Marilyn Lovell said that in all of the time that she wore that Ring, it NEVER came off her finger except for that one time in the Shower. She eventually was able to recover the Ring with the help of the Motel owner and a local Plumber. One other thing; for both Fred Haise AND Jack Swigert this was their first Spaceflight. With Jack, he wrote the Emergency Procedures Manual for the Apollo Command/Service Module. He was the absolute best person to have aboard when the Accident occurred. All the angst was Creative and Dramatic License by Ron Howard because the actual Air to Ground transmissions were so sedate and almost laconic from all three Astronauts aboard.
Yeah, that's true, all the astronauts had "The Right Stuff" in the sense that they were super cool cucumbers who did not get freaked out under pressure. They were all selected like that.
@@Bawookles A good amount of Apollo 13's Air to Ground transmissions have now been posted on TH-cam, from Launch, to the Accident, and a day afterward where they perform the PC+2 Engine Burn to put them on the Free Return Trajectory back to Earth. Some of the Dialog used in the film was taken verbatim from these transmissions. It's a real compelling listen. 🙂
It would take an old school top flight director like Kubrick or Hitchcock to use the actual air to ground transmissions and still maintain the tension of the story.
@@Gecko.... Nice try. Jim Lovell did play the Captain of the USS Iwo Jima. He's pretty easy to recognize and it's not like photos of him are hard to find.
So was I Mike. It was the only time in my life, that I prayed for my heroes safe return. I followed the space program, from the morning I watched John Glenn's launch in Friendship 7.
I was a baby when Apollo 9+ happened, and the fact that I am just barely too young to remember the Apollo missions has pissed me off my entire life. GO Christina Koch and ARTEMIS 2!
You complimented Kathleen Quinlan’s performance as Marilyn Lovell. She actually was nominated for the best supporting actress Academy Award for this film.
“Failure is not an option ! “. Madison , thanks for pointing out that in America the 4th is also a time to celebrate our country’s great accomplishments. Like the space program. And to celebrate all the men and women who help push our nation forward to bigger and better achievements.
Director Ron Howard frequently places his brother and parents in movie roles. Howard's Dad is the family priest, his Mom portrays Jim Lovell's Mom and Ron Howard's brother Clint Howard is in the Command Center with the thick black glasses, "From my chair here, the Odessey is dying"
You left out Cheryl Howard, Ron's wife was a spectator/onlooker at the launch site (at night) and Bryce Dallas Howard was the "Girl in the Yellow Dress" though I don't blame you for missing them ... I am just being overly thorough, they were only seen in quick shots and I LOVE DBH ... a LOT !!!
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, who was one of the astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire, was the first person ever to go into space twice. There is a museum dedicated to his life and career, which is just south of my hometown.
Gus was the first NASA astronaut to fly into space twice. An absolute legend of the early space flight programs. Joe Walker however was the first person to fly into space twice although neither flight was an orbital one. Like Neil Armstrong, Joe Walker was an X-15 pilot and flight 90 and 91 crossed the Kármán line over a year before Grissoms Gemini flight.
@@timcarr6401 The requirement is generally to cross the Karman line to be considered an astronaut. Both of Walkers flights did so but both were sub orbital. Grissoms first flight was sub orbital also. I think Gordon Cooper might have been first into orbit twice.
I lived in Louisville form a while and went to Mitchel at least once a week. I would camp and Spring Mill State Park. So, I have visited the museum several times.
I was 16 in 1970 when these events happened, and I remember it all clearly, even the detail that Swaggert hadn't done his taxes. As I understand it, all the effects in this movie were practical, which included taking numerous parabolic flights in a special airplane which can simulate zero-G for a few seconds at a time. I watched all of the space missions that I could, from Mercury, through Gemini and Apollo, up to the Space Shuttle, and most definitely witnessed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the Moon and taking those historic steps. Armstrong was given the freedom to say whatever he felt appropriate when he set foot on the Moon. In fact, when the LEM landed, their hail of, "Tranquility Base, here. The Eagle has landed" caught NASA off guard. As an ABC-TV employee, I was fortunate enough to witness two launches of the Space Shuttle (STS-5 and STS-7) in person from the press area seen in the movie. Unforgettable. Three miles from the launchpad, yet the sheer power of a liftoff is palpable as a rumble to your core.
I was 7 when it happened, didn't understand the gravity of the situation at the time. As an adult I now realize the teamwork and a bit of luck that was required to get them home safely.
"numerous parabolic flights in a special airplane which can simulate zero-G for a few seconds at a time." ( 30 seconds.) The Director Ron Howard shot a large portion of this film in a plane diving towards earth so fast everyone inside is weightless. Up & down, up & down, over & over shooting this film 30 seconds at a time. I'm telling you right here right now. Love Ron Howard films but I wouldn't have been his assistant on this one even if they offered me 50% of of the gross. I do not want to be in an airplane falling towards earth. Period.
The guy in mission control who emphatically rants against the IRS is played by Ron Howard's brother Clint, who was audited by the IRS at the time of filming himself.
He only figured the CO2 numbers for two people because the LEM was only intended/expected to hold two people, the third remaining in orbit around the moon while two went down to the surface.
As a physicist, I really appreciate the depiction of practical math at a time when there were no pocket calculators. Just pencil, paper, and slide rules.
The officer in the white cap and uniform greeting Tom Hanks at the end was the REAL Jim Lovell. When I was a band director and the movie was only 2 years old, my 100 piece band did a space halftime show. Our Slow number was the Apollo 13 theme, a stunning work. Without James Horner's score, much of this movie would only be a technical exercise....I could feel the event all over again as I felt it at age 14 in 1970 with his music, he's as good as the great Max Steiner [Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, etc] and with this score really had John Williams looking over his shoulder with concern someone was catching up with him, lol. Sometimes too much movement in music can spoil the whole mood of the whole picture rather than enhance it. This music was majestic and had a soul, exactly right. An analogy could be viewed as "the right amount of medicine can cure, too much medicine can kill..."
James Horner did the music for both this movie and Braveheart in 1995. Yet somehow despite getting Oscar nominations for both movies he went home empty handed that year which was a crime.
I wonder how the filmmakers approached Lovell? He HAD to consider "Hollywood Movie Versions SUCK" yet somehow, these filmmakers won him over. I think this is one of those 'on-screen investments' that make this film a Forever and Instant Classic. "Any other biopix films that use a major character in this pix?" I mean, it's not like Hitchcock doing walk-thru's in his own films, after all.
In real life, the real Jim Lovell said “We could have panicked and bounced off the walls for ten minutes, but then we’d be right back where we started. As long as it wasn’t a catastrophic situation like Columbia or Challenger, but one where we were still breathing and the spacecraft was not violated by a meteor, we just had to think. You had to be objective and positive in your thinking, not looking at your hands wishing for some miracle to happen. If we’d all gotten in a fetal position to wait for a miracle, we’d still be up there" to explain how the astronauts were able to maintain their composure and professionalism in such a stressful and dangerous situation. Ironically, his "bouncing off the walls" and "right back where we started" lines were used for the made up emotional meltdown scene in the movie. Hollywood felt the need to add a little melodrama to keep the audience invested. Stoicism doesn't sell tickets.
Another thing, Jack Swigert was a rocky but still was really good at his job. After all, he was trailed to be on the backup crew so needed to be able to step in on a moments notice. Again, Hollywood...
One of the coolest things about this movie is how they did the zero gravity. The whole movie crew went on trips on the plane known as “the vomit comet” Which creates zero gravity for a few seconds at a time
In order to make the dive as speed, they first have to climb. The speed at which they climb subjects the occupants to almost 2G for the duration of the climb before peaking and achieving the 30-second 0G period. That has to wreak havoc on the mind and body over time.
@@jerryfick613 I find myself wondering if they shot the high G re-entry scenes during one of the Vomit Comet's climbouts, it'd be one good way to portray high G (an earthbound centrifuge being another).
In Forrest Gump, Lieutenant Dan said to Forrest that the day he founded a shrimp company would be the day he becomes an astronaut. This was the next movie they made together. This is about as accurate of a historical film that can be made. Most of the dialog between Apollo and Ground Control was taken directly from the NASA transcripts. At the time of splashdown, my father happened to be the only military journalist on the Navy recovery ship. He was on-board doing a human interest story about sailors at sea when they got redirected. If you ever have seen still photos of the splashdown, my dad probably took them.
My two favorite lines in the movie come the strong Lovell Ladies. "If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jommy could land it." and "Tell them to take it up with my husband. He'll be home on Friday!"
The line that always gives me a shiver, is "Gentlemen, it's been a privilege flying with you". As he said it, he knew they could all three be dead in the next few minutes.
Mine is Kranz yelling " We've never lost an American in space and we're sure as hell not going to lose one under my watch!" And "I don't care what anything was designed to do, I care what it CAN do."
My favorites are all the lines with the word "Amps" (Amperes) in them. Including comparing the power consumption with vacuum cleaners and coffee pots. The movie does well at explaining the relevant science/engineering in audience-digestable language. I know electronics well, but wonder how it comes across to a layperson with little understanding of basic electrical principles.
“The amazing thing is not so much that man walked on the moon, but that God walked on the Earth.” Apollo 15, Col. James (Jim) Irwin, who was the 8th man to walk on the moon.
At the end of the Movie Tom Hanks shakes hands with the real Jim Lovell (an older guy wearing a White Cap). Jim Lovell is still with us and is in his 90's. Sadly, Marilyn Lovell passed away last year. Jim Lovell's Mom is played by Ron Howard's Mother. The bald, geeky looking Technician wearing glasses in the Houston Control Room is played by Clint Howard. I remember watching the coverage of Apollo 13. It was a real nail biter. We really didn't know if they would make it home or not. This has been called the "Miracle Mission". If Ken Mattingly hadn't been left behind, he would not have been able to work out the Procedure in the Simulator that brought them home.
We don't often see Clint in any realistic role and, here, it's completely obvious that Clint can carry any role with total success. No messy-PB&J sandwich required-!
Ron Howard directed this and his brother is one of the guys in the control room ( balding/ glasses and has a pocket protector in his shirt pocket) and his mom plays the part of Tom Hanks mother and the minister is Ron’s dad!! ( Ron’s brother is also the one that agreed with Kevin’s character about the IRS … no pocket protector )
Strongly strongly strongly recommend a movie called The Right Stuff that lays the foundation of the beginnings of the Space Program. A fantastic ensemble cast in that one including Ed Harris. The cinematography and direction on the right stuff is absolutely mesmerizing, and it invented a scene that has become a trope in any movie where a team comes together to tackle a problem. We'll let you try to figure out what that scene is.
Absolutely. "The Right Stuff" is probably one of the two or three best movies about the U.S. space effort but You Tubers tend to do what the others have done and EVERYBODY does this movie at some point. No shade on Madison because she wants to grow her channel but VERY few You Tubers want to invest the time in a 3 hour movie, no matter how good it is.
@@harryrabbit2870 I'm kind of surprised she hasn't done Romancing the Stone. A lead character who happens to be a female author of westerns? Is there even such a thing?
The Actress who played Jim Lowell’s Wife Kathleen Quinlan, was in “American Graffiti” 1973. She was the “smarties” who told Ron Howard’s Character Steve Bolander. “Joe College strikes out.” Also, The real Jim Lovell plays Carrier Iwo Jima Captain who greets Tom Hanks as him.
Ed Harris: He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as NASA Apollo Mission Control Director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13. i thought his performance in this film was awesome. My favorite line from the movie he said: "Failure is not an option." I often used it when my kids expressed wanting to give up on a school project. A way of saying "See it through, stick with it, see what happens, "and other stuff like that.
Ed Harris remains about The Perfect Casting Result for a real-life character - Gene Kranz was a fixture on American TV for ?? twenty ?? years and was instantly recognizable from school kids to his own parents' generation (those parents who saw Gene's generation go off to WWII and Korea). And Ed Harris' skull (often seen in profile a la Mt Rushmore) perfectly sustained that rock-like visage in this film.
What's really amazing to me is that the Moon missions were accomplished on vintage (Or, what we now consider vintage) computers. I heard from one of my active-duty Sergeants that, at the time of the Moon launches, NASA computers had no more computing power than an old Commodore 64 home computer.
In the 1980's & 1990's we had "the 3 great J's-John Williams, James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith". Whilst I was growing up, it was rare for me to see a film that didn't have a soundtrack from one of these 3 composers.
At the end of the film, when Tom Hanks, as Jim Lovell, is shaking hands with the Captain of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, the person playing the Captain is none other than the actual Jim Lovell! So, in the film, Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) shakes the hand of the Navy Captain (played by Jim Lovell). How cool is that? Great reaction, Madison!
The script actually called for Lovell to portray an Admiral, but Lovell did not want to impersonate a superior officer and wore the bars of his actual service rank, captain.
The monkey in a cage is part of a luggage commercial 😂 American Tourister 1971 : I remember it well because it was on every 5 minutes ! Kevin Bacons character figured it for two people because only 2 of them would be going down to the moon in that ship it wasn't intended for 3.
It was not a Monkey, but an actual Adult Male Chimpanzee. Back in those days, watching those commercials, I'd assumed it was a Gorilla. But then (after taking Physical Anthropology) YEP: A CHIMP ! Who could manually/bitingly dismember a human in 1-2 minutes.
Seeing this unfold in real time, when it happened, had us all on the edge of our seats for days. The Navy Captain that shook hands with Tom Hanks on the carrier at the end was the real Jim Lovell.
I had an awesome honor related to this movie. On June 6th 1995, three weeks before this movie came out, I graduated college, and the keynote speaker was Jim Lovell. He spoke about perseverance through troubling times and how to carry that strength with you through one's full life. A great speech. I saw this movie in the theater 3 weeks later on opening day, and as a life-long space junkie, was deeply moved by the film. Still am to this very day.
Love your emotions with this movie. I have two stories which relate to this movie. Brother Ed White was a member of the Church we went to. He was one of the three Apollo 1 Astronauts killed in the fire, his brother and his family still went to Church with us and he was an Elder of the Church. Much later in my life during the last eight years of my 41 year Navy career I performed Military Funeral Honors for the Navy while I was drilling out of the Reno Reserve Center. I remember walking into the Mount View Mortuary for a funeral. We always arrived at least an hour before the time of the start of the service so we could make sure the flag is folded or drapped correctly and arranged crollecty and rehearse once before the family arrives. When I walked into the chapel, the Urn and Flag were already on the podium table. On each side of the table was an easel, on each easel was a picture about two feet wide and three feet tall. I do not remember what the picure on the left was, but the one on the right I will remember forever. The Photographers Mate (Navy Photographer) was in a hoovering helicopter looking out of the cargo taking the picture. In the background of the photo was the USS Iwo Jima in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Between the Photographers Mate and the Iwo Jima was another hoovering helicopter and half way between the helicopter in the photo and the Pacific was the rescue swimmer. Not far from where the rescue swimmer will land in the Pacific is the Apollo 13 Command Module. I was told the rescue swimmer was the one we were there to honor. God blessed me so much in my decisions to join the Navvy and stay in so long.
"Why does that guy look so familiar to me? I've seen him somewhere" is named Xander Berkeley and it's shocking how much he's been in. All the way (and even before) to the early Tom Hanks movie Volunteers, through things like Sid and Nancy, A Few Good Men, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Taken, The Grifters, Terninator 2-Judgement Day, Leaving Las Vegas, Heat, and tv shows like The Walking Dead, 24, The West Wing, and he can play anything.
In recent interviews, Tom Hanks has said that he read the transcript (or maybe he heard a recording) of the conversation between Lovell and Mission Control during the "corridor control burn." It went: "Ignition ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Shutdown". So all the chatter during this sequence in the movie was artistic license. Early in the movie when Tom Hanks was told that Charlie Duke had the measles and Ken Maddingly never did, there was a giant vehicle with treads rolling along. That was one of the actual crawler-transporters that carried rockets from the vehicle assembly building to the launch pad. Rumor has it that a space shuttle being prepared for launch during filming, but I'm not sure whether or not that is true. Talk about gas guzzlers, that thing has a top speed of 2mph and burns fuel at a rate of 150 gallons per mile. When Gene Kranz said "failure is not an option" he had obviously NOT seen Mythbusters! Ron Howard's directorial debut was the comedy "Splash" starring Tom Hanks. I suggest checking out "The Right Stuff" about the early astronaut program, and the test pilots of early supersonic aircraft. (Some describe it as "Animal House in Space" and it has its comedic moments, but it's pretty good.) "Apollo 11" is a documentary about the first moon landing, released just within the last decade or so. (This movie features recently discovered archival footage.) "From the Earth to the Moon" is a documentary TV series about the space program from its inception to Skylab (after Apollo), produced by Tom Hanks. (The series goes into some detail about several situations where lives were in jeopardy, not just the Apollo 1 fire and the Apollo 13 explosion. And it covers Apollo 13 from the perspective of the families rather than rehashing the movie.)
I heartily agree with From the Earth to the Moon. Excellent series. But, it's not a documentary. It's a historical drama, similar to this movie. Another example of outrageous fuel mileage. I saw a documentary, narrated by Walter Cronkite, where he related that the first stage of the Saturn V used five gallons to the inch :-)
Gene Krantz actually never said “failure is not an option”, but he liked the line from this movie so much that he used it as the title for his autobiography.
Apollo 13 was directed by Ron Howard. His daughter Bryce directed several episodes of the Mandalorian, including episode 3 of season 2. In it, she does a shot for shot remake of a critical Apollo 13 scene as homage to her dad.
As someone who has watched the Gemini through the Apollo and shuttle missions and after, it has always amazed me how many moving parts have to work to get to space. We had so much optimism back then.
Great reaction. One of my only gripes is you left out of your reaction the scene were the Lovell Grandma assures her scared Grandchildren that "if they made a washing machine that could fly, my Jim could land it safely". To me, that's a line you need to keep in the reaction.
Now that you've watched Apollo 13, if you like Space and Space history, I highly recommend THE RIGHT STUFF, about the beginning of the Space program, the Mercury astronauts who first went into Space (pre Apollo program). Ed Harris is in that one too, playing the first Astronaut to orbit the Earth, John Glenn. Also, 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY by Kubrick is science fiction, but is a must see seminal Sci Fi movie waaaay ahead of its time.
Terminator 2 (1987) was the first major production to use extensive CGI interacting with human actors, but none of the CGI looked like real people or living things; mostly chrome and inanimate things. Jurassic Park (1993) was the first blockbuster to make extensive use of full-screen CGI for living animals interacting with human actors. So when this was made in 1995, they had plenty of CGI for the little bit that might have been needed, but it was nearly all done with sets, models, and practical effects. CGI was used for the launch and the thruster effects in space, and for the urine dump. Possibly the most expensive urine in Hollywood history.
I watched this movie at the cinema while on holiday visiting relatives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I remember when Tom Hanks character asking about expeditions to the Moon, "When will we be going back again ?" As it was almost 23 years after the last Apollo Space flight ,wondering myself not realising that almost 29 years later that question will still stand .
Fred was figuring the C02 based on two people because only two people were supposed to be in the LEM, landing on the moon, while the third was to remain with the ship, in orbit.
The opening party scene was creative license used to introduce many of the characters. When Armstrong landed on the Moon Lovell was at Mission Control hanging out by the Capcom desk.
I have experienced this in real life. I can still remember that during the re-entry it took a very long time before radio communication was available again. At about the same time the capsule came into view dangling from 3 parachutes.
My ex, my 4 boys and I used to live in a small town in northern Michigan. We had one small video store in town. We all went to the video store one night. All the good kid videos were rented. I suggested this movie. My kids were NOT enthused. They watched it and REALLY liked it. So, I was happy. I grew up a MAJOR NASA fan. My dad worked as a NASA subcontractor, so it was almost required.
another Hollywood addition: the manual burn didn't actually have them drifting around wildly like that. Recently read through Fred's biography and he was one of the best people to have around in the LM imo: he was sent from NASA to Grumman the manufacturer and was involved in testing them. After the flight and a few years in different administrative roles he ended up getting involved in test flying the space shuttle: while he didn't get to ride it to space he flew the test shuttle Enterprise off the back of a 747 the cause of the accident is crazy: years before flight the oxygen tank was dropped in a warehouse damaging the drain pipe, during development at one point they ended up changing the voltage the equipment needed to run on, and they updated everything except the oxygen tank temperature sensor. During testing later on, they couldn't drain the oxygen out of the damaged tank so they then decided to turn on the heater and leave it on to boil it all out, but the unupgraded temperature sensor stuck on and so it got hot enough inside the tank to burn/melt the insulation off the tank's wiring which eventually arced and caused the explosion during flight
"Why is that guy so familiar to me?" That guy is Xander Berkeley. If you look up the definition for "THAT GUY" in the dictionary, you'll find his picture. He was in EVERYTHING in supporting roles. Most famous appearances are John Connor's foster father in T2 and the traitor in Air Force One.
I am an old guy and was crushed when Apollo 1 claimed the lives of Grissom, White and Chaffee. I was watching part of the Apollo 13 mission "live" on television and then followed news snippets on the disaster and the progress as Lovell, Swigert and Haise conducted self-rescue. There was no other possible rescue. When I got to see the movie, I relived those days when I was watching the news flashes. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Just to let you know Madison, I am 65 years old and I remember this like it was yesterday. This was, like Gene Krantz said " I think this will be our finest hour" . And , it was !
36:20 - Horner reused certain elements, such as the same set of discordant piano chords, in many of his scores. In "Apollo 13", just after Ken figures out a successful start-up sequence and pulls up to 30N, you hear the chords. They're also used in "The Pelican Brief" and "Clear and Present Danger".
Friday the 13th and “13” being “bad luck” came from all the way back in the year 1310 when the King of France (who was bankrupt) ordered a synchronized ambush on the Knights Templar on Friday the 13th. He seized their huge vast wealth and property holdings and burned 130 of them on pyres and killed as many of the remaining as he could. It was a pretty big deal at that time and the superstition grew from there.
Watching a Live Saturn 5 Rocket Launch at the Cape is just so darn powerfully moving - nothing compares (you can feel the blast intensely over 2 miles away).
The astronauts really didn't argue during the flight. This was done for dramatic effect. They were all test pilots and were trained to be calm and focused in an emergency.
Madison, the crew was afraid to broadcast after the blackout until the parachutes deployed because of the iffy battery issues. They didn't tell Mission Control this before losing contact during reentry so it set up the angst of not reestablishing radio contact before they were spotted by the recovery fleet.
Think about the last line "When will we be going back and who will that be". As noted, the movie came out in 1995, 25 years after events of the movie, 23 years after the last Moon landing (Apollo 17) .... and 29 years ago.....
As a kid, I watched both the rocket launchings and Moon orbits/landings of every Apollo flight starting with Apollo 8 (first orbit around the Moon with Lovell on it). Watched most of the splash downs too. Many while in school. I watched Armstrong and Aldrin land on the Moon and walk on the Moon on our grainy black and white TV. I was entranced and captivated by the Space program as an 8 to 12 year old during the Moon landing years. I'm so glad I grew up when I did. We felt very proud that American astronauts were the first on the Moon, fulfilling what JFK had promised in 1961. Re Apollo 13, as you saw in the movie, since we had already landed on the Moon twice (11 and 12), Apollo 13 believe it or not was treated like "old hat" and the networks didn't cover it nearly as much as Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. Thus, I don't have as much of a clear memory of Apollo 13 aside from the news stories that there had been some problems which required that they come back and skip the Moon. The news stories stayed as neutral and generic as possible because the possibility of 3 astronauts forever orbiting the Earth unable to get back (or burning up in the atmosphere) was something they did not want to broadcast to everyone. Just think of that circumstance.....the Moon would be ruined forever. I am pretty sure we watched the Apollo 13 splashdown in our Gym if I recall in grade school, just like Lovell's son. Those years were very cool.
As the story goes... Grumman Aerospace, who designed the Lunar Module, sent North American, who designed the Command Module (which is why the filters weren't compatible) an invoice for towing services.
35:50 Jim Lovell plays Navy Officer - " The Right Stuff " with Ed Harris as Neil Armstrong is a great movie about the Mercury Astronauts at the beginning of the Apollo program.
Good one, Madison! Such a great movie. I was born in 1960, so I have strong memories as a kid sitting by the TV in our living room with many family members all gathered around watching these Apollo space missions. It was incredible to watch it happening then go outside and look up at the moon and imagine the astronauts being up there. Yep, it was something. So glad you chose to share this one with us. I really enjoyed rewatching it with you. Thank you! 🙂
In real life, the ideas of using the LEM as a "lifeboat" as well as making an adapter for the two different types of CO₂ scrubber cartridge had already been thought of and tested (in simulation) long before this mission. They were not thought of on the spot, although I'm sure that could have been done, had it been necessary. They made sure to include everything needed for these ideas to work in an actual emergency, including duct tape. In a strangely ironic way, duct tape, which is legendary for being used for everything in a pinch, was in this case used for exactly what it was made for: sealing air ducts (that's why it's called duct tape).
5:33 -- RE: Alan B. Shepard; See also the Mercury space missions, and the film "The Right Stuff". Shepard was the astronaut on the first manned suborbital flight of the Mercury program, but as the word "Suborbital" implies, he didn't actually go all the way around the Earth, just high enough but not quite fast enough. Gus Grissom repeated this with Mercury 2 (and later died on a pre-launch test for Apollo 1) and finally John Glenn orbited the Earth with Mercury 3 using a different and more powerful type of rocket.
@@jonathanroberts8981 Actually, the ear thing was what kept Shepard out of Gemini and early Apollo missions. The ear thing was corrected in May '69 and his buddy Deke Slayton put him way ahead of others for Apollo 13. Then NASA higher-ups overruled him thinking Shepard and another guy on the same crew (Stu Roosa) needed more time. That is why they got bumped to 14 with Lovell, Haise, Mattingly getting moved up to 13. Of course, that would take longer to explain in the movie, so they added the ear problem flareup instead.
A Ron Howard directed movie that may be hard to find.....and is pretty good.....is Cocoon! The book that this movie was based on was originally called Lost Moon....after the movie, subsequent printings were titled Apollo 13....
I'm old enough that I remember following the events of the Apollo missions on the news, so I knew they made it back safely, but I still loved the movie, I found very interesting how they were able to deal with all the situations. They took a few dramatic liberties with the reactions of the astronauts. They were completely cool and poised. If you hear the actual recording of "Huston, we have a problem", the tone is more like a flight announcement "crew, get to your take-off positions" more than a quadruple failure in space. Other than those liberties, the movie is very accurate, all the way down to the ring falling in the shower. The only thing I think is unrealistic is only one slide ruler seems to be used during the entire process. I a time where they had no electronic calculators if a computer was not upfront programmed to run a calculation, slide rulers assisted lots of calculations. Most engineers had their slide ruler in their pocket all the time. My father gave me and my brother one when we were kids, I loved it and I still know how to use it. Very ingenious devices.
The Horner music during the entire launch sequence was some of the best ever for any movie. The heat shield is what protects the Space capsule as it plummets back to the Earth through the atmosphere. Yes, its like a meteor falling towards Earth, and that capsule is not that thick. They were very concerned that the prior explosion damaged the Heat Shield. That's why the splashdown was so tense and dramatic. The Saturn 5 launch sequence was shot using the actual NASA Moon launchings films. If you look for those on YT, you'll see how close they got to the real launches. Hanks and Howard were both obsessive about getting it as precise and realistic as possible. So attention to detail in this movie was very high. Hanks is a Space Nerd. I think he was also involved in the incredibly detailed later HBO series about the Apollo program that had 10 parts. I entire show was devoted to Apollo 13.
I remember watching when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I was 6 years old. Ken Mattingly passed away a few months ago. Fred Haise and Jim Lovell are still alive and well. Marilyn Lovell passed away recently too.
The weightlessness scenes were filmed in a NASA modified KC-135 aircraft flying a series of parabolic arches. Once the plane climbs up to max altitude and begins to dive, there is a brief period of zero G. The plane is nicknamed "The Vomit Comet". Wikipedia has an article titled Reduced-gravity aircraft. Ron Howard did a superb job loading actors, film crew, and himself into the vomit comet.
To prepare for their roles, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon all attended the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Astronauts Jim Lovell and David Scott did actual training exercises with the actors inside simulated Command and Lunar Modules.
The various computer equipment in the Saturn V rocket, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), and the Command Module (CM) *together* were about 1/10th as powerful as the first iPhone.
Just think about Lovell's experiences in Space. He was the 1st astronaut to have 4 launches into space, 2 during the Gemini program (training to land on the Moon), and Apollo 8 where he was one of the first 3 men to orbit the Moon and return, and of course Apollo 13. So TWICE he was 60 miles above the surface of the Moon and orbited the Moon twice, but never landed. He logged more time in Space than ANY astronaut until the Space Station was built. More than any of the other Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts. He is one of the GREAT EXPLORERS of the 20th Century and of the Space Age. Like Magellan.
This is my favorite “based on a true story film”, and my favorite James Horner soundtrack (he’s one of my favorite composers too, RIP). Another great film with a beautiful score by Horner is the Rocketeer, I would highly recommend it.
I remember watching the same news broadcast as was used in the movie .. and the major news coverage that followed after the explosion and until the safe splashdown.
Just to let you know, the person that Tom Hanks saluted and shook hands with just as the movie was ending was Jim Lovell he made a cameo as a admiral on the carrier T
Most of the zero g scenes were filmed about a zero-g simulator airplane that flew over 200 special flights to simulate microgravity for about 20 seconds at a time. They had the capsule built inside it to film in.
I'm 67.I was 13 years old and in the 7th grade when his happened. People from NASA would come to schools and give a program on spaceflight. I remember the early spaceflight from Mercury program all the way to space shuttle.I clearly remember watching the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.Moon landing took place in 1969.Just think that the Wright Brothers flew in 1903. Just 66 years later.
The actor's name is Xander Berkley, and he's been in many movies, including "Air Force One" (Secret Service Agent/Traitor) and "Gattaca" (Lab Tech who knows Jerome is an Invalid). At the end of this movie, the Navy Captain character is played by the react Jim Lovell. The solo vocalist is Annie Lennox, originally from the Eurythmics. Thanks.
You mentioned 'artistic license' .... A few minor points: No one worried about the transposition and docking, as any of the crew could do it in their sleep. There was no dissent or bickering on the craft. The LEM battery life questione was not decided by any single tech, as it was teams of guys. * On the flip side, the CO2 adapter story is 100%. You can look at NASA photos. The "don't make it worse by guessing'" line is taken verbatim from audio transcripts. * The tech telling Kranz about the battery life issue is loosely based on the real life John Aaron, who is credited with saving the Apollo 12 launch vehicle after the craft was hit by lightning. A fun one to look up.
You should go ahead and get this movie on DVD or Blu Ray, then listen to the commentary by Jim and Marilyn Lovell. You can tell by their voices that they were still dizzy in love with each other. They were happily married for 70 years. Marilyn passed away last year at 93. As of July 6, 2024, Jim Lovell is still alive at 96.
Jim Lovell is still with us and is in his 90's. Sadly, Marilyn Lovell passed away last year. Jim Lovell's Mom is played by Ron Howard's Mother. The bald, geeky looking Technician wearing glasses in the Houston Control Room is played by Ron's Brother, Clint Howard. Ron's Father played the Priest sitting with the family during the re-entry. I remember watching the coverage of Apollo 13. It was a real nail biter. We really didn't know if they would make it home or not. This has been called the "Miracle Mission". If Ken Mattingly hadn't been left behind, he would not have been able to work out the Procedure in the Simulator that brought them home.
Madison, the actor that asks Marilyn if the networks can put a transmission tower on her lawn is Xander Berkeley. He is a prolific actor with credits in over 200 films and tv shows but I bet you most remember him for being the double agent secret service guy Gibbs in "Air Force One".
I was born in 1969, so I was not aware of this mission until a few years later. My Parents' gave me a book about the American NASA program in the later 70's (a gap between last Apollo' to Skylab, peace mission to meet the Soviet craft & the Space Shuttle in 1971). The Astronauts were my heroes. I knew the planets, and all the known moons at that point. A true Space Geek! One of my elementary teachers called my parents, that when I drew with crayon or pencil, that my Sun did not have a "smiley face" and straight rays -my Sun had curved blasts of light, sunspots, and the planet Mercury. My Parents assured this Teacher to relax.! See "The Right Stuff" (based on novel, which I read a few times as a teen) -and the HBO mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon" - even the more recent "Armstrong" -for other truthful-based NASA film dramas.
Happy belated 4th, Madison. Great reaction. IIRC the only CGI used was during the launch - for the ice falling off and for the plume of flame (the guy who did the effects was on Corridor Crew where he discussed all effects both practical and CGI). The weightlessness effect was achieved by having the set of the capsule built in a large cargo plane that repeatedly would go into a dive, giving them ~30 seconds to film before having to level out.
Marilyn Lovell said that in all of the time that she wore that Ring, it NEVER came off her finger except for that one time in the Shower. She eventually was able to recover the Ring with the help of the Motel owner and a local Plumber.
One other thing; for both Fred Haise AND Jack Swigert this was their first Spaceflight. With Jack, he wrote the Emergency Procedures Manual for the Apollo Command/Service Module. He was the absolute best person to have aboard when the Accident occurred. All the angst was Creative and Dramatic License by Ron Howard because the actual Air to Ground transmissions were so sedate and almost laconic from all three Astronauts aboard.
Yeah, that's true, all the astronauts had "The Right Stuff" in the sense that they were super cool cucumbers who did not get freaked out under pressure. They were all selected like that.
@@Bawookles A good amount of Apollo 13's Air to Ground transmissions have now been posted on TH-cam, from Launch, to the Accident, and a day afterward where they perform the PC+2 Engine Burn to put them on the Free Return Trajectory back to Earth. Some of the Dialog used in the film was taken verbatim from these transmissions. It's a real compelling listen. 🙂
It would take an old school top flight director like Kubrick or Hitchcock to use the actual air to ground transmissions and still maintain the tension of the story.
@@cleekmaker00you can download all the transmissions from nasa. I did a report on the fight in high school. Teacher asked for 10 pages I gave him 50
Astronauts and flight controllers are just downright unflappable.
The last scene after splash down and recovery, Tom Hanks shakes hands with naval officer in white, that was Lovell the man hanks played.
That's a common myth 😂
@@Gecko.... ImDB lists Lovell as the captain of the Iwo Jima. Doesn’t seem like a myth.
@@Gecko.... maybe you ought to check your facts prior to commenting.....lest you look foolish.
@@Gecko.... Nice try. Jim Lovell did play the Captain of the USS Iwo Jima. He's pretty easy to recognize and it's not like photos of him are hard to find.
@@Gecko.... i think you have been proven wrong
I was 13 when this happened. We spent a whole week glued to the TV screen. It was an event I will never forget.
So was I Mike. It was the only time in my life, that I prayed for my heroes safe return. I followed the space program, from the morning I watched John Glenn's launch in Friendship 7.
I was a baby when Apollo 9+ happened, and the fact that I am just barely too young to remember the Apollo missions has pissed me off my entire life. GO Christina Koch and ARTEMIS 2!
You complimented Kathleen Quinlan’s performance as Marilyn Lovell. She actually was nominated for the best supporting actress Academy Award for this film.
“Failure is not an option ! “. Madison , thanks for pointing out that in America the 4th is also a time to celebrate our country’s great accomplishments. Like the space program. And to celebrate all the men and women who help push our nation forward to bigger and better achievements.
Director Ron Howard frequently places his brother and parents in movie roles. Howard's Dad is the family priest, his Mom portrays Jim Lovell's Mom and Ron Howard's brother Clint Howard is in the Command Center with the thick black glasses, "From my chair here, the Odessey is dying"
You left out Cheryl Howard, Ron's wife was a spectator/onlooker at the launch site (at night) and Bryce Dallas Howard was the "Girl in the Yellow Dress" though I don't blame you for missing them ... I am just being overly thorough, they were only seen in quick shots and I LOVE DBH ... a LOT !!!
And Michael Rockefeller as Tom Hanks the satanic pedo.
@jeffpawlinski3210 nepotism is great, amirite
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, who was one of the astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire, was the first person ever to go into space twice. There is a museum dedicated to his life and career, which is just south of my hometown.
Gus was the first NASA astronaut to fly into space twice. An absolute legend of the early space flight programs. Joe Walker however was the first person to fly into space twice although neither flight was an orbital one. Like Neil Armstrong, Joe Walker was an X-15 pilot and flight 90 and 91 crossed the Kármán line over a year before Grissoms Gemini flight.
@@JumboSeventyNine That is if LEO is considered part of space.
@@timcarr6401 The requirement is generally to cross the Karman line to be considered an astronaut. Both of Walkers flights did so but both were sub orbital. Grissoms first flight was sub orbital also. I think Gordon Cooper might have been first into orbit twice.
I lived in Louisville form a while and went to Mitchel at least once a week. I would camp and Spring Mill State Park. So, I have visited the museum several times.
I am no longer a Christian, but happen to have been baptized in the same baptistry as Grissom in Mitchell (Church of Christ).
I was 16 in 1970 when these events happened, and I remember it all clearly, even the detail that Swaggert hadn't done his taxes. As I understand it, all the effects in this movie were practical, which included taking numerous parabolic flights in a special airplane which can simulate zero-G for a few seconds at a time. I watched all of the space missions that I could, from Mercury, through Gemini and Apollo, up to the Space Shuttle, and most definitely witnessed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the Moon and taking those historic steps. Armstrong was given the freedom to say whatever he felt appropriate when he set foot on the Moon. In fact, when the LEM landed, their hail of, "Tranquility Base, here. The Eagle has landed" caught NASA off guard. As an ABC-TV employee, I was fortunate enough to witness two launches of the Space Shuttle (STS-5 and STS-7) in person from the press area seen in the movie. Unforgettable. Three miles from the launchpad, yet the sheer power of a liftoff is palpable as a rumble to your core.
I was 7 when it happened, didn't understand the gravity of the situation at the time. As an adult I now realize the teamwork and a bit of luck that was required to get them home safely.
"numerous parabolic flights in a special airplane which can simulate zero-G for a few seconds at a time." ( 30 seconds.) The Director Ron Howard shot a large portion of this film in a plane diving towards earth so fast everyone inside is weightless. Up & down, up & down, over & over shooting this film 30 seconds at a time. I'm telling you right here right now. Love Ron Howard films but I wouldn't have been his assistant on this one even if they offered me 50% of of the gross. I do not want to be in an airplane falling towards earth. Period.
The guy in mission control who emphatically rants against the IRS is played by Ron Howard's brother Clint, who was audited by the IRS at the time of filming himself.
He only figured the CO2 numbers for two people because the LEM was only intended/expected to hold two people, the third remaining in orbit around the moon while two went down to the surface.
"Are CMPs in the space program too?"
As a physicist, I really appreciate the depiction of practical math at a time when there were no pocket calculators. Just pencil, paper, and slide rules.
AND UNDER what must have been EXTREME STRESS!! I cannot freaking imagine
The officer in the white cap and uniform greeting Tom Hanks at the end was the REAL Jim Lovell. When I was a band director and the movie was only 2 years old, my 100 piece band did a space halftime show. Our Slow number was the Apollo 13 theme, a stunning work. Without James Horner's score, much of this movie would only be a technical exercise....I could feel the event all over again as I felt it at age 14 in 1970 with his music, he's as good as the great Max Steiner [Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, etc] and with this score really had John Williams looking over his shoulder with concern someone was catching up with him, lol. Sometimes too much movement in music can spoil the whole mood of the whole picture rather than enhance it. This music was majestic and had a soul, exactly right. An analogy could be viewed as "the right amount of medicine can cure, too much medicine can kill..."
James Horner did the music for both this movie and Braveheart in 1995. Yet somehow despite getting Oscar nominations for both movies he went home empty handed that year which was a crime.
I wonder how the filmmakers approached Lovell? He HAD to consider "Hollywood Movie Versions SUCK" yet somehow, these filmmakers won him over. I think this is one of those 'on-screen investments' that make this film a Forever and Instant Classic. "Any other biopix films that use a major character in this pix?" I mean, it's not like Hitchcock doing walk-thru's in his own films, after all.
In real life, the real Jim Lovell said “We could have panicked and bounced off the walls for ten minutes, but then we’d be right back where we started. As long as it wasn’t a catastrophic situation like Columbia or Challenger, but one where we were still breathing and the spacecraft was not violated by a meteor, we just had to think. You had to be objective and positive in your thinking, not looking at your hands wishing for some miracle to happen. If we’d all gotten in a fetal position to wait for a miracle, we’d still be up there" to explain how the astronauts were able to maintain their composure and professionalism in such a stressful and dangerous situation. Ironically, his "bouncing off the walls" and "right back where we started" lines were used for the made up emotional meltdown scene in the movie. Hollywood felt the need to add a little melodrama to keep the audience invested. Stoicism doesn't sell tickets.
Don't worry. Our DEI astronauts will panic and create drama as a result of being chosen for everything but their qualifications.
@@docsavage8640So are only white men qualified to be astronauts?
@@docsavage8640 Well that's a relief!
Another thing, Jack Swigert was a rocky but still was really good at his job. After all, he was trailed to be on the backup crew so needed to be able to step in on a moments notice. Again, Hollywood...
@@docsavage8640 Oh shut up magat
One of the coolest things about this movie is how they did the zero gravity. The whole movie crew went on trips on the plane known as “the vomit comet” Which creates zero gravity for a few seconds at a time
In order to make the dive as speed, they first have to climb. The speed at which they climb subjects the occupants to almost 2G for the duration of the climb before peaking and achieving the 30-second 0G period. That has to wreak havoc on the mind and body over time.
@@jerryfick613 I find myself wondering if they shot the high G re-entry scenes during one of the Vomit Comet's climbouts, it'd be one good way to portray high G (an earthbound centrifuge being another).
In Forrest Gump, Lieutenant Dan said to Forrest that the day he founded a shrimp company would be the day he becomes an astronaut. This was the next movie they made together.
This is about as accurate of a historical film that can be made. Most of the dialog between Apollo and Ground Control was taken directly from the NASA transcripts.
At the time of splashdown, my father happened to be the only military journalist on the Navy recovery ship. He was on-board doing a human interest story about sailors at sea when they got redirected. If you ever have seen still photos of the splashdown, my dad probably took them.
My two favorite lines in the movie come the strong Lovell Ladies. "If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jommy could land it." and "Tell them to take it up with my husband. He'll be home on Friday!"
The line that always gives me a shiver, is "Gentlemen, it's been a privilege flying with you".
As he said it, he knew they could all three be dead in the next few minutes.
Mine is Kranz yelling " We've never lost an American in space and we're sure as hell not going to lose one under my watch!" And "I don't care what anything was designed to do, I care what it CAN do."
My favorites are all the lines with the word "Amps" (Amperes) in them. Including comparing the power consumption with vacuum cleaners and coffee pots. The movie does well at explaining the relevant science/engineering in audience-digestable language. I know electronics well, but wonder how it comes across to a layperson with little understanding of basic electrical principles.
@@AlanCanon2222 Yep, it did a great job of breaking the technical issues down for the layman, without using a bunch of boring exposition.
“The amazing thing is not so much that man walked on the moon, but that God walked on the Earth.” Apollo 15, Col. James (Jim) Irwin, who was the 8th man to walk on the moon.
At the end of the Movie Tom Hanks shakes hands with the real Jim Lovell (an older guy wearing a White Cap). Jim Lovell is still with us and is in his 90's. Sadly, Marilyn Lovell passed away last year. Jim Lovell's Mom is played by Ron Howard's Mother. The bald, geeky looking Technician wearing glasses in the Houston Control Room is played by Clint Howard. I remember watching the coverage of Apollo 13. It was a real nail biter. We really didn't know if they would make it home or not.
This has been called the "Miracle Mission". If Ken Mattingly hadn't been left behind, he would not have been able to work out the Procedure in the Simulator that brought them home.
We don't often see Clint in any realistic role and, here, it's completely obvious that Clint can carry any role with total success. No messy-PB&J sandwich required-!
Ron Howard directed this and his brother is one of the guys in the control room ( balding/ glasses and has a pocket protector in his shirt pocket) and his mom plays the part of Tom Hanks mother and the minister is Ron’s dad!!
( Ron’s brother is also the one that agreed with Kevin’s character about the IRS … no pocket protector )
Strongly strongly strongly recommend a movie called The Right Stuff that lays the foundation of the beginnings of the Space Program. A fantastic ensemble cast in that one including Ed Harris. The cinematography and direction on the right stuff is absolutely mesmerizing, and it invented a scene that has become a trope in any movie where a team comes together to tackle a problem. We'll let you try to figure out what that scene is.
Absolutely. "The Right Stuff" is probably one of the two or three best movies about the U.S. space effort but You Tubers tend to do what the others have done and EVERYBODY does this movie at some point. No shade on Madison because she wants to grow her channel but VERY few You Tubers want to invest the time in a 3 hour movie, no matter how good it is.
@@harryrabbit2870 I'm kind of surprised she hasn't done Romancing the Stone. A lead character who happens to be a female author of westerns? Is there even such a thing?
Absolutely a MUST watch. It set the bar for all future outer space movies in terms of realism.
The Actress who played Jim Lowell’s Wife Kathleen Quinlan, was in “American Graffiti” 1973. She was the “smarties” who told Ron Howard’s Character Steve Bolander. “Joe College strikes out.” Also, The real Jim Lovell plays Carrier Iwo Jima Captain who greets Tom Hanks as him.
I came here to say that as soon as she said it was giving her American Graffiti vibes and Kathleen Quinlan was on the screen
Ed Harris: He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as NASA Apollo Mission Control Director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13. i thought his performance in this film was awesome. My favorite line from the movie he said: "Failure is not an option." I often used it when my kids expressed wanting to give up on a school project. A way of saying "See it through, stick with it, see what happens, "and other stuff like that.
He also played John Glenn in "The Right Stuff" - he's truly space hero material.
Ed Harris remains about The Perfect Casting Result for a real-life character - Gene Kranz was a fixture on American TV for ?? twenty ?? years and was instantly recognizable from school kids to his own parents' generation (those parents who saw Gene's generation go off to WWII and Korea). And Ed Harris' skull (often seen in profile a la Mt Rushmore) perfectly sustained that rock-like visage in this film.
@@Cbcw76 Agreed, and in "{The Right Stuff" he looked as close to John Glenn as anybody could. Excellent casting in both cases.
What's really amazing to me is that the Moon missions were accomplished on vintage (Or, what we now consider vintage) computers. I heard from one of my active-duty Sergeants that, at the time of the Moon launches, NASA computers had no more computing power than an old Commodore 64 home computer.
In the 1980's & 1990's we had "the 3 great J's-John Williams, James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith". Whilst I was growing up, it was rare for me to see a film that didn't have a soundtrack from one of these 3 composers.
At the end of the film, when Tom Hanks, as Jim Lovell, is shaking hands with the Captain of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, the person playing the Captain is none other than the actual Jim Lovell! So, in the film, Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) shakes the hand of the Navy Captain (played by Jim Lovell). How cool is that? Great reaction, Madison!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. And yes, that is super cool!
The script actually called for Lovell to portray an Admiral, but Lovell did not want to impersonate a superior officer and wore the bars of his actual service rank, captain.
LT Dan to Forest Gump, "If you're ever a shrimp boat captain, that's the day I'm an astronaut.'
And at the end, he had legs made of titanium..."like they use on the space shuttle!"
The monkey in a cage is part of a luggage commercial 😂
American Tourister 1971 :
I remember it well because it was on every 5 minutes !
Kevin Bacons character figured it for two people because only 2 of them would be going down to the moon in that ship it wasn't intended for 3.
oh man.. I remember that commercial
It was not a Monkey, but an actual Adult Male Chimpanzee.
Back in those days, watching those commercials, I'd assumed it was a Gorilla.
But then (after taking Physical Anthropology) YEP: A CHIMP !
Who could manually/bitingly dismember a human in 1-2 minutes.
@bigbow62 It was Bill Paxton’s character, Fred, who did the calculations.
Seeing this unfold in real time, when it happened, had us all on the edge of our seats for days. The Navy Captain that shook hands with Tom Hanks on the carrier at the end was the real Jim Lovell.
The correct quote is “Ah, Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
I had an awesome honor related to this movie. On June 6th 1995, three weeks before this movie came out, I graduated college, and the keynote speaker was Jim Lovell. He spoke about perseverance through troubling times and how to carry that strength with you through one's full life. A great speech. I saw this movie in the theater 3 weeks later on opening day, and as a life-long space junkie, was deeply moved by the film. Still am to this very day.
Those of us who lived through this when it happened re-live the suspense every time we watch this movie.
Love your emotions with this movie. I have two stories which relate to this movie. Brother Ed White was a member of the Church we went to. He was one of the three Apollo 1 Astronauts killed in the fire, his brother and his family still went to Church with us and he was an Elder of the Church. Much later in my life during the last eight years of my 41 year Navy career I performed Military Funeral Honors for the Navy while I was drilling out of the Reno Reserve Center. I remember walking into the Mount View Mortuary for a funeral. We always arrived at least an hour before the time of the start of the service so we could make sure the flag is folded or drapped correctly and arranged crollecty and rehearse once before the family arrives. When I walked into the chapel, the Urn and Flag were already on the podium table. On each side of the table was an easel, on each easel was a picture about two feet wide and three feet tall. I do not remember what the picure on the left was, but the one on the right I will remember forever. The Photographers Mate (Navy Photographer) was in a hoovering helicopter looking out of the cargo taking the picture. In the background of the photo was the USS Iwo Jima in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Between the Photographers Mate and the Iwo Jima was another hoovering helicopter and half way between the helicopter in the photo and the Pacific was the rescue swimmer. Not far from where the rescue swimmer will land in the Pacific is the Apollo 13 Command Module. I was told the rescue swimmer was the one we were there to honor. God blessed me so much in my decisions to join the Navvy and stay in so long.
"Why does that guy look so familiar to me? I've seen him somewhere" is named Xander Berkeley and it's shocking how much he's been in. All the way (and even before) to the early Tom Hanks movie Volunteers, through things like Sid and Nancy, A Few Good Men, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Taken, The Grifters, Terninator 2-Judgement Day, Leaving Las Vegas, Heat, and tv shows like The Walking Dead, 24, The West Wing, and he can play anything.
I first started noticing him in Air Force One, and then I saw him everywhere. But Sid and Nancy?!? Whoa!
He also played Buzz Aldrin in the TV movie Apollo 11
He was also in Gattaca.
In recent interviews, Tom Hanks has said that he read the transcript (or maybe he heard a recording) of the conversation between Lovell and Mission Control during the "corridor control burn." It went: "Ignition ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Shutdown". So all the chatter during this sequence in the movie was artistic license.
Early in the movie when Tom Hanks was told that Charlie Duke had the measles and Ken Maddingly never did, there was a giant vehicle with treads rolling along. That was one of the actual crawler-transporters that carried rockets from the vehicle assembly building to the launch pad. Rumor has it that a space shuttle being prepared for launch during filming, but I'm not sure whether or not that is true. Talk about gas guzzlers, that thing has a top speed of 2mph and burns fuel at a rate of 150 gallons per mile.
When Gene Kranz said "failure is not an option" he had obviously NOT seen Mythbusters!
Ron Howard's directorial debut was the comedy "Splash" starring Tom Hanks.
I suggest checking out "The Right Stuff" about the early astronaut program, and the test pilots of early supersonic aircraft. (Some describe it as "Animal House in Space" and it has its comedic moments, but it's pretty good.) "Apollo 11" is a documentary about the first moon landing, released just within the last decade or so. (This movie features recently discovered archival footage.) "From the Earth to the Moon" is a documentary TV series about the space program from its inception to Skylab (after Apollo), produced by Tom Hanks. (The series goes into some detail about several situations where lives were in jeopardy, not just the Apollo 1 fire and the Apollo 13 explosion. And it covers Apollo 13 from the perspective of the families rather than rehashing the movie.)
I heartily agree with From the Earth to the Moon. Excellent series. But, it's not a documentary. It's a historical drama, similar to this movie.
Another example of outrageous fuel mileage. I saw a documentary, narrated by Walter Cronkite, where he related that the first stage of the Saturn V used five gallons to the inch :-)
Gene Krantz actually never said “failure is not an option”, but he liked the line from this movie so much that he used it as the title for his autobiography.
I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing Ken 7/4/82 after a space shuttle landing at Edwards AFB.
Apollo 13 was directed by Ron Howard. His daughter Bryce directed several episodes of the Mandalorian, including episode 3 of season 2. In it, she does a shot for shot remake of a critical Apollo 13 scene as homage to her dad.
Came here to make sure someone mentioned this 😊
I never take my ring off married 42 years and she passed 4 years ago and still wear it
As someone who has watched the Gemini through the Apollo and shuttle missions and after, it has always amazed me how many moving parts have to work to get to space. We had so much optimism back then.
I changed my picture to Bob Cabana but my older profile picture was me shaking hands with Fred Haise.
It's one of my coolest flexes.😅
Great reaction. One of my only gripes is you left out of your reaction the scene were the Lovell Grandma assures her scared Grandchildren that "if they made a washing machine that could fly, my Jim could land it safely". To me, that's a line you need to keep in the reaction.
I've watched the movie several times, and many of these reactions. "Was it the door?" makes my heart sink every time.
Was a teen during all of this. It was a different world. Just fantastic.
Now that you've watched Apollo 13, if you like Space and Space history, I highly recommend
THE RIGHT STUFF, about the beginning of the Space program, the Mercury astronauts who first went into Space (pre Apollo program). Ed Harris is in that one too, playing the first Astronaut to orbit the Earth, John Glenn.
Also, 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY by Kubrick is science fiction, but is a must see seminal Sci Fi movie waaaay ahead of its time.
Terminator 2 (1987) was the first major production to use extensive CGI interacting with human actors, but none of the CGI looked like real people or living things; mostly chrome and inanimate things.
Jurassic Park (1993) was the first blockbuster to make extensive use of full-screen CGI for living animals interacting with human actors.
So when this was made in 1995, they had plenty of CGI for the little bit that might have been needed, but it was nearly all done with sets, models, and practical effects. CGI was used for the launch and the thruster effects in space, and for the urine dump.
Possibly the most expensive urine in Hollywood history.
I watched this movie at the cinema while on holiday visiting relatives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I remember when Tom Hanks character asking about expeditions to the Moon, "When will we be going back again ?" As it was almost 23 years after the last Apollo Space flight ,wondering myself not realising that almost 29 years later that question will still stand .
Fred was figuring the C02 based on two people because only two people were supposed to be in the LEM, landing on the moon, while the third was to remain with the ship, in orbit.
The opening party scene was creative license used to introduce many of the characters. When Armstrong landed on the Moon Lovell was at Mission Control hanging out by the Capcom desk.
You should watch “The Right Stuff” great cast based on the beginning ging of the space program. Great score, cast, special effects, and direction.
Looking forward too watching this with you and the chat, great movie 🎥
I have experienced this in real life. I can still remember that during the re-entry it took a very long time before radio communication was available again. At about the same time the capsule came into view dangling from 3 parachutes.
My ex, my 4 boys and I used to live in a small town in northern Michigan. We had one small video store in town. We all went to the video store one night. All the good kid videos were rented. I suggested this movie. My kids were NOT enthused. They watched it and REALLY liked it. So, I was happy.
I grew up a MAJOR NASA fan. My dad worked as a NASA subcontractor, so it was almost required.
Hi Madison👋🏾
Glad to see you still making content❤
another Hollywood addition: the manual burn didn't actually have them drifting around wildly like that.
Recently read through Fred's biography and he was one of the best people to have around in the LM imo: he was sent from NASA to Grumman the manufacturer and was involved in testing them. After the flight and a few years in different administrative roles he ended up getting involved in test flying the space shuttle: while he didn't get to ride it to space he flew the test shuttle Enterprise off the back of a 747
the cause of the accident is crazy: years before flight the oxygen tank was dropped in a warehouse damaging the drain pipe, during development at one point they ended up changing the voltage the equipment needed to run on, and they updated everything except the oxygen tank temperature sensor. During testing later on, they couldn't drain the oxygen out of the damaged tank so they then decided to turn on the heater and leave it on to boil it all out, but the unupgraded temperature sensor stuck on and so it got hot enough inside the tank to burn/melt the insulation off the tank's wiring which eventually arced and caused the explosion during flight
I like how you included this as being a part of the American spirit and appropriate for celebrating our nation!
"Why is that guy so familiar to me?"
That guy is Xander Berkeley. If you look up the definition for "THAT GUY" in the dictionary, you'll find his picture. He was in EVERYTHING in supporting roles. Most famous appearances are John Connor's foster father in T2 and the traitor in Air Force One.
I remember this vividly when it happened, and get tears in my eyes every time I see the movie. Great reaction! ❤
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it😊
I am an old guy and was crushed when Apollo 1 claimed the lives of Grissom, White and Chaffee. I was watching part of the Apollo 13 mission "live" on television and then followed news snippets on the disaster and the progress as Lovell, Swigert and Haise conducted self-rescue. There was no other possible rescue. When I got to see the movie, I relived those days when I was watching the news flashes.
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Just to let you know Madison, I am 65 years old and I remember this like it was yesterday. This was, like Gene Krantz said " I think this will be our finest hour" . And , it was !
Super great movie! Thank you Madison!
36:20 - Horner reused certain elements, such as the same set of discordant piano chords, in many of his scores. In "Apollo 13", just after Ken figures out a successful start-up sequence and pulls up to 30N, you hear the chords. They're also used in "The Pelican Brief" and "Clear and Present Danger".
Friday the 13th and “13” being “bad luck” came from all the way back in the year 1310 when the King of France (who was bankrupt) ordered a synchronized ambush on the Knights Templar on Friday the 13th. He seized their huge vast wealth and property holdings and burned 130 of them on pyres and killed as many of the remaining as he could. It was a pretty big deal at that time and the superstition grew from there.
During the broadcast, in real life they DID actually use the theme for 2001 ("Also Sprach Zarathustra" overture).
Watching a Live Saturn 5 Rocket Launch at the Cape is just so darn powerfully moving - nothing compares (you can feel the blast intensely over 2 miles away).
Another fine reaction under your belt, Mighty Maddie You're such great company. Thank you.
Thank you🩷 Glad you enjoyed it!
The astronauts really didn't argue during the flight. This was done for dramatic effect. They were all test pilots and were trained to be calm and focused in an emergency.
None of the actors wanted that scene. Howard insisted on it.
The uniformed man Tom Hanks shakes hands with at the end is the real Jim Lovell
JAMES HORNER scored STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN
Madison, the crew was afraid to broadcast after the blackout until the parachutes deployed because of the iffy battery issues. They didn't tell Mission Control this before losing contact during reentry so it set up the angst of not reestablishing radio contact before they were spotted by the recovery fleet.
24:40 He figured it for 2 people because the LEM is made for 2. He used the standard formula.
Think about the last line "When will we be going back and who will that be". As noted, the movie came out in 1995, 25 years after events of the movie, 23 years after the last Moon landing (Apollo 17) .... and 29 years ago.....
As a kid, I watched both the rocket launchings and Moon orbits/landings of every Apollo flight starting with Apollo 8 (first orbit around the Moon with Lovell on it). Watched most of the splash downs too. Many while in school.
I watched Armstrong and Aldrin land on the Moon and walk on the Moon on our grainy black and white TV. I was entranced and captivated by the Space program as an 8 to 12 year old during the Moon landing years. I'm so glad I grew up when I did. We felt very proud that American astronauts were the first on the Moon, fulfilling what JFK had promised in 1961.
Re Apollo 13, as you saw in the movie, since we had already landed on the Moon twice (11 and 12), Apollo 13 believe it or not was treated like "old hat" and the networks didn't cover it nearly as much as Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. Thus, I don't have as much of a clear memory of Apollo 13 aside from the news stories that there had been some problems which required that they come back and skip the Moon. The news stories stayed as neutral and generic as possible because the possibility of 3 astronauts forever orbiting the Earth unable to get back (or burning up in the atmosphere) was something they did not want to broadcast to everyone. Just think of that circumstance.....the Moon would be ruined forever.
I am pretty sure we watched the Apollo 13 splashdown in our Gym if I recall in grade school, just like Lovell's son. Those years were very cool.
One of my favorite movies 💜💜
As the story goes... Grumman Aerospace, who designed the Lunar Module, sent North American, who designed the Command Module (which is why the filters weren't compatible) an invoice for towing services.
35:50 Jim Lovell plays Navy Officer - " The Right Stuff " with Ed Harris as Neil Armstrong is a great movie about the Mercury Astronauts at the beginning of the Apollo program.
Good one, Madison! Such a great movie. I was born in 1960, so I have strong memories as a kid sitting by the TV in our living room with many family members all gathered around watching these Apollo space missions. It was incredible to watch it happening then go outside and look up at the moon and imagine the astronauts being up there. Yep, it was something. So glad you chose to share this one with us. I really enjoyed rewatching it with you. Thank you! 🙂
Thank you, Jeff! So glad you enjoyed it😊
In real life, the ideas of using the LEM as a "lifeboat" as well as making an adapter for the two different types of CO₂ scrubber cartridge had already been thought of and tested (in simulation) long before this mission. They were not thought of on the spot, although I'm sure that could have been done, had it been necessary. They made sure to include everything needed for these ideas to work in an actual emergency, including duct tape. In a strangely ironic way, duct tape, which is legendary for being used for everything in a pinch, was in this case used for exactly what it was made for: sealing air ducts (that's why it's called duct tape).
5:33 -- RE: Alan B. Shepard; See also the Mercury space missions, and the film "The Right Stuff". Shepard was the astronaut on the first manned suborbital flight of the Mercury program, but as the word "Suborbital" implies, he didn't actually go all the way around the Earth, just high enough but not quite fast enough. Gus Grissom repeated this with Mercury 2 (and later died on a pre-launch test for Apollo 1) and finally John Glenn orbited the Earth with Mercury 3 using a different and more powerful type of rocket.
^^ Now for the Confusing Part -- In "The Right Stuff", Scott Glenn plays Alan B. Shepard and Ed Harris plays John Glenn.
Shepard developed an inner-ear syndrome that made flying dangerous, but later had surgery to repair it and went to the moon on Apollo 14.
@@jonathanroberts8981 Actually, the ear thing was what kept Shepard out of Gemini and early Apollo missions. The ear thing was corrected in May '69 and his buddy Deke Slayton put him way ahead of others for Apollo 13. Then NASA higher-ups overruled him thinking Shepard and another guy on the same crew (Stu Roosa) needed more time. That is why they got bumped to 14 with Lovell, Haise, Mattingly getting moved up to 13. Of course, that would take longer to explain in the movie, so they added the ear problem flareup instead.
A Ron Howard directed movie that may be hard to find.....and is pretty good.....is Cocoon!
The book that this movie was based on was originally called Lost Moon....after the movie, subsequent printings were titled Apollo 13....
I'm old enough that I remember following the events of the Apollo missions on the news, so I knew they made it back safely, but I still loved the movie, I found very interesting how they were able to deal with all the situations.
They took a few dramatic liberties with the reactions of the astronauts. They were completely cool and poised. If you hear the actual recording of "Huston, we have a problem", the tone is more like a flight announcement "crew, get to your take-off positions" more than a quadruple failure in space. Other than those liberties, the movie is very accurate, all the way down to the ring falling in the shower.
The only thing I think is unrealistic is only one slide ruler seems to be used during the entire process. I a time where they had no electronic calculators if a computer was not upfront programmed to run a calculation, slide rulers assisted lots of calculations. Most engineers had their slide ruler in their pocket all the time. My father gave me and my brother one when we were kids, I loved it and I still know how to use it. Very ingenious devices.
The Horner music during the entire launch sequence was some of the best ever for any movie.
The heat shield is what protects the Space capsule as it plummets back to the Earth through the atmosphere. Yes, its like a meteor falling towards Earth, and that capsule is not that thick. They were very concerned that the prior explosion damaged the Heat Shield. That's why the splashdown was so tense and dramatic.
The Saturn 5 launch sequence was shot using the actual NASA Moon launchings films. If you look for those on YT, you'll see how close they got to the real launches. Hanks and Howard were both obsessive about getting it as precise and realistic as possible. So attention to detail in this movie was very high. Hanks is a Space Nerd. I think he was also involved in the incredibly detailed later HBO series about the Apollo program that had 10 parts. I entire show was devoted to Apollo 13.
I remember watching the moon landing and the events of 13. It was a wild and exciting time. Great reaction Lady Madison.
I remember watching when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I was 6 years old. Ken Mattingly passed away a few months ago. Fred Haise and Jim Lovell are still alive and well. Marilyn Lovell passed away recently too.
me too
I remember watching this in the theater.
The weightlessness scenes were filmed in a NASA modified KC-135 aircraft flying a series of parabolic arches. Once the plane climbs up to max altitude and begins to dive, there is a brief period of zero G. The plane is nicknamed "The Vomit Comet". Wikipedia has an article titled Reduced-gravity aircraft. Ron Howard did a superb job loading actors, film crew, and himself into the vomit comet.
To prepare for their roles, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon all attended the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Astronauts Jim Lovell and David Scott did actual training exercises with the actors inside simulated Command and Lunar Modules.
The various computer equipment in the Saturn V rocket, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), and the Command Module (CM) *together* were about 1/10th as powerful as the first iPhone.
Just think about Lovell's experiences in Space. He was the 1st astronaut to have 4 launches into space, 2 during the Gemini program (training to land on the Moon), and Apollo 8 where he was one of the first 3 men to orbit the Moon and return, and of course Apollo 13. So TWICE he was 60 miles above the surface of the Moon and orbited the Moon twice, but never landed. He logged more time in Space than ANY astronaut until the Space Station was built. More than any of the other Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts.
He is one of the GREAT EXPLORERS of the 20th Century and of the Space Age. Like Magellan.
This is my favorite “based on a true story film”, and my favorite James Horner soundtrack (he’s one of my favorite composers too, RIP).
Another great film with a beautiful score by Horner is the Rocketeer, I would highly recommend it.
Madison, thoroughly enjoyed your reaction!!!!
Thank you, Michael!🙏🏻
I remember watching the same news broadcast as was used in the movie .. and the major news coverage that followed after the explosion and until the safe splashdown.
Just to let you know, the person that Tom Hanks saluted and shook hands with just as the movie was ending was Jim Lovell he made a cameo as a admiral on the carrier
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Most of the zero g scenes were filmed about a zero-g simulator airplane that flew over 200 special flights to simulate microgravity for about 20 seconds at a time. They had the capsule built inside it to film in.
I'm 67.I was 13 years old and in the 7th grade when his happened. People from NASA would come to schools and give a program on spaceflight. I remember the early spaceflight from Mercury program all the way to space shuttle.I clearly remember watching the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.Moon landing took place in 1969.Just think that the Wright Brothers flew in 1903. Just 66 years later.
Great reaction as always, thank you.
The actor's name is Xander Berkley, and he's been in many movies, including "Air Force One" (Secret Service Agent/Traitor) and "Gattaca" (Lab Tech who knows Jerome is an Invalid). At the end of this movie, the Navy Captain character is played by the react Jim Lovell. The solo vocalist is Annie Lennox, originally from the Eurythmics. Thanks.
You mentioned 'artistic license' .... A few minor points:
No one worried about the transposition and docking, as any of the crew could do it in their sleep.
There was no dissent or bickering on the craft.
The LEM battery life questione was not decided by any single tech, as it was teams of guys. *
On the flip side, the CO2 adapter story is 100%. You can look at NASA photos.
The "don't make it worse by guessing'" line is taken verbatim from audio transcripts.
* The tech telling Kranz about the battery life issue is loosely based on the real life John Aaron, who is credited with saving the Apollo 12 launch vehicle after the craft was hit by lightning. A fun one to look up.
The challenge to adapt the filters was inspiration for the TV series “Junkyard Wars.”
You should go ahead and get this movie on DVD or Blu Ray, then listen to the commentary by Jim and Marilyn Lovell. You can tell by their voices that they were still dizzy in love with each other. They were happily married for 70 years. Marilyn passed away last year at 93. As of July 6, 2024, Jim Lovell is still alive at 96.
Jim Lovell is still with us and is in his 90's. Sadly, Marilyn Lovell passed away last year. Jim Lovell's Mom is played by Ron Howard's Mother. The bald, geeky looking Technician wearing glasses in the Houston Control Room is played by Ron's Brother, Clint Howard. Ron's Father played the Priest sitting with the family during the re-entry. I remember watching the coverage of Apollo 13. It was a real nail biter. We really didn't know if they would make it home or not. This has been called the "Miracle Mission". If Ken Mattingly hadn't been left behind, he would not have been able to work out the Procedure in the Simulator that brought them home.
Madison, the actor that asks Marilyn if the networks can put a transmission tower on her lawn is Xander Berkeley. He is a prolific actor with credits in over 200 films and tv shows but I bet you most remember him for being the double agent secret service guy Gibbs in "Air Force One".
I was born in 1969, so I was not aware of this mission until a few years later. My Parents' gave me a book about the American NASA program in the later 70's (a gap between last Apollo' to Skylab, peace mission to meet the Soviet craft & the Space Shuttle in 1971). The Astronauts were my heroes. I knew the planets, and all the known moons at that point. A true Space Geek! One of my elementary teachers called my parents, that when I drew with crayon or pencil, that my Sun did not have a "smiley face" and straight rays -my Sun had curved blasts of light, sunspots, and the planet Mercury. My Parents assured this Teacher to relax.!
See "The Right Stuff" (based on novel, which I read a few times as a teen) -and the HBO mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon" - even the more recent "Armstrong" -for other truthful-based NASA film dramas.
Happy belated 4th, Madison. Great reaction. IIRC the only CGI used was during the launch - for the ice falling off and for the plume of flame (the guy who did the effects was on Corridor Crew where he discussed all effects both practical and CGI). The weightlessness effect was achieved by having the set of the capsule built in a large cargo plane that repeatedly would go into a dive, giving them ~30 seconds to film before having to level out.
Thank you, BG! Glad you enjoyed it😊