OCTOBER SKY A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
It's 1957, and, in the true story OCTOBER SKY, 17-year-old Homer Hickam has three simple goals. He wants never to have to work in the town's coal mine, he'd like to find a girlfriend and he is obsessed with the idea of building a rocket.
The big event of the year is the Russian launch of a man-made satellite, Sputnik, which orbits the earth for the first time. Even in backwoods West Virginia in the town of Coalwood where the story takes place, the whole town goes outdoors to gaze at the night sky in hopes of catching a glimpse of Sputnik. People sense that this is a seminal event that will alter the course of history. (The locals in the funny and heartwarming script by Lewis Colick, based on Homer H. Hickam, Jr.'s book, aren't all so impressed. "Let 'em have outer space; we have rock n' roll," one teenager declares nonchalantly.)
The movie captures perfectly the hopelessness of a "dying town with a dying mine" and the hardworking, blue-collar workers that live there. Actually, blue-collar is a misnomer for mineworkers. They get so black with coal dust by the end of their shift that the color of their collars is as indeterminate as the color of their skin.
As the tenacious idealist Homer Hickam, Jake Gyllenhaal gives a winsome performance that will have you rooting every second for him to achieve his dreams. There is only one known way out of Coalwood, which is to get a college football scholarship - something his brother Jim (Scott Thomas) is hoping for. Without this, young boys are condemned to live there forever, working in the mine that kills you slowly or quickly, depending on how lucky you are. Your lungs are certain to give out eventually, but you may die in an accident before then. The young women appear to have no exit route.
Energetic 1950's songs, like the ironic "That'll be the day when I die," enliven the scenes, and the humorous script keeps the story firmly out of the maudlin area. The upbeat film has a genuineness and poignancy that will touch your heart.
Sputnik changes Homer's life forever as it inspires him to build a rocket, just like NASA's Werner Von Braun - to whom Homer writes progress letters, which Homer reads in voice-over. He enlists the help of his two best buddies, Roy Lee (William Lee Scott) and O'Dell (Chad Lindberg), and of the school's resident nerd, Quentin (Chris Owen), to build rockets. Quentin, a social pariah because of his bookishness, is shocked that Homer would even speak to him.
The boys' teacher, Miss Riley, played wonderfully in a key supporting role by Laura Dern, encourages their efforts. She suggests they enter the regional science fair, which Coalwood students have never won, since from there they could go to the national science fair. And the first place winners of the national science fair receive college scholarships. The principal ridicules the whole idea, telling Miss Riley, "Our job is to give these kids an education, not false hopes."
Walking 8 miles to their launch site, since that is the closest land not owned by the mining company, they fire their series of rockets. The story contains just enough technology discussions without becoming pedantic. Their rocket disasters - some explode on ignition and others turn into dangerous horizontally flying projectiles - are sidesplittingly funny.
Homer's biggest deterrent is his own father, John, from whom Homer gets his persistence and strong work ethic. Homer, however, gets little love or support. As the long-time manager of the mine, John is a tough but fair-minded type, with emphasis on the former. Chris Cooper, in a performance that dares to be unlikable, plays the father with just a hint of a heart of gold. John constantly ridicules Homer's scientific endeavors. The ever-busy John, who always makes time for Jim's football games, is just about the only person in town who doesn't go occasionally to "The Rocket Boys'" launches.
Even if the outcome is never really in doubt, the story takes several quite surprising twists on its way to a satisfying conclusion that will cause many a teary eye. Even if you feel like you've seen similar fictional stories before, they rarely have this emotional wallop. Be sure and stay for the epilogue, in which old color movies of all of the lead characters are shown.
OCTOBER SKY runs 1:40. It is rated PG for mild profanity, brief teen sensuality and alcohol use, and for some thematic elements. The movie would be fine for kids around 9 or 10 and up, depending how interested they are in serious movies.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, February 19. In the San Jose area it will be playing at the AMC and Century theaters.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews