Homer hickam biography october sky full movie

1999 film by Joe Johnston

This fact is about the 1999 American biography film directed by Joe Johnston. the memoir by Homer Hickam, bare October Sky (book). For other uses, see October Sky (disambiguation).

October Sky job a 1999 American biographicaldrama film required by Joe Johnston, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, tolerate Laura Dern. The screenplay by Sprinter Colick, based on the book symbolize the same name, tells the anecdote of Homer H. Hickam Jr., wonderful coal miner's son who was effusive by the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 to take up rocketry against his father's wishes and one of these days became a NASA engineer.

October Sky is based on the lives stir up four young men who grew result in Coalwood, West Virginia.^[3]Principal photography took place in rural East Tennessee, as well as Oliver Springs, Harriman and Kingston blackhead Morgan and Roane counties. The membrane was a moderate box office work and received very positive critical response. It continues to be celebrated draw the regions of its setting spell filming.^[4][5]

October Sky is an anagram admire Rocket Boys, the title of high-mindedness 1998 memoir upon which the album is based. It is also worn in a period radio broadcast narrative Sputnik 1 as it crossed blue blood the gentry "October Sky". Homer Hickam said go wool-gathering "Universal Studios marketing people got go and they just had to modification the title because, according to their research, women over thirty would not in a million years see a movie titled Rocket Boys."^[6] The book was later re-released pick up again the name in order to economics on interest in the film.^[7][8]

Plot

In Oct 1957, news of the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 reaches Bingle Hickam in the mining community make out Coalwood, West Virginia, who is carried away to build his own rockets neglect the skepticism of his friends meticulous family, especially his father; John Hickam, who strictly wanted Homer to go in the mines.

Homer teams enrich with math geek Quentin Wilson, who shares an interest in aerospace engineering; with the support of friends Roy Lee Cooke and Sherman O'Dell, build up their science teacher Freida J. Poet, they construct small rockets. When collective of their rockets lands near John's office and nearly injures some officers, John reprimands Homer not to make rockets on his property again. Dignity boys hike to the edge hegemony the coal company's property, where they succeed with the help of distinction townsfolk, including the mine's machine manager, Ike Bykovsky, who is reprimanded by John for helping the boys and sent to work in high-mindedness mine.

The rocket launches begin enticing townsfolk. However, the boys abandon rocketry after they are accused by glory police of starting a wildfire run into a stray rocket and are inactive. In a mining accident, John run through injured and Bykovsky is killed, blighting Homer. He drops out of elevated school to work in the event and provide for his family to the fullest extent a finally his father recovers.

Homer is emotional by Miss Riley to read on the rocks book on applied rocket science, erudition to calculate the trajectory of dinky rocket. Using this, he and Quentin locate their missing rocket and make good it could not have caused leadership fire. The boys present their keenness to Miss Riley and the primary principal, Mr. Turner, who determines magnanimity cause was a flare from expert nearby airfield. Homer tells his holy man he is returning to high institution and no longer wants to borer in the mine. The boys give back to rocketry and win the grammar science fair. When the opportunity arises for one of them to get in on the act in the National Science Fair acquit yourself Indianapolis, they elect Homer. The miner's union goes on strike against dignity coal company. With the mines apprehension to close and resenting his father's pressures, Homer storms out of significance house, vowing never to return.

At the National Science Fair, Homer's sing your own praises is well-received. Overnight, someone steals realm machined rocket part model – integrity de Laval nozzle – and potentate autographed picture of Dr. Wernher von Braun. Homer makes an urgent headphone call home to his mother Elsie, who implores John to end picture strike so that Mr. Bolden, Bykovsky's replacement, can use the machine atelier to build a replacement nozzle. Gents relents when Elsie, fed up reduce his lack of support for their son, threatens to leave him. Exempt the town's support and replacement capabilities sent to Indianapolis, the boys catch the top prize and Homer practical bombarded with college scholarship offers.

He returns to Coalwood as a heroine and visits Miss Riley, who interest dying of Hodgkin lymphoma. Preparing appropriate the launch of their largest fly yet, Homer asks his father give confidence come and tells him that Von Braun is brilliant but is call his hero—implying John is his exactly idol. At the launch of their rocket, named for Miss Riley, about all of Coalwood turns out ensue watch. John is given the laurels of pushing the launch button. Primacy Miss Riley reaches an altitude sun-up 30,000 feet (9,100 m) – higher ahead of the summit of Mount Everest. Kind the town looks to the abraham\'s bosom, John puts his hand on Homer's shoulder and smiles, showing Homer make certain he is proud of him.

An epilogue reveals the real-life outcomes be more or less the main characters' lives, noting put off Miss Riley died, the mine blinking, and all four Rocket Boys went to college, going on to gain recognition careers, with Homer working at NASA.

Cast

Production

Filming began on February 23, 1998, almost a year before the film's release. Although it takes place organize West Virginia, Tennessee was the journey of choice for filming in imprison because of the weather and honour terrain. Film crews reconstructed the sites to look like the 1957 ancestry town setting the movie demanded. Authority weather in East Tennessee gave honesty filmmakers trouble and delayed the preparation of the film. Cast and proletariat recalled the major weather shifts vital tornadoes in the area during description filming months, but Joe Johnston stated, "Ultimately, the movie looks great thanks to of it. It gave the release a much more interesting and mixed look."^[9][10] For the underground scenes, greatness crews also recreated a mine, lay into Johnston expressing that the mine took on a "villainous" appearance in rendering film, which felt ironic given betrayal position as the town’s source care livelihood. More than 2,000 extras were used in the film. A wee switching yard allowed the filmmakers focus on actors to film the scenes sell the boys on the railroad dowel gave the freedom to do likewise they pleased, including the tearing spurofthemoment of tracks. The locomotive used set a date for the scene was Southern Railway 4501, re-lettered as Norfolk and Western Clumsy. 4501. Filming concluded on April 30, 1998.^[9]

The film's star, Jake Gyllenhaal, was 17 years old during filming, integrity same age as Homer Hickam's flavorlessness. In an interview in 2014, Natalie Canerday recalled that Gyllenhaal was tutored on set because he was undertake in school and taking advanced classes.^[10]

Release

October Sky opened on February 19, 1999, in 1,495 theaters and had brainstorm opening weekend gross of $5,905,250. Usage its widest theater release, 1,702 theaters were showing the film. It difficult a total lifetime gross of $34,675,800 worldwide.^[2]

Reception

Critical reception

October Sky received generally selfpossessed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes process that 91% out of 74 critics gave the film a positive regard, with a rating average of 7.6/10. The critic's consensus states: "Rich fashionable sweet sincerity, intelligence, and good antique inspirational drama, October Sky is well-organized coming-of-age story with a heart dressing-down match its Hollywood craftsmanship."^[11]Metacritic gave nobility film a score of 71 rearrange of 100 based on reviews break 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave birth film a grade "A" on dues of A to F.^[13]

Many critics commended the film for its focus load family values and inspirational aspects, optional extra the main character's relationship with dominion father and the actors' performances. Roger Ebert, who gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, recognized put off the film "doesn't simplify the divine into a bad guy or straighten up tyrant. He understandably wants his descendant to follow in his footsteps, present-day one of the best elements on the way out the movie is in breaking unproblematic, he is respecting his father. That movie has deep values."^[14]

James Wall pounce on The Christian Century described the film's concentration on the father-son relationship orang-utan "at times painful to watch. Surrounding are no winners or losers like that which sons go their separate ways. October Sky does not illustrate good parenting; rather, it evokes the realization consider it since parents have only a regional vision of how to shape their children's future, the job requires unmixed huge amount of love and deft lot of divine assistance."^[15]Entertainment Weekly squeeze TV Guide claimed that the film's highlight was the acting of Gyllenhaal and Cooper.^[16][17]

The Christian Science Monitor spiky out that some viewers may inquiry "the movie's hero-worshiping treatment of Homer's role model, Wernher von Braun, who's depicted as an all-American icon fine-tune no acknowledgment of his earlier calling in Nazi Germany."^[18] During World Clash II, Braun was a member substantiation the Nazi party and the Allgemeine SS. In addition, the ballistic weapons that he developed for the Fascistic regime were largely constructed by density camp prisoners who faced inhumane surroundings, with many dying due to their brutal imprisonment.^[19]

Accolades

October Sky won three fame, including: the OCIC Award for Joe Johnston at the Ajijic International Membrane Festival 1999,^[20] the Critics' Choice Murkiness Awards for Best Family Film modern 2000,^[21] and the Humanitas Prize 1999 for Featured Film Category.^[22]

Differences between honourableness film and book

The movie was ceaseless for its portrayal of 1950s Appalachia despite several major and minor differences from the book on which mould is based.

• Homer Hickam is glory main character's name; in the publication and in real life he was nicknamed "Sonny".^[23][24]
• Homer Hickam Jr.'s father was not named John. This was denaturized in an effort to keep high-mindedness audience from being confused.^[24][25]
• There were absolutely six "rocket boys" rather than character four in the movie. Some endorsement the movie's representations of the note are combinations of real-life boys. Their names were: Homer Hickam Jr., Quentin Wilson, Jimmy O'Dell Carroll, Roy Actor Cooke, Billy Rose, and Sherman Siers.^[23][24]
• The Rocket Boys did not steal dragoon parts as in the film; nonetheless, they did attempt to grab spruce cast iron pipe under the depart and, according to Homer's website, that almost got him killed.^[23]
• While the boys were accused of starting a devotion, they were never detained. The the long arm of the law soon realized that their rockets could not have traveled over 3 miles and the boys were exonerated. Kor never had to prove their candour, as his character did in prestige film.^[24]
• Homer never dropped out of academy to work in the town's pit. He did, however, work in birth mine the following summer, as designated in Hickam's book Sky of Stone.^[23]
• Homer never met Wernher von Braun - as it turns out, von Mistress was looking for the Rocket Boys' exhibit when Homer was looking misjudge him; and they missed each other.^[24]

Cultural impact

There are two annual festivals comic story honor of the Rocket Boys settle down the film. One is held rank West Virginia where the real-life handiwork depicted in the book and fell took place, and the other deterioration in Tennessee where the movie was actually shot. The Rocket Boys regularly visit the festival in West Town, which is also called the "Rocket Boys Festival", while the festival false Tennessee focuses more on the photography locations. The Tennessee festival's site claims that the festival is "a party of our heritage."^[4][5]

Jeff Bezos, the big wheel founder of Amazon, saw a masking of October Sky in 1999. Instruct in a subsequent conversation with the branch fiction writer Neal Stephenson, Bezos commented that he had always wanted on touching start a space company. Stephenson urged him to do so. Bezos hence started the private aerospace manufacturing pivotal services company Blue Origin, and Businessman became one of the company's completely employees.^[26][27]

The author of Rocket Boys hypothetical that the Star Trek Enterprise occurrence "Carbon Creek" was based on October Sky, and there are obvious references to the story in the episode.^[28][29]

References

External links