Really enjoyed your take; what a great film. I remember this being recommended to me shortly after it was released to VHS, while I was still in high school, by the owner of our local video store (many moons ago, when those still existed; shout out to Palmer Video!), and it's still one of my favorites. An odd, tangential post-script to this story briefly occurred on Twitter in 2018 between Hickam and a newly hired NASA intern; a quick google search will pull it up (make of it what you will 🤷♂️). Keep up the good work, gentlemen!
According to Homer Hickam, the movie studio didn't think his book's title 'Rocket Boys' would attract a female audience so they re-arranged the letters and came up with October Sky.
I love the memoir. There’s a reason why the community initially came to see the rocket launches. The school football team was suspended for the season and there wasn’t much else going on.
I just ran across this an thought i would let you know that I graduated from Big Creek High School in 1989 and lived in War wv for most of my life. My father worked and died in an mining accident at Olga Coal Company when I was 7. My father worked long side Homer's dad and said he was a good man to work with. Great review for this Movie. Keep it up.
Great stats, thanks for sharing! Thats why it was very easy to empathize with Homer’s dad as he just wanted a good stable life for his son and to follow in his footsteps
I had an uncle die after open heart surgery decades after radiation for Hodgkins. The surgeon said the tissue was like a callous and heavily damaged. If he had gotten Hodgkins 5 years earlier he wouldn’t have been able to get treatment, but 5 years later the treatment would have been advanced to pinpoint accurate and he probably would have survived the heart surgery.
Great job! I spent several internships with NASA (after Homer Hickam had retired). However, I've had the opportunity to meet Homer Hickam. He's actually a very cool guy. Not only did he work for NASA, but he was also an captain in the US Army. He is a very accomplished (and surprisingly good) writer too. In addition, he's a great diver and spends his free time volunteering for a feline rescue service. He is currently on the board at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville (next to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center) and home to the US Space Camp. There's a great photo of him online where he is participating in a model rocket launch at Space Camp next to a very young Elon Musk. Homer Hickam now divides his time between an island home and Huntsville.
Glad to see someone else react to this film, it's one of my favorites. The film is set in West Virginia, but most of it was filmed where I live in East Tennessee. Some pretty small towns around the area. The mayor of my town, at the time, was in the film as an extra during the science fair where Homer is explaining his project to the people gathered to listen to him. You can also see parts of downtown Knoxville, TN and the Jacob Building which is where they filmed the science fair scenes. (It's a building that has held a number of conventions over the years and is right next to the Knoxville Zoo.) There is quite a bit of history here regarding mining, just to touch on your question wondering if mining is safer today. It's a lot safer these days and not as many people are needed to work the mines. Of course it's still dangerous, but from that time period...it's changed a lot. There is this town about 15 miles from where I live where a number of historical mining incidents happened. There were two large mining disasters there. You can look them up as "Cross Mountain Mine Disaster" and "Fraterville Mine Disaster". The Fraterville disaster was an explosion that happened in the mines of Fraterville, which ended up killing over 200 miners. Fraterville was a very small mining town in the mountains. The town lost just about their whole town of men that day. Leaving lots of widowed wives and kids behind. Some of their letters were found later, as they tried to retrieve their bodies. Only 89 of them were recovered and those letters are memorialized. Cross Mountain was not that far away from Fraterville. 89 miners died in that one, but it was one of the first "successful" mine rescues. I say "successful" in quotations because they only managed to save 5 miners. There was also the Coal Creek War, which is essentially where Fraterville exists. It was when the convict leasing system was still in place and convicts were being sent to work the mines. However the free miners hated it because the convicts weren't skilled and ended up getting themselves or other people hurt or killed. So one day the free miners banded together and tore down the convicts stockades, sending them back on a train for Knoxville. Which happened a couple more times - the convicts would be forced to come back and the free miners would keep sending them away. Soon enough the Tennessee Militia was sent to enforce things and put an end to it. The free miners though were locals and armed. They ended up beating the militia, as they knew the mountains a lot better than they did. As a result some other mines around the south also rebelled against the convict leasing system. It ended up coming to an end as a result, as it was dangerous and amounted to legalized slavery. Anyway, a lot of the mining safety standards went up because of these events. Different methods were tested and eventually it led to safer mines for everyone.
I think the dad (named Homer Sr. in real life) was actually a good man. He just wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and didn’t know what to do when he was so different from him.
Excellent movie! I wish more channels would react to this one. Jake Gyllenhaal is & has been one of the best actors in cinema. Cool little side note; If you rearrange the letters in “October Sky” you can spell out “rocket boys.”
Another dismissed film that came to mind is Letters from Iwo Jima, directed by Clint Eastwood, a great film that no one has reacted to on TH-cam, totally off the radar, it's from 2006, it was highly praised by critics at the time and even It was nominated for awards, including 4 Oscar nominations, but over the years it was unfairly forgotten. IF they want to be the first to give it the opportunity, they will win the medal of being the first to react to it.
I think this was one of the best periods of Gyllenhaal as well. This was from 1999 and then he did 'Donnie Darko' in 2001. Chris Cooper (the actor who played the father) I think is also a brilliant actor. Gyllenhaal said he learned a lot from acting with him. The mother was also good (Natalie Canerday). She was also the mother in 'Slingblade' of the family that took care of Carl. Laura Dern is also good.
I am so glad you both enjoyed the movie! It still brings up the same emotions for me as the first time I watched it. The score is magnificent and that simple gesture of the father just putting his arm around his son's shoulder makes me lose it every time! I'm looking forward to watching more movies with you guys!
It is incredible how many good movies go unnoticed, inexplicably, not even nominated for awards, and this is an example. Maybe it was just bad luck, not being released at the right time or not having a good publicity campaign, it happens. But well, even great classics have happened to them too, I give the example of Blade Runner, today an iconic movie of science fiction, but over the years it became a classic, because it was a commercial failure when it was released, almost no one was interested in it.
You guys did a great review. This is one of my favorite movies. Another one you should check out is The Dish. It's an Australian movie. If you haven't seen it, you will love it. It's about a giant satellite dish in Australia that was used to track the Apollo 11 moon landing. It's a true story also.
I like that the Mom wasn’t just some sub-character without depth. Well written. That actress killed her scenes. Donnie Darko if you haven’t seen it. Jake’s best.
The phone being thrown out is because their house phone number is the GoTo for every emergency at the mine when he’s home. When he’s not home, that phone just provides an impending doom feeling of ‘getting that call’ about her husband or son. The phone is the source of unhappiness to her.
Really enjoyed your take; what a great film. I remember this being recommended to me shortly after it was released to VHS, while I was still in high school, by the owner of our local video store (many moons ago, when those still existed; shout out to Palmer Video!), and it's still one of my favorites.
An odd, tangential post-script to this story briefly occurred on Twitter in 2018 between Hickam and a newly hired NASA intern; a quick google search will pull it up (make of it what you will 🤷♂️). Keep up the good work, gentlemen!
Wow that was him?! I remember seeing news for that but crazy to think it was Homer
According to Homer Hickam, the movie studio didn't think his book's title 'Rocket Boys' would attract a female audience so they re-arranged the letters and came up with October Sky.
Didn’t put that together, thanks!
I love the memoir. There’s a reason why the community initially came to see the rocket launches. The school football team was suspended for the season and there wasn’t much else going on.
I just ran across this an thought i would let you know that I graduated from Big Creek High School in 1989 and lived in War wv for most of my life. My father worked and died in an mining accident at Olga Coal Company when I was 7. My father worked long side Homer's dad and said he was a good man to work with. Great review for this Movie. Keep it up.
Wow! That is so cool! Small world. Glad you enjoyed 🙌
In '57 about 40% Americans finished HS,
Great stats, thanks for sharing! Thats why it was very easy to empathize with Homer’s dad as he just wanted a good stable life for his son and to follow in his footsteps
Actually in real life, Homer’s dad want d him to go to college to study engineering so he could come back and be a mine engineer.
I had an uncle die after open heart surgery decades after radiation for Hodgkins. The surgeon said the tissue was like a callous and heavily damaged. If he had gotten Hodgkins 5 years earlier he wouldn’t have been able to get treatment, but 5 years later the treatment would have been advanced to pinpoint accurate and he probably would have survived the heart surgery.
Wow! Sorry to hear that!
Great job! I spent several internships with NASA (after Homer Hickam had retired). However, I've had the opportunity to meet Homer Hickam. He's actually a very cool guy. Not only did he work for NASA, but he was also an captain in the US Army. He is a very accomplished (and surprisingly good) writer too. In addition, he's a great diver and spends his free time volunteering for a feline rescue service. He is currently on the board at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville (next to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center) and home to the US Space Camp. There's a great photo of him online where he is participating in a model rocket launch at Space Camp next to a very young Elon Musk. Homer Hickam now divides his time between an island home and Huntsville.
Wow that’s so cool! Thank you!
Glad to see someone else react to this film, it's one of my favorites. The film is set in West Virginia, but most of it was filmed where I live in East Tennessee.
Some pretty small towns around the area. The mayor of my town, at the time, was in the film as an extra during the science fair where Homer is explaining his project to the people gathered to listen to him. You can also see parts of downtown Knoxville, TN and the Jacob Building which is where they filmed the science fair scenes. (It's a building that has held a number of conventions over the years and is right next to the Knoxville Zoo.)
There is quite a bit of history here regarding mining, just to touch on your question wondering if mining is safer today. It's a lot safer these days and not as many people are needed to work the mines. Of course it's still dangerous, but from that time period...it's changed a lot. There is this town about 15 miles from where I live where a number of historical mining incidents happened. There were two large mining disasters there. You can look them up as "Cross Mountain Mine Disaster" and "Fraterville Mine Disaster".
The Fraterville disaster was an explosion that happened in the mines of Fraterville, which ended up killing over 200 miners. Fraterville was a very small mining town in the mountains. The town lost just about their whole town of men that day. Leaving lots of widowed wives and kids behind. Some of their letters were found later, as they tried to retrieve their bodies. Only 89 of them were recovered and those letters are memorialized.
Cross Mountain was not that far away from Fraterville. 89 miners died in that one, but it was one of the first "successful" mine rescues. I say "successful" in quotations because they only managed to save 5 miners.
There was also the Coal Creek War, which is essentially where Fraterville exists. It was when the convict leasing system was still in place and convicts were being sent to work the mines. However the free miners hated it because the convicts weren't skilled and ended up getting themselves or other people hurt or killed. So one day the free miners banded together and tore down the convicts stockades, sending them back on a train for Knoxville. Which happened a couple more times - the convicts would be forced to come back and the free miners would keep sending them away. Soon enough the Tennessee Militia was sent to enforce things and put an end to it. The free miners though were locals and armed. They ended up beating the militia, as they knew the mountains a lot better than they did.
As a result some other mines around the south also rebelled against the convict leasing system. It ended up coming to an end as a result, as it was dangerous and amounted to legalized slavery.
Anyway, a lot of the mining safety standards went up because of these events. Different methods were tested and eventually it led to safer mines for everyone.
Wow! Very cool! Thanks for sharing all that. Happy to hear standards have improved.
I've always loved this movie! Glad y'all enjoyed it! Another movie based on a real story is Secretariat!
Thanks for watching and for the recommendation!
I think the dad (named Homer Sr. in real life) was actually a good man. He just wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and didn’t know what to do when he was so different from him.
Agreed, that’s what makes the movie so great as he’s not just a villain
Excellent movie! I wish more channels would react to this one. Jake Gyllenhaal is & has been one of the best actors in cinema. Cool little side note; If you rearrange the letters in “October Sky” you can spell out “rocket boys.”
Agreed! And very cool. Didn't realize that.
Another dismissed film that came to mind is Letters from Iwo Jima, directed by Clint Eastwood, a great film that no one has reacted to on TH-cam, totally off the radar, it's from 2006, it was highly praised by critics at the time and even It was nominated for awards, including 4 Oscar nominations, but over the years it was unfairly forgotten. IF they want to be the first to give it the opportunity, they will win the medal of being the first to react to it.
I think this was one of the best periods of Gyllenhaal as well. This was from 1999 and then he did 'Donnie Darko' in 2001. Chris Cooper (the actor who played the father) I think is also a brilliant actor. Gyllenhaal said he learned a lot from acting with him. The mother was also good (Natalie Canerday). She was also the mother in 'Slingblade' of the family that took care of Carl. Laura Dern is also good.
Need to add Donnie Darko to our list I’ve heard so many good things about it
I am so glad you both enjoyed the movie! It still brings up the same emotions for me as the first time I watched it. The score is magnificent and that simple gesture of the father just putting his arm around his son's shoulder makes me lose it every time! I'm looking forward to watching more movies with you guys!
Thank you! Glad to have you as a subscriber!
It is incredible how many good movies go unnoticed, inexplicably, not even nominated for awards, and this is an example. Maybe it was just bad luck, not being released at the right time or not having a good publicity campaign, it happens. But well, even great classics have happened to them too, I give the example of Blade Runner, today an iconic movie of science fiction, but over the years it became a classic, because it was a commercial failure when it was released, almost no one was interested in it.
Yes, this movie is soo good! It's a shame not as many people know of it
You guys did a great review. This is one of my favorite movies. Another one you should check out is The Dish. It's an Australian movie. If you haven't seen it, you will love it. It's about a giant satellite dish in Australia that was used to track the Apollo 11 moon landing. It's a true story also.
Thank you for watching and for the recommendation! Love anything space so we’ll check it out
Good choice.
I like that the Mom wasn’t just some sub-character without depth. Well written. That actress killed her scenes.
Donnie Darko if you haven’t seen it. Jake’s best.
The phone being thrown out is because their house phone number is the GoTo for every emergency at the mine when he’s home. When he’s not home, that phone just provides an impending doom feeling of ‘getting that call’ about her husband or son. The phone is the source of unhappiness to her.
Thanks! It was a recommendation by one of our Patreon subscribers