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On seeing Apollo 13 again tonight
Sep. 8th, 2008 12:05 amSci Fi just ran Ron Howard's 1995 film Apollo 13, based on the book by the actual mission's commander James Lovell, Lost Moon, tonight. Even though Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton look nothing like the so-often-seen photos of the real trio of astronauts, they still managed to portray excellently the mix of cool competence, sheer terror and gritty determination that reigned on that almost-doomed flight. And Gary Sinise as left-behind team member Ken Mattingly, Ed Harris as NASA flight director Gene Kranz, and Kathleen Quinlan as Lovell's wife all provide faultless support.
Even though I've seen the film before more than once, even though I know as we all do the actual historical account of that eight-day ordeal in 1970 (I was all of seven years old when it happened), I empathized with poor Marilyn Lovell being informed of her husband's predicament and listening to the radio and watching TV waiting to learn if he would survive. And I loved Ron's mom Jean in a cameo as Lovell's aged mother, who despite obvious signs of Alzheimer's or similar senile dementia refuses to be alarmed when informed of her son's dire situation: "If they could make a washing machine fly, my Jimmy could land it!" (Seeing Blanche's little boy in action in this film, one can quite easily believe her...and certainly he and his crew must have felt like they were in a Maytag on spin cycle a time or two that week.) Then there was Marilyn telling the pressies not to set up their equipment on her lawn: "If they don't like it, they can take it up with my husband. He'll be home Friday." And I found myself almost biting my nails in apprehension again at those last four minutes following reentry, when the returning Odyssey module is blacked out from radio contact and Mattingly repeats forlornly, "Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read?" And I wanted to cry along with Marilyn's tears of relief and catharsis when Jim's voice finally rings out, "Houston, this is Odyssey!" and cheers fill Mission Control in Houston. And having the real Lovell play the aircraft carrier captain, greeting Hanks' faux version of himself with a handshake and a salute, was a nice touch.
And I recall Lovell's final line: "I wonder when we will go back. And who that will be." So do I.
Even though I've seen the film before more than once, even though I know as we all do the actual historical account of that eight-day ordeal in 1970 (I was all of seven years old when it happened), I empathized with poor Marilyn Lovell being informed of her husband's predicament and listening to the radio and watching TV waiting to learn if he would survive. And I loved Ron's mom Jean in a cameo as Lovell's aged mother, who despite obvious signs of Alzheimer's or similar senile dementia refuses to be alarmed when informed of her son's dire situation: "If they could make a washing machine fly, my Jimmy could land it!" (Seeing Blanche's little boy in action in this film, one can quite easily believe her...and certainly he and his crew must have felt like they were in a Maytag on spin cycle a time or two that week.) Then there was Marilyn telling the pressies not to set up their equipment on her lawn: "If they don't like it, they can take it up with my husband. He'll be home Friday." And I found myself almost biting my nails in apprehension again at those last four minutes following reentry, when the returning Odyssey module is blacked out from radio contact and Mattingly repeats forlornly, "Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read?" And I wanted to cry along with Marilyn's tears of relief and catharsis when Jim's voice finally rings out, "Houston, this is Odyssey!" and cheers fill Mission Control in Houston. And having the real Lovell play the aircraft carrier captain, greeting Hanks' faux version of himself with a handshake and a salute, was a nice touch.
And I recall Lovell's final line: "I wonder when we will go back. And who that will be." So do I.
