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MOVIE
REVIEW – OCTOBER SKY
Rating: PG
Year of release: 1999
Time Length: 108 minutes
Cast: Laaura Dern, Chris Cooper, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Owen,
William Lee Scott, Roy Lee, Chad Lindberg
October Sky is the true story of the childhood of Homer Hickam, a retired
NASA engineer and an author. He has penned The Coalwood Way, Torpedo
Junction and Rocket Boys (which incidentally is what the movie October
Sky is based upon.)
The movie takes place in 1957 in the town of Coalwood, Virginia.
The Soviet satellite, Sputnik was just launched and the 14-year old
Homer (Jake Gyllenhaal) suddenly fell in love with the idea of space
travel after he saw it cross the sky above his home. Unfortunately
his father, John Hickam (Chris Cooper) is the local coal mine’s
boss, and he expects his son to follow in his footsteps.
Homer defies his father’s wishes and starts building model
rockets as a hobby. Unfortunately, his first several rockets are busts – literally.
His first model rocket blows up his mother’s freshly painted
white picket fence. His next rockets blow up as well. Some don’t
take off at all and simply explode on the launch pad. Others make
it a few feet in the air and then explode.
Homer and his friends were losing hope, but not interest. With the
support and interest of Miss Frieda Riley (Laura Dern), his science
teacher, he and his friends continue to plod on their course. Miss
Riley suggests that the boys enter their project in the school science
fair.
Finally, Homer’s group manages to construct a working rocket.
It sails in the air and is found several miles away
after it lands. Homer and the boys are elated, as is
Miss Riley. Word gets around and soon the whole town
is entranced with the notion of rockets and everyone
shows up at the slag field to see the launches – except his father.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Making difficult decisions, being true to yourself,
family relationships, physics, using explosives, tolerance,
taking risks.
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