For various reasons when The Right Stuff landed in movie theaters in 1984 it did not find a wide audience. But I was glad to experience it in all its glory on the big screen. I was in film school at the time and just delighted by the overall filmmaking of the movie. I was familiar the Pulitzer Prize playwright Sam Shepard who was in the early stages of being the movie star Sam Shepard when he played pilot Chuck Yeager. I still think it was one of the best matches of two larger than life characters. The following scene captures Yeager —who was the first to break the sound barrier (and who died yesterday)—and Shepard, who had a face that didn’t need any words to communicate volumes.
Of course, there is no doubt tucked in that scene Philip Kaufman’s direction and script (based on Tom Wolfe’s book), Caleb Deschanel’s cinematography, Bill Conti’s music, and a wealth of other people from production design, art direction, and editing that made that scene (and the whole movie) special.
From a screenwriting perspective, in Yeager and his life-threatening feat in 1947 you have conflict, character, emotion, and a climatic scene all rolled into one.
Here’s a little more about the real Yeager who was World War II vet from West Virginia.
Scott W. Smith is the author of Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles
Screenwriting from Iowa 