Just saw the trailer for First Man which chronicles Neil Armstrong. Looks like their are some flight test scenes in it as well and should appeal to those who liked The Right Stuff, test flight and space flight. Premier is Oct 18th.

 

It will be on my Netflix list!😄

44 minutes ago, charliearon said:

It will be on my Netflix list!😄

I don’t go to a lot of movies mainly just due to lack of interest in what has been coming out the past few years and just wait for movies to appear on Amazon or Netflix before watching.

But, this one I will go see on the Fri or Sat night after it releases. I think it premiers on a Thursday so I’ll go Fri or Sat so I can make a date night out of it.

Looking forward to seeing it very much indeed, although I hope it portrays the fact that Apollo 11 was a team effort in spite of the title of the movie focusing on one person. All of the personnel involved with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions and all of the tests done by guys like Chuck Yeager et all, which preceded Apollo 11, were what put that particular Apollo mission onto the lunar surface successfully. Armstrong was a very cool guy, but he was standing on the shoulders of many giants when he took that small step. All that went before is what truly what made it a giant leap.

These ones you have to go see in the cinema for the big screen and sound system. I will never forget seeing Apollo 13 in the summer Drive In Theater with my old car decked out with the Amps and sub woofer, when that rocket went up the sound was spectacular, probably the best thing I've ever heard from a film. 

will they ask him about when he filmed the earth out the window and put a black card around the window to make it look further away??? when they where only 200 miles out ?

or ask him about the val allen belts, when he was interviewed he "couldnt remember passing through them"

 

Im still 50/50 on it.  The only thing was convinces me is the moon dust thats been tested and the mirrors on the moon for the lasers.  Other than that theres alot of ifs and buts 

 

 

Edited June 14, 20187 yr by tooting

@tooting, you’ve watched Capricorn One too many times. 🤣

I hope it’s up to the standard of Apollo 13. Sounds like it could easily be a three hour film but I’m guessing they’ll squeeze it into two. Hope they do it justice.

Looking through the cast on IMDb I don’t see any mention of Gene Krantz. Given he was the flight director how could his character not feature? 🙄

I doubt this movie could have been made while Neil Armstrong was alive, as he would probably have strenuously objected--he was renowned as one of the most humble men imaginable in light of his place in history.  I had breakfast with him at the Patrick AFB Officers Club early one morning in Feb 1986...my boss and I were in our flight suits going through the breakfast line, and there was an AF major general and "some guy in a suit" there with us in the otherwise empty dining room at 0600, and they invited us over to eat with them.  We talked about flying training and a (very) little about the Challenger explosion.  It wasn't until the last five minutes of the conversation that I noticed "N. Armstrong" engraved on a simple nameplate on his jacket.  And from all I've read about him since, I'm sure the conversation would have been shorter and far less pleasant had we noticed who he was and started fawning over his Apollo 11 fame.

That said, there's nothing wrong with a biographical film focused on the life of such an extraordinary man.  Sure, his most notable achievement was not made in a vacuum, but he was still the guy on point when we finally went there, and his story, particularly the story of his flying career, really is an interesting one (as are the stories of many, many others).  The story of a person that plays a pivotal role in human history is worth telling.

Regards

 

4 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Looking through the cast on IMDb I don’t see any mention of Gene Krantz. Given he was the flight director how could his character not feature? 🙄

Yes screenwriters are always rewriting history to make things more condensed, problem is when people take these changes as fact 😩

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@tooting, you’ve watched Capricorn One too many times. 

 

Lol, I forgot about that movie.

 

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Looking through the cast on IMDb I don’t see any mention of Gene Krantz. Given he was the flight director how could his character not feature? 🙄

The problem with a lot of these films is that they don’t really cater to the people who actually followed closely or have knowledge of the space program or the individuals themselves. They tend to always over dramatize situations or don’t depict them accurately to make it more exciting to the viewer.

I did see a small cut of the Gemini 8 mission in the trailer that Neil was on when they docked with the Agena and had to undock due to the thruster get stuck upon and putting them out of control. After watching tape of the real incident and hearing how calm they were, it will be interesting to see how they portray this in the movie.

3 hours ago, cmpbellsjc said:

Lol, I forgot about that movie.

 

The problem with a lot of these films is that they don’t really cater to the people who actually followed closely or have knowledge of the space program or the individuals themselves. They tend to always over dramatize situations or don’t depict them accurately to make it more exciting to the viewer.

Where Apollo 13 scored so highly was in the accurate recreation of the events. Certainly they left out things we didn't need to know about like bodily functions but in all other respects keeping the tension even when you knew the outcome was down to the skill of the director - Ron Howard.

Now with all respect to the director of First Man I've not heard of him. But then I hadn't heard of Bryan Singer before Usual Suspects so I should be too judgemental.

Those who recall the events of 49 years ago are getting long in the tooth so I hope they respect them and not pander to the millennials and not twist the truth.

Edited June 15, 20187 yr by Ray Proudfoot

14 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@tooting, you’ve watched Capricorn One too many times. 🤣

I hope it’s up to the standard of Apollo 13. Sounds like it could easily be a three hour film but I’m guessing they’ll squeeze it into two. Hope they do it justice.

Never seen it In my life, but I will now!! 

Like I said I'm 50 50 on it. I'm have this nagging itch with it that I can't stop scratching when it comes to the moon landings. Nasa have been caught more than once telling porky pies. 

How come that chinease moon rover hasnt got proper pics of the landing sites. Ill tell you why. If the chinease had  absolute proof that flag isn't on the moon, that would be the biggest piece of intelligence the security services ever had, ever. Youd keep that to yourself. That's a royal flush hand you can play whenever you wanted to topple any US administration you ever wanted to. 

 But I'm sure they made it through the van Allen belts in a huge firework based tincan, and then conviently lost all the telemeric data shortly afterwards. 

@tooting, I really can't believe you think there could be any doubt whatsoever about the moon landings. I'm staggered.

6 hours ago, cmpbellsjc said:

The problem with a lot of these films is that they don’t really cater to the people who actually followed closely or have knowledge of the space program or the individuals themselves. They tend to always over dramatize situations or don’t depict them accurately to make it more exciting to the viewer.

I did see a small cut of the Gemini 8 mission in the trailer that Neil was on when they docked with the Agena and had to undock due to the thruster get stuck upon and putting them out of control. After watching tape of the real incident and hearing how calm they were, it will be interesting to see how they portray this in the movie.

Yup, I guess this is going to be a bit of a tough one for the screenwriters. They will obviously want to make an exciting and dramatic movie. As you say, the issue is that most people have an incorrect conception of what test pilots are like in real life and will doubtless be expecting dramatic dialogue and bombastic music etc despite the realities of such moments not very often being like that. Far from being the hotshot mavericks portrayed in movies such as Top Gun etc, test pilots are invariably meticulous and calm, because that's what you want a test pilot to be like when riding on the edge of danger, so that they can analyse and report the facts calmly to the engineers following a test flight. But that of course isn't well suited to exciting screen drama.

Armstrong as we know was not only an intensely private and modest man, but he was also incredibly cool under pressure, referred to as 'the iceman' by many who knew him. A couple of tales which illustrate this which i always find interesting are: When Armstrong ejected from the LLRV 'flying bedstead' after the control responses began to degrade, he only received a very minor injury (he bit his tongue), but even so, unlike a lot of people under such circumstances, who would understandably be a  shaken after such a close call and maybe having a stiff drink and excitedly recounting the tale, right after the incident, Armstrong was to be found calmly sat in the test centre writing a detailed report for the engineers on what he thought could be improved.

Later when he was making the real landing on the Moon in Apollo 11, you can hear how calm he and Aldrin are, knowing each other well and working as a finely honed team, Buzz Aldrin (as effectively the pilot monitoring) can be heard on the audio giving Neil the altitude and fuel remaining count as Neil flies the landing, and as we know, the fuel was getting low because the lander missed its planned touchdown point owing to a different descent rate from what had been expected. Two things occurred which show the mettle of those men when that situation arose, Buzz wisely shuts up reporting things which won't help the situation when things get right to the point where a touchdown is being made, knowing that Neil would be distracted if he continued giving Neil fuel remaining count since there is nothing they can do about it, and despite the fuel nearing critical levels, Armstrong, instead of slamming it down in a panic, instead arrests the descent briefly to take the lander over a last obstacle to a smoother spot. this is of course real drama, but whether it will translate to that on screen for a movie whilst staying true to what was said and done is another matter. Sometimes a screenwriter has to embellish things in order to tell a greater truth, but its a fine line to tread in terms of writing.