For All Mankind (1989)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Al Reinert

Release Date:

1 November 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Tagline:

A Film by Al Reinert

Plot:

This movie documents the Apollo missions perhaps the most definitively of any movie under two hours...

Plot Keywords:

Astronaut | Space | Space Program | 1970s | 1960s

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 20

8:15 PM

TCM

Cast

Jim Lovell	...	Narrator (Apollo 8, 13) (voice) (as James A. Lovell Jr.)
Russell Schweickart	...	Narrator (Apollo 9) (voice) (as Russell L. Schweickart)
Eugene Cernan	...	Narrator (Apollo 10, 17) (voice) (as Eugene A. Cernan)
Michael Collins	...	Narrator (Apollo 11) (voice)
Charles Conrad	...	Narrator (Apollo 12) (voice) (as Charles P. Conrad Jr.)
Richard Gordon	...	Narrator (Apollo 12) (voice) (as Richard F. Gordon Jr.)
Alan Bean	...	Narrator (Apollo 12) (voice) (as Alan L. Bean)
Jack Swigert	...	Narrator (Apollo 13) (voice) (as John L. Swigert Jr.)
Stuart Roosa	...	Narrator (Apollo 14) (voice) (as Stuart A. Roosa)
James Irwin	...	Narrator (Apollo 15) (voice) (as James B. Irwin)
Kenneth Mattingly	...	Narrator (Apollo 16) (voice) (as T. Kenneth Mattingly II)
Charles Duke	...	Narrator (Apollo 16) (voice) (as Charles M. Duke Jr.)
Harrison Schmitt	...	Narrator (Apollo 17) (voice) (as Harrison H. Schmitt)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Buzz Aldrin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Anders	...	Himself (archive footage)
Neil Armstrong	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stephen Bales	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Steve Bales)
Frank Borman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Walter Cunningham	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ron Evans	...	Himself (archive footage)
Fred Haise	...	Himself (archive footage)
Christopher Kraft	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Chris Kraft)
Gene Kranz	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jim McDivitt	...	Himself (archive footage)
Edgar D. Mitchell	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Ed Mitchell)
Bob Overmyer	...	Himself (archive footage)
Buck Owens	...	Himself (voice) (archive footage)
Wally Schirra	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dave Scott	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alan Shepard	...	Himself (archive footage)
Deke Slayton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Thomas P. Stafford	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Tom Stafford)
Edward H. White II	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Ed White)
John Young	...	Himself (archive footage)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA

Company:

Apollo Associates

Trivia:

The staging footage was captured because NASA wanted to document the flight process of an unmanned Saturn flight for feedback in case there was a failure for engineers to look at footage to see what went wrong. Cameras were mounted in strategic locations, kicking on at critical moments to document the staging process for less than half a minute. After completion, the light-tight canisters containing the exposed film were jettisoned, dropping to earth with homing beacons and parachutes inside protective heat shields. Air Force C-130 transport planes, towing gigantic nets, recovered the canisters in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

Quotes:

John F.Kennedy: We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won and they must be won and used for the progress of all mankind.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Drive (1991)

Soundtrack:

Also Sprake Zarathustra

Great to watch again and again!

The only thing I would criticize is that the movie is not longer! The music (I think Brian Eno composed it) fits well, quite ambient, never overpowering and helps take the viewer along with the astronauts. What a wonderful beginning, with President Kennedy's speech that the U.S. wants to reach the Moon.... And the words that follow are told only by the astronauts, not by some earth-based narrator that would over-dramatize without knowing what the experience of space travel involves. I've searched for this movie since I rented it on laserdisc years ago, and now I find it's being released in DVD! If you can buy it, it's worth purchasing.