Release Date: June 30, 1995
Starring: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan
Directed by: Ron Howard
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG (language, emotional intensity)
In its heyday, the American manned space program was in the limelight of public affairs, making heroes out of ordinary servicemen chosen to be flung into space by extraordinary means. The 1960s were the rise of Cold War hysteria, and the space programs of the United States and Russia were often seen as a measure of national prowess -- so much so that the late President Kennedy issued a challenge to the fledgling NASA to land a man on the moon before the close of the decade. America would rise to meet that challenge, but only by a matter of months, and only after spending the lives of astronauts White, Chaffee, and Grissom in the cockpit fire of Apollo 1.
In the wake of this frenzied activity comes the subject for Ron Howard's dramatic masterpiece, Apollo 13. After the momentous Apollo 11 landing in July of 1969 and the repeat performance of Apollo 12 some five months later, the media has earmarked the moon landings as routine and pays little attention to number thirteen.
Of course, the situation is far from everyday for astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton). Lovell's crew, bumped up to the thirteen spot for medical reasons, are scheduled to fly over two hundred thousand miles from Earth and land on the Fra Mauro highlands before returning home. But an explosion in the oxygen tanks resulting from an electrical failure puts the crew in mortal danger as well as in the media spotlight. Suddenly a by-the-book flight has gone seriously wrong and requires the best from the sharp-thinking men in Mission Control in Houston, led by Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and astronaut Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise).
The William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert script is based on the book Lost Moon (since retitled Apollo 13) by Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell, and is an accurate rendition of the events involved as well as an exciting, fast-paced story. The complex world of the lunar astronaut has been wonderfully simplified, giving a very accessible story without losing the sense of true-to-life accuracy and detail.
Highlighting the film, however, is a host of outstanding performances from a deep cast of A-listers. In the lead, Hanks is positively great, proving once again that he is one of Hollywood's finest character actors. In press conferences following the film's release, it was often remarked that Hanks was so knowledgeable about the space program that he could have quite possibly flown in space himself. As the other two astronauts, Paxton and Bacon balance each other, providing conservative and radical fronts, respectively. With Hanks, they develop a genuine chemistry as men do under extreme circumstances, and so it's a stirring moment when, at the threshold of re-entry, Hanks, the veteran, intones, "Gentlemen, it's been a privilege flying with you."
On the ground, Ed Harris essays the experienced controller Kranz with skill: he is a man who knows his job and has the respect of his peers. Sinise is good as the grounded flier Mattingly, and in a smaller role, Kathleen Quinlan is right for the job of Lovell's wife Marilyn. Lovell himself has a small cameo as the captain of the USS Iwo Jima, the aircraft carrier charged with recovering the astronauts upon splashdown.
Director Howard blends all of these performances into a powerfully dramatic film that has its fair share of tense moments and exciting scenes. Most of the weightlessness of space was not done with computers, but through the use of the KC-135 "Vomit Comet," an Air Force transport capable of simulating zero-gravity in its parabolic flight pattern. This adds to realism of a movie that has taken one of the most memorable events of the twentieth century and extracted a fine product from it. Certainly a rare combination and certainly worth viewing.
all contents © 1995 Craig Roush