A perfect movie

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2009)

This review is designed for people like me who have seen Apollo 13 dozens of times. Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies for several reasons and here is a short rant: the movie was robbed at the 1995 Oscars. It could have been Best Picture and either Ed Harris or Karen Quinlan could have won best supporting actor/actress. At the time the movie was released, people wondered whether it would be Tom Hank's third Oscar in a row. The role of James Lovell was too "normal" and the movie too much of an ensemble film for him to have had a chance. Of course that doesn't take anything away from his brilliant, understated performance.
The movie premiered around Memorial Day 1995, and I saw it that first weekend in an old-fashioned multi-plex (before stadium seating). Seen in a theater, this movie wraps you in and rockets you back to 1970. It also puts you in a fourth chair in the Command and Lunar modules. I was around for the original Apollo 13 incident: I was the same age as the younger Lovell daughter. Yet, even knowing the whole outcome, I was still enthralled with the intricacy of the whole plot and all of the characters. The "corridor control burn," where the astronauts have to floor the engines and get the LEM back on course was especially exciting in the theater. I think all of the air got sucked out of it by people gasping! Last year I was lucky enough to meet Tracy Reiner, who played Mary Heise. She told me some neat insider information about the movie, such as how they filmed the Lift off scenes at Long Beach, CA and not Florida. Tracy also said that in the arresting scene where she and Marilyn (Karen Quinlan) gaze upward at the ascending rocket, with tears in their eyes, they are actually watching a hanky being hoisted up a flagpole. She also said she filmed most of her scenes with a broken toe.
One of the movie's best scenes was the docking sequence. In the hands of a lesser director, it would have been a ho-hum, forgettable scene. Yet Ron Howard rachets up the drama by cross-cutting between Ed Harris and the actor playing Deke Slayton as they worry about Jack Swigert, a last minute replacement performing a critical command module maneuver ("C'mon rookie, park that thing.") As many other reviewers have said, the producers did a perfect job re-creating 1970. I laughed at the part where the one Lovell daughter says about the other "She's still moaning about the stupid Beatles breaking up!" The older daughter swishes the door open and shoots back "They're not stupid, you're stupid!" This brings up another point: whoever did the costuming for the movie absolutely nailed the look of 1970 clothing and hair fashions. Yet, the movie was not nominated for a costume Oscar. I guess you have to be an 1800s or earlier period drama to be considered for that category.
At the time the incident originally occurred, we followed along in social studies class. I always knew that they would get the astronauts back safe and sound, but of course, I was an innocent kid. Still, the way the producers handled the re-entry was absolutely breathtaking. I can still see the condensation from the instrument panels dripping down on Lovell, Heise, and Swigert. There was such a dramatic build-up of the broadcast delay from re-entry, it had me and everyone else in the theatre going "Wait a minute..." until the static crackled and James Lovell's voice triumphantly booms over the speakers. Everyone in the theater cheered just like the people in mission control.
Apollo 13 didn't get the credit it deserved in the year it was released but it is still one of the best movies ever made, period.