Footage of America’s disastrous initial attempts to launch an unmanned satellite into space are still shocking and terrifying to behold. Through the benefit of hindsight, the biggest danger to be found in The Real Right Stuff isn’t the looming threat of a “red menace,” but in the actual space program itself. Instead of feeling like a supplemental documentary tied to a new streaming series, The Real Right Stuff has the look and feel of taking an archival tour through history with annotations from one of the foremost authorities on a given subject. Framing The Real Right Stuff around Wolfe’s work and research into the subject is an inspired one. The narration between historical footage and archival interviews with key figures and players comes directly from Wolfe’s book, read either by the late author or actor Dennis Quaid, who had a breakout role in director Philip Kaufman’s big screen adaptation. The backbone of Jennings’ film is a Tom Brokaw interview with Tom Wolfe (one of the television news reporter’s dearest friends) from around the time of The Right Stuff ’s publication, with many of the filmmaker’s editorial decisions based around the structure of the book. The Real Right Stuff largely eschews modern context, with Jennings favouring an “of the moment” archival approach that’s similar to the one used by last year’s celebrated, award winning documentary Apollo 11. Instead, it’s an in-depth look at the fear and uncertainty faced by the scientists and military pilots tasked with bringing America’s space program to a higher level than that of the Russians.
The Real Right Stuff isn’t a story about the moon landing or even the events most immediately leading up to it. Sparked by American fears following the Russian launch of the Sputnik satellite into space, the government ramped up efforts to get their own men further and faster into space, and, eventually, to the moon. Much like the recent series that spawned it, The Real Right Stuff chronicles the determined work put in by NASA and the famed “Mercury 7,” America’s first astronauts. Most of what’s being covered by The Real Right Stuff won’t tell history buffs and anyone familiar with author Tom Wolfe’s bestseller, the juggernaut 1983 big screen adaptation, or the recent Disney+ series anything they don’t already know or suspect, but Jennings’ documentary collage offers new, unseen perspectives of well known events.
This effort from television documentary veteran Tom Jennings is exciting, nostalgic, and uniquely critical of America’s cold war fueled space race. A supplemental documentary to Disney and National Geographic’s recent limited and fictionalized retelling of the same events, The Real Right Stuff is composed exclusively of archival materials.
Covering already well documented and adapted ground in an entertaining and innovative way, The Real Right Stuff is a familiar history lesson told in captivating fashion.
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