October Sky (1999)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Joe Johnston

Writers (WGA):

Homer H. Hickam Jr. (book)
Lewis Colick (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 February 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Family

Tagline:

Sometimes one dream is enough to light up the whole sky.

Plot:

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.

Plot Keywords:

Rocket | Teacher | Science | Mining | Sputnik

Awards:

3 wins & 11 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	12:30 PM	AMC
Sun. July 12	9:00 AM	AMC

Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Homer Hickam
Chris Cooper	...	John Hickam
Laura Dern	...	Miss Riley
Chris Owen	...	Quentin
William Lee Scott	...	Roy Lee
Chad Lindberg	...	O'Dell
Natalie Canerday	...	Elsie Hickam
Scott Miles	...	Jim Hickam
Randy Stripling	...	Leon Bolden
Chris Ellis	...	Principal Turner
Elya Baskin	...	Ike Bykovsky
Courtney Cole-Fendley	...	Dorothy Platt (as Courtney Fendley)
David Dwyer	...	Jake Mosby
Terry Loughlin	...	Mr. Dantzler
Kailie Hollister	...	Valentine Carmina (as Kaili Hollister)

Also Known As:

Rocket Boys (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for language, brief teen sensuality and alcohol use, and for some thematic elements.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:14A | France:U | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:II | Mexico:A | New Zealand:PG | Norway:7 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:7 (re-rating) | Sweden:Btl (original rating) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Fountain City Elementary School - 2910 Montbelle Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The school exterior was actually two different schools - the football scene was shot in the soccer field of Gresham Middle School, Knoxville, Tennessee, and the other exterior scene, right before Homer and his friends are arrested, is the exterior of Fountain City Elementary school in Knoxville. The actual schools are directly across the street from each other.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the auditorium scene near the end of the movie, the U.S. flags are hung incorrectly. The blue field or union should always be displayed in the upper left corner no matter if hung vertically or horizontally.

Quotes:

Homer: Did you ever see Frankenstein and the wolf man?

Movie Connections:

Featured in My Big Break (2008)

Soundtrack:

Let the Good Times Roll

Superb film, based on real people and real events.

It was 1957 and Russia had just launched Sputnik. I was almost 12, and I remember my father pointing up into the October sky as we tried to catch a glimpse of the Earth's first artificial satellite orbiting overhead. Thus the title "October Sky". In West Virginia the son of a coal miner became intrigued with rockets and space travel and, in spite of his father's urgings that he accept his fate and become a coal miner too, eventually won the national science fair competition, and a college scholarship, ultimately became a key member of the space exploration team of NASA. A wonderful and inspiring story, and a superb film of that story.

Everyone was good in the film, but Chris Cooper as the miner boss and stubborn father was far and away the best in "October Sky." Although "rockets" is the theme, the film is primarily of the struggle of children trying to break out of the cycle and become more than just another coal miner. As an epilog we learn that all four of the "rocket boys" went to college, the father died of mining-related disease, the teacher of Hodgkins disease, and the whole town and mining operation was sold and shut down in the next decade.