October Sky is a 1999 American
biographical filmA biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
directed by
Joe JohnstonJoseph Eggleston "Joe" Johnston II is an American film director and former effects artist best known for such effects-driven movies as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III, the period drama October Sky, The Wolfman, and Captain America: The First Avenger.- Life and...
, starring
Jake GyllenhaalJacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
,
Chris CooperChristopher W. "Chris" Cooper is an American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s. He has appeared in supporting performances in several major Hollywood films, including The Bourne Identity, American Beauty, Capote, The Town, The Kingdom, Syriana, October Sky, Seabiscuit, and...
and
Laura DernLaura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress, film director and producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk , Blue Velvet , Fat Man and Little Boy , Wild at Heart , Jurassic Park and October Sky...
. It is based on the true story of
Homer HickamHomer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, is studied in many American and international school systems, and was the basis for the popular film October Sky...
, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of
Sputnik 1Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
to take up
rocketryAmateur rocketry, sometimes known as amateur experimental rocketry or experimental rocketry is a hobby in which participants experiment with fuels and make their own rocket motors, launching a wide variety of types and sizes of rockets...
against his father's wishes, and who eventually became a
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
engineer. Most of the film was shot in rural East Tennesse, including location filming in:
Morgan County, Tennessee,
Roane County, Tennessee, Oliver Springs, Harriman, and
Kingston, TennesseeKingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States, and is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake. Kingston, with a population of 5,264 at the 2000 United States census, is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area....
.
Title
October Sky is an
anagramAn anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of
Rocket BoysRocket Boys is the first memoir in a series of three, by Homer Hickam, Jr. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boy's pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. It won the in 1998, the year of its release. Today, it is one of the most often picked community/library reads in...
, the title of the book upon which the movie is based. It is also used in a period radio broadcast describing Sputnik as it crossed the "October sky." Homer Hickam stated that "Universal Studios marketing people got involved and they just had to change the title because, according to their research, women over thirty would never see a movie titled
Rocket Boys", so Universal Pictures changed the title to be more inviting to a wider audience. The book was later re-released with the name in order to capitalize on interest in the movie.
Plot
The film is set in
Coalwood, West VirginiaCoalwood is an unincorporated coal mining town in McDowell County, West Virginia, USA. As of the 1990 Census, the population was 900. The coal mine in Coalwood reached its peak in the 1960s and finally shut down production on October 1, 1982...
in the year 1957. The
coalCoal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
mine is the town's largest employer and almost every man living in the town works in the mines. John Hickam (
Chris CooperChristopher W. "Chris" Cooper is an American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s. He has appeared in supporting performances in several major Hollywood films, including The Bourne Identity, American Beauty, Capote, The Town, The Kingdom, Syriana, October Sky, Seabiscuit, and...
), the mine superintendent, loves his job and hopes that his boys, Jim (Scott Miles) and Homer (
Jake GyllenhaalJacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
), will one day join him in his mine. When it appears that Jim will receive a football scholarship to attend college, this leaves Homer to fulfill his father's dream, although his mother, Elsie (
Natalie CanerdayNatalie Suzanne Canerday is an American actress.Canerday is a native of Russellville, Arkansas. After attending Hendrix College , she began her motion picture career as a production secretary for the television feature The Tuskegee Airmen, then made minor appearances in films such as...
), hopes for more for her son.
In October, news of the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's rocket launch of
Sputnik 1Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
reaches Coalwood. As the townspeople gather outside the night of the broadcast, they see the satellite orbit across the sky. Filled with awe and a belief that this may be his chance out of Coalwood, Homer sets out to build rockets of his own and enter the
science fairA science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...
. Initially, his family and later his classmates think he has gone crazy and is wasting his time, especially when he teams up with Quentin Wilson (
Chris OwenChris Owen is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the American Pie movies as Chuck Sherman . He reprised this role in American Pie 2, American Pie: Band Camp and American Reunion...
), the school's math geek who also has an interest in
rocket engineeringAerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
. With the help of his friends, Roy Lee Cooke (
William Lee ScottWilliam Lee Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of dim-witted high school student Stanley "Bullethead" Kuznocki on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show...
) and Sherman O'Dell (
Chad LindbergChad Tyler Lindberg is an American actor. He is best known for his film role as Jesse in The Fast and the Furious and for a rape scene in the 2010 remake I Spit On Your Grave.-Life and career:...
), and support from their science teacher, Miss Riley (
Laura DernLaura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress, film director and producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk , Blue Velvet , Fat Man and Little Boy , Wild at Heart , Jurassic Park and October Sky...
), the four try out their new passion. While their first launches are failures, they begin experimenting with new fuels and rocket designs. After several successful launches, the local paper runs a story about them.
The next day, they are arrested — accused of having started a forest fire with a rocket that had gone astray.
After Homer's father picks him up from the police station, Roy Lee is seen getting beat up by his stepfather, Vernon. Homer's father intervenes and rescues Roy Lee, warning the drunken man that, even though Roy Lee's father is dead, he will beat him up as he would have for attacking Roy Lee. In a rare display of emotion, he tells Roy Lee that his father was one of the best men he ever knew.
The arrest, along with Homer's father's lack of support, crushes the boys' dreams.
After a mine disaster, Homer's father is injured rescuing "... a dozen men (who) would have died...", though one other miner does die. Homer drops out of high school and works the mine to provide for the family while his dad recovers.
Later, Homer is inspired to look at a rocket science book Miss Riley had given him, and learns how to calculate rockets' trajectories. This shows him that their lost rocket could not have caused the fire, as it was unable to travel that far. Homer and Quentin recover the rocket in a stream just about where they figure it should have landed. The boys present their findings to Miss Riley, the school principal, and the police. Chagrined, Principal Turner identifies the offending projectile as a
flareA flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signalling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications...
from a nearby airfield.
Homer returns to school, and the boys return to rocket making, and win a school science fair. The school sends Homer to the national
science fairA science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...
in
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. That night, John is almost shot by a man in a black car outside. John, with Homer and Jim in tow, exits the house to see who fired. John shouts "Vernon!" realizing this was apparently revenge for the threats John gave Roy Lee's stepfather earlier. Homer and Jim express their concern about this to their father, but John passes it over, bitterly telling Homer to go "look for his suitcase" (Homer had been doing so prior to the shooting). Fed up, Homer confronts his father and a heated argument ensues. Homer storms out of the house, vowing to never return or look back.
Homer goes to Indianapolis and enters the fair. His display goes over very well, but when he leaves to go sightseeing, someone steals his
de Laval nozzleA de Laval nozzle is a tube that is pinched in the middle, making a carefully balanced, asymmetric hourglass-shape...
, as well as his autographed picture of
Wernher von BraunWernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
. Homer makes an urgent phone call home for help. His mother convinces Homer's father to end the ongoing strike so that Mr. Bolden can build a replica of the stolen nozzle. John bitterly refuses but gives in when Elsie, fed up with his lack of support for their son threatens to leave him if he doesn't help. Homer wins the top prize and is besieged with scholarship offers from colleges. He is also congratulated by his inspiration Dr. von Braun, but in the confusion does not learn the engineer's identity until after he is gone.
Homer returns to Coalwood a hero, and visits Miss Riley, who is now ill with Hodgkin's disease. He shows her the medal he has won, and she responds touchingly. A launch of their largest rocket yet (called the
Miss Riley) is the last scene of the film. (In the reality of which this scene is emblematic, the rocket boys' most successful rocket reached an impressive altitude of 30000 feet (9,144 m) — higher than the summit of
Mount EverestMount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
.) Homer's father finally shows up for a launch, and is given the honor of pushing the firing button. As the rocket streams upward, the film shows the view from the perspectives of many characters. As the group looks up to the rocket, John slowly puts his hand on Homer's shoulder and smiles.
A series of vignettes (including footage of a
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
launch and home movie footage of the characters in the 1950s) tells the later lives of the real characters upon which the movie was based.
Cast
| Actor/Actress | Roles |
Jake GyllenhaalJacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
|
Homer Hickam Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, is studied in many American and international school systems, and was the basis for the popular film October Sky...
|
Chris CooperChristopher W. "Chris" Cooper is an American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s. He has appeared in supporting performances in several major Hollywood films, including The Bourne Identity, American Beauty, Capote, The Town, The Kingdom, Syriana, October Sky, Seabiscuit, and...
|
John Hickam |
Laura DernLaura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress, film director and producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk , Blue Velvet , Fat Man and Little Boy , Wild at Heart , Jurassic Park and October Sky...
|
Miss Freida J. Riley Freida Joy Riley was an American science and math teacher. She taught at Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia during the late 1950s and early 1960s while suffering from Hodgkin's disease.-Life:...
|
Chris OwenChris Owen is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the American Pie movies as Chuck Sherman . He reprised this role in American Pie 2, American Pie: Band Camp and American Reunion...
|
Quentin Wilson Quentin Wilson is an American engineer and is one of the original Rocket Boys. His character in the Universal Pictures film "October Sky" was played by Chris Owen...
|
| William Lee Scott William Lee Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of dim-witted high school student Stanley "Bullethead" Kuznocki on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show...
|
Roy Lee Cooke Roy Lee Cooke is an American who was a founding member of the Big Creek Missile Agency and one of the original Rocket Boys. His character in the Universal Pictures film October Sky was played by William Lee Scott...
|
Chad LindbergChad Tyler Lindberg is an American actor. He is best known for his film role as Jesse in The Fast and the Furious and for a rape scene in the 2010 remake I Spit On Your Grave.-Life and career:...
|
Sherman O'Dell |
| Natalie Canerday Natalie Suzanne Canerday is an American actress.Canerday is a native of Russellville, Arkansas. After attending Hendrix College , she began her motion picture career as a production secretary for the television feature The Tuskegee Airmen, then made minor appearances in films such as...
|
Elsie Hickam |
| Randy Stripling |
Leon Bolden |
| Chris Ellis Chris Ellis is an American film and television actor who was born April 14, 1956 in Dallas, Texas.Ellis always wanted to be an actor because of television...
|
John Turner |
| Elya Baskin |
Ike Bykovsky |
| O. Winston Link Ogle Winston Link , known commonly as O. Winston Link, was an American photographer. He is best known for his black-and-white photography and sound recordings of the last days of steam locomotive railroading on the Norfolk & Western in the United States in the late 1950s...
|
Railroad engineer |
| Andy Stahl Andrew Render Stahl is an American actor who has been acting for over 20 years. Two of his more memorable roles were Tom McHone in the Christy series and General Armand Stassi in seaQuest 2032.-Life and career:...
|
Jack Palmer |
External links