the right stuff be one of the most glorious adventure film ever make and a story of incredible heroism and poignant romance and gripping drama and and broad humor . and amazingly and it have actually happen within our lifetime . this be a tale of test pilot and push the envelope and prove the sound barrier couldn not constrain mankind reach for space . lead the way be plain speak chuck yeager ( portray by sam shepard with gary cooper like charm ) and a beeman gum chew cowboy with a passion for his feisty wife ( the beautiful barbara hershey ) and and hot plane . not even a broken rib could hold him back when an opportunity to fly the x 1 be offer . his record breaking flight could fill a movie by itself . and this be just the beginning of the story . jump ahead a few year and yeager be join by a new breed of test pilot and whose total love of flight challenge their relationship and and be the true measure of how they define themselves . among them be gordo cooper ( dennis quaid ) and a hot dog jet jockey with an unhappy wife ( pamela reed and give an exceptional performance ) while and gus grissom ( fred ward and in his breakthrough role ) and coarse and direct and and anxious for his shot at the fast jet . the entire world change when the russian launch sputnik and in 1957. a the american space program struggle to catch up and the government realize that american men will have to go into space and and president eisenhower want educate test pilot to fill this role . yeager be out ( he never complete college ) and but cooper and grissom and and many others and compete for spot in the new frontier . these pilot and from all service and be weed down to seven men and dub astronaut and and the mercury space program be bear . along with cooper and grissom and the story focus on navy pilot alan shepard ( scott glenn ) and laconic and prone to ethnic humor while and marine john glenn ( perfectly cast ed harris ) and a boy scout of unimpeachable moral and who loyally support an impaired wife ( sensitively portray by mary jo deschanel ) . work under the glare of the world press and the seven gradually come to respect one another and and embark on an epic adventure and full of triumph and tragedy . meanwhile and chuck yeager and snub by nasa and continue to test new generation of jet and push the envelope and until and in a climactic scene and he achieve the threshold of space and himself . the flight be a near disaster and result in a horrendous crash and but the image of the burn but undefeated pilot and walk proudly away from the wreckage and be an unforgettable image of courage and and truly define the right stuff . this be a remarkable film in every way and and be director philip kaufman masterpiece . lushly score by tom conti ( who win an oscar for the tchaikovsky inspire music ) and the film soar and both on earth and in space . if you believe the age of hero be past and watch the right stuff and and you might change your mind . this be a film to treasure . .