknown.
 
  March 27, 2020
 
  Adam Nayman
  The Ringer
  TOP CRITIC
  Philip Kaufman’s 1983 film is an efficient and absorbing recapitulation of the main events of Tom Wolfe’s book that still never succeeds in capturing the inner drives and ethics of the test pilots and astronauts – the “right stuff” never materializes.
 
  February 4, 2019
 
  Dave Kehr
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  Rarely has a film made a historic accomplishment seem so vivid and personal… It makes you wonder, quite suddenly, why there aren’t more movies like this.
 
  January 29, 2019
 
  Arthur Knight
  Hollywood Reporter
  TOP CRITIC
  The Right Stuff is a spectacular celebration of those heroes of the skies — those fly jocks who fought the demons of space to launch a new era in American air technology.
 
  October 22, 2018
 
  Dolores Barclay
  Associated Press
  TOP CRITIC
  Kaufman has combined the resources and ingenuity of movie making with the freewheeling, damn-the-conventions style of of the New Journalism and come up with a generous, high-spirited look at the bravery and lunacy that was that era.
 
  December 9, 2016
 
  Sheila Benson
  Los Angeles Times
  TOP CRITIC
  It means something to be a member of the brotherhood whose trials and accomplishments are celebrated so enjoyably in The Right Stuff.
 
  December 18, 2015
 
  Gary Arnold
  Washington Post
  TOP CRITIC
  Episode 12: Away We Go
 
  September 1, 2021 | Rating: 90/100
 
  Taylor Baker
  Drink in the Movies
  The Right Stuff is so clumsily shot and has such a simple structure that boredom can threaten to drown the viewer’s patience. [Full Review in Spanish]
 
  February 7, 2020
 
  Diego Galán
  El Pais (Spain)
  An epic symphony of triumph that portrays modern man as the ultimate being driven by power. So visually stunning it looks almost experimental. [Full review in Spanish].
 
  May 24, 2019 | Rating: 3/4
 
  Federico Furzan
  Cinelipsis
  Masculinely romantic…
 
  January 26, 2018 | Rating: 3/4
 
  Josh Larsen
  LarsenOnFilm
  The Right Stuff (1983), Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s acclaimed portrait of the original NASA astronauts, is *the* American epic of the last great frontier and a genuinely romantic take on the first generation of space cowboys.
 
  April 10, 2016
 
  Sean Axmaker
  Seanax.com
  A great movie that unfortunately failed to attract audiences back in ’83, this adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book about astronauts pays tribute to what we would like to believe represents the American spirit: hard work, perseverance, camaraderie and vision.
 
  November 6, 2013 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Matt Brunson
  Creative Loafing…

 

Plot
Tom Wolfe’s book on the history of the U.S. Space program reads like a novel, and the film has that same fictional quality. It covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it. Thrilling, funny, charming and electrifying all at once.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Sam Shepard plays Capt, Col. Chuck Yeager, a test pilot in The Right Stuff.
 

 
Philip-Kaufman.jpg