October Sky (Review)

Hey everyone! This week the new boxing movie Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal hits theaters. The movie has had people talking about Gyllenhaal and another potential Oscar since the first trailer dropped. The guys has made name for himself as a powerhouse actor, and deservedly so. In just the past few years his roles on Nightcrawler, Prisoners, and End of Watch (to name a few) have made him a top talent in the business. It isn't just recently though that his talents have begun to show, he has been crushing roles ever since he began acting. Yeah, he may have made some goofs like Bubble Boy, but he was also seen in other great films like Donnie Darko. Because of this I wanted to focus on one of his earlier films that I have adored since its release and seems to never get talked about when going through Mr. Gyllenhaal's impressive career. That film is the biopic of NASA rocket scientist Homer Hickam and the friends who helped him succeed, October Sky.

October Sky (1999)

Biography, Drama, Family

Directed By: Joe Johnston 

We all take so much for granted in these modern times, myself included. Every day we walk around with tiny computers in our pockets that link to satellites floating outside of our planet and never even bat an eye at the idea. Imagine for a minute though, that you are a teenager in early October of 1957 and news has just broke that Sputnik-1 has just been successfully launched into space. How would it feel to be shown an entirely new world of possibilities in the blink of an eye? Not to mention a whole new kind of terror that the world had never known. The late 50's saw the Cold War at the height of its tension and watching the Soviets beat us into space left our entire country on edge. Joe Johnston's 1999 film October Sky aims to show us just how it felt to be alive in 1957 and how we as a nation rose to the challenge instead of cowering in fear. This is all told through the inspiring story of a teenage Homer Hickam and his friends building rockets in their backyard.

The film opens with a news radio broadcast telling the world of the first ever successful mission to put a satellite in orbit. The film then focuses in on a small West Virginia town called Coalwood, named for its primary source of income, the coal mine. It is a town where if you don't go to college, you work in the mine. This doesn't work for Homer Hickam however, as he has aspirations to leave this place and do something worthwhile. He takes it so far as to even try football, since all the scholarships go to the athletes. When he catches a glimpse of Sputnik flying across the night’s sky though he is overcome with a wave of inspiration and becomes instantly dedicated to building his own rocket, right there in Coaltown. After convincing his two best friends Roy Lee (William Lee Scott) and O'Dell (Chad Lindberg) to help him they end up almost killing themselves after their first amateur attempt literally blows up in their faces.

He ends up enlisting the help of the school "nerd" Quentin (Chris Owen) and between the four of them they would work tirelessly to achieve their goal. All the while half the town is mocking them and Homer's own father is doing whatever he can to slow their progress. This is a time before satellites in space become the social norm and aspirations of rocket science are seemed like a pipe dream. Working in the mine is all that made sense to most every person in that town and the idea of going into space either scared the hell out of them, or just came off as a cheap publicity stunt. They wouldn't give up though and with the help of a few locals and their liberal thinking teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern) they find they may actually have a chance at success. That is, if the town and the mine don't swallow them up first.

I didn't think this movie could strike me in any new ways after watching it so many times as a kid; I was only eight when this movie came out after all. Revisiting this film last night inspired me in a way that it had never done when I was younger. Joe Johnston did an incredible job of capturing the spirit and the culture of the times to make you feel like you were actually there. I could feel the fear in the people as they watched Sputnik fly across the sky and worry about it dropping bombs on them. I could feel the creping excitement in Quentin's face as he watched Homer run around "Cape Coalwood", acting like a kid in a candy store. All of this emotion was something that didn't register with me as a kid and I found myself with water filled eyes at the heaviest scenes. It is a film that reminds us how powerful humanity can be when we set our sights on the right goals and it leaves you with immense wonder as to why we have all but abandoned out yearning to go deeper into space.

To achieve that feeling that you are actually in the late 50's while watching this they had to have the right cast in place. If even one performance didn't seem real or appropriate for the times the entire atmosphere of the film could have been shattered. Starting with Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer, this film is perfectly cast. Roughly eighteen years old when this movie was made, Gyllenhaal showed us even then how talented he was in his craft. His performance is so believable and real that you will think you are watching the real Homer Hickam in 1957. He owns most of the film but his interaction with Chris Cooper playing his father and Laura Dern as his teacher shape his character into something far more real than we usually get to see on screen.

A lot of this can be directly connected to the fact that this is a biopic and based on true events, but that just shows why it can be such a powerful tool for filmmakers. Telling the right story from our past can be the perfect way to re-inspire the people living in the now. That's exactly what October Sky does, it reminds us that if it could be done back in the 50's it can be done now, and should. If you have kids, show them this movie and explain to them everything they need to know about it. This is the type of picture that has the power to do well in this world. If the story of Homer Hickam can inspire just one kid to go on and be a rocket scientist than it is already more important than almost any other film made in the last twenty years and I think it has the power to do so.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!