October Sky is an American biopic drama 1999 directed by Joe Johnston, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen and Laura Dern. This is based on the true story of Homer H. Hickam, Jr., a coal miner who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 to take a stroke against his father's wishes and eventually become a NASA Engineer.
"October Sky" is based on the lives of four young men raised in Coalwood, West Virginia. Most of the films were taken in rural East Tennessee, including Oliver Springs, Harriman and Kingston in Morgan and Roane counties. The film received a positive critical reception and is still celebrated in the setting and shooting area.
Video October Sky
Title
October Sky is an anagram of Rocket Boys , the 1998 book title on which this film is based. It is also used in periods of radio broadcasts that describe Sputnik 1 while traversing the "October sky". Homer Hickam states that "Universal Studios marketing people are involved and they just have to change the title because, according to their research, women over thirty will never see a movie titled Rocket Boys " so Universal Pictures changed the title to more invite a wider audience. The book was later re-released under the name to capitalize on interest in the film.
Maps October Sky
Plot
In October 1957, news of the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 reached the town of Coalwood, where most people work in coal mines. When the townspeople gather outside on broadcast nights, they see satellite orbits in the sky. Homer H. Hickam Jr., who was full of admiration, began building his own rocket to hope to get out of Coalwood. Her family and classmates' did not respond well, especially her father and mining inspector, John, who wanted Homer to join her at the mine.
Nonetheless, Homer eventually collaborated with mathematician Quentin Wilson, who was also interested in rocket engineering; with the support of his friends Roy Lee Cooke and Sherman O'Dell, and their science teacher, Miss Frieda J. Riley - known as Miss Riley, all four built small rockets. While their first launch failed, they experimented with fuel and new designs and ultimately succeeded. Local papers include stories about them after some of their launches. Nevertheless, they are accused of starting a forest fire with a misguided rocket and being captured. After John picked up Homer, Roy Lee was beaten by his cruel stepfather, Vernon. John intervenes and saves Roy Lee, warns Vernon that he will protect Roy Lee as Roy Lee's belated father.
The four left rockets and destroyed their launch site. After the mine disaster, John was injured while saving others. One of the miners, Ike Bykovsky, a machine shop worker who let Homer use the store for rockets and transferred to pay better, was killed. Homer dropped out of high school and worked in the mine to provide the family while his father recovered.
Later, Homer was inspired to see a rocket science book that Miss Riley gave her, learning how to calculate the rocket trajectory. Using this, he and Quentin found the rocket while proving that it was not possible to cause a fire, because he could not travel that far. The children presented their findings to Miss Riley and the principal, Mr. Turner, which follows and identifies the catalyst as a beacon of the nearest airfield. Homer returns to school with a special invitation; children go back to the rocket and win the school science week. This gives them the opportunity to participate in the National Science Exhibition in Indianapolis. Since only one of them could go there, they chose Homer.
Meanwhile, the union went on strike against John. That night, when the family had dinner, Vernon shot into the kitchen and missed John. Homer and Jim express their concerns to their father, but John rejects their fears. Sick, Homer faced his father, and there was a fierce fight. The mines will be closed and there are no problems other than Homer's future in the mine. He hates his father's pressure to follow mine action and storms out of the house, vowing never to return.
At the show, Homer's view was very well received. After a few days scheduled, a prize will be given, and Homer enjoys high popularity and sightseeing. Last night, someone stole his rocket engine model - the de Laval nozzle - as well as a photo signed by Dr. Wernher von Braun. Homer makes an emergency phone call home to ask for help. His mother, Elsie, begged John to end the ongoing strike so that Mr. Bolden, a substitute for Bykovsky, could use a mine-owned machine shop to build a replacement nozzle. John relented when Elsie, fed up with a lack of support for their son, threatened to leave her. With city support, Homer won the grand prize and was bombarded with a scholarship offer from college. He was also congratulated by his inspiration, von Braun, but unaware of the identity of the engineer until he left.
Homer returns to Coalwood as a hero and visits Miss Riley, who is dying of Hodgkin's disease. The launch of their biggest rocket (the Miss Riley ) is the last scene of the film. John, who never attended one of the launches, attended and was honored to press the launch button. The Miss Riley reaches a height of 30,000 feet (9,100 m) - higher than the summit of Mount Everest. As the crowds (and the entire city) look up at the sky, John slowly puts his hand on Homer's shoulder and smile, showing Homer that he is proud of him.
At the end of the film, a series of vignettes reveal the real results of the life of the main character.
Cast
Production
The filming began on February 23, 1998, almost a year before the film was released. Although the film takes place in West Virginia, Tennessee is the location of choice for filming in part due to weather and regional conditions. The film crew reconstructed the sites to look like the 1957 mining town setting demanded by the film. The weather in eastern Tennessee made the filmmakers trouble and delayed film production. Cast and Crew recalled major weather changes and tornadoes in the area during the filming months, but Joe Johnston claimed, "in the end, the film looks great because of it." The film gives a much more interesting and varied look. The crew also created a mine for underground scenes. Director Joe Johnston states that he feels that the mine's appearance in the film provides a nasty look, as mine is a villain in the film. And felt it was ironic because that's what gave the city food. More than 2000 additions are used in movies. A small yard allows filmmakers and actors to film scenes with children on the railroads and give them the freedom to do what they like, even ripping rails. The train used in the scene is a former Southern Railway 4501 that was revealed as Norfolk and Western 4501. Filming was closed on April 30, 1998.
The movie star, Jake Gyllenhaal, was 17 years old while filming, just like the character Homer Hickam. In an interview in 2014, Natalie Canerday recalled that Gyllenhaal was taught in the set because she was still in school and taking advanced classes.
Release
box office
October Sky opened on February 19, 1999 at 1,495 theaters and had a gross opening weekend of $ 5,905,250. In its widest theatrical release, 1,702 theaters are showing a movie. The film has a lifetime total gross of $ 34,675,800 worldwide.
Critical reception
The film received critical acclaim from film critics. Aggregator reviews Rotten Tomatoes reports that 90% of the 72 critics gave positive reviews on the film, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The critics' consensus states: "Rich in sweet, sincere, intelligent and inspirational old drama, i> October Sky is an upcoming story with a heart that matches her skills in Hollywood. " Metacritic gave the 71st rated film hereby dubbed the "Generally Profitable Review" based on 23 reviews of professional critics from the film.
Many critics tend to praise the film for its values, family, and inspiration aspect. Many reviews focus on the main character relationships with his father and the actors' performances. Roger Ebert acknowledges that the film "does not simplify the father to be a bad person or tyrant, he understands he wants his son to follow in his footsteps, and one of the best elements of the film is to free himself, he respects father.
Joe Leydon from Variety reviewed the movie and named it, "Very entertaining and endlessly inspiring."
James Wall of The Christian Century depicts the film's concentration on father-son relationships as "sometimes painful to watch" There are no winners or losers when the children split up. October Sky does not describe good parenting, but raises awareness that because parents have only limited vision about how to shape their children's future, the work requires a lot of love and a lot of divine help. "However, some reviews, such as one of > Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide , claiming that the spotlight of the film is acting Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper.
Accolades
October Sky won three awards, including: OCIC Award for Joe Johnston at Ajijic International Film Festival 1999, Film Awards Criticism Award for Best Family Movies from the Broadcast Film Critics Association in 2000, and Humanitas Prize 1999 for Category Featured Movies.
The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in this list:
- 2006: AFI 100 Years... 100 Cheers - Nominated
Difference between movie and book
Although the film was praised for its role as the Appalachia of the 1950s, it has some of the major and minor differences from the book that it is based on.
- Homer Hickam is the name of the main character; However, in the book and in real life he was nicknamed "Sonny".
- Homer's father Hickam Jr was not named John. This was changed in an attempt to make the audience not confused.
- There are actually six "rocket boys" instead of four in the movie. Some of the film representations of the characters are a combination of real life boys. Their names are: Homer Hickam Jr., Quentin Wilson, Jimmy O'Dell Carroll, Roy Lee Cooke, Billy Rose, and Sherman Siers.
- The Rocket Boys do not steal parts of the railroad like they do in movies; However, they are trying to pick up an iron pipe under the tracks and, according to Homer's Web site, it almost got him killed
- Homer never dropped out of school to work in a mine. He did, however, work in the next summer mine, as described in the book Hickam Sky of Stone
- Homer never met Wernher von Braun - he left the room and von Braun left when he returned
Cultural impact
There are two annual festivals in honor of the Rocket Boys and the film being held. One was held in West Virginia where real-life events took place in books and movies, and others in Tennessee where the movie was actually shot. The "Rocket Boys" often visit festivals in West Virginia on a regular basis, and it's also called the "Rocket Boys Festival", while the festival in Tennessee focuses more on filming locations that are of relevance to the film. The Tennessee festival site claims that the festival is a "celebration of our inheritance."
References
External links
- Homer Hickam Homepage
- Information and Photo of Movie Location
- Photo gallery of October October Sky manufacture in East Tennessee
- October on IMDb
- October at Rotten Tomatoes
- Month of October in Metacritic
- The Sky of October at Box Office Mojo
- October in The Numbers
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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