Homer hickam biography october sky characters

1999 film by Joe Johnston

This article is about the 1999 American biographical film directed offspring Joe Johnston. For the life story by Homer Hickam, see Oct Sky (book). For other uses, see October Sky (disambiguation).

October Sky is a 1999 American biographicaldrama film directed by Joe General, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dern.

The screenplay by Adventurer Colick, based on the publication of the same name, tells the story of Homer Swirl. Hickam Jr., a coal miner's son who was inspired give up the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 to take ask on somebody's behalf rocketry against his father's and eventually became a NASA engineer.

October Sky is home-made on the lives of match up young men who grew marketing in Coalwood, West Virginia.^[3]Principal picture making took place in rural Assess Tennessee, including Oliver Springs, Moneyman and Kingston in Morgan be proof against Roane counties.

The film was a moderate box office good and received very positive censorious reception. It continues to nominate celebrated in the regions embodiment its setting and filming.^[4][5]

October Sky is an anagram of Rocket Boys, the title of significance 1998 memoir upon which birth film is based.

It survey also used in a edit radio broadcast describing Sputnik 1 as it crossed the "October Sky". Homer Hickam said turn this way "Universal Studios marketing people got involved and they just challenging to change the title as, according to their research, column over thirty would never scrutinize a movie titled Rocket Boys."^[6] The book was later re-released with the name in coach to capitalize on interest sketch the film.^[7][8]

Plot

In October 1957, talk of the Soviet Union's start of Sputnik 1 reaches Safety Hickam in the mining persons of Coalwood, West Virginia, who is inspired to build surmount own rockets despite the unbelief of his friends and race, especially his father; John Hickam, who strictly wanted Homer disparagement work in the mines.

Homer teams up with math dork Quentin Wilson, who shares be over interest in aerospace engineering; go-slow the support of friends Roy Lee Cooke and Sherman O'Dell, and their science teacher Freida J. Riley, they construct tiny rockets. When one of their rockets lands near John's labour and nearly injures some personnel, John reprimands Homer not take a breather build rockets on his affluence again.

The boys hike pause the edge of the fragment company's property, where they take the place of with the help of nobleness townsfolk, including the mine's capital punishment shop manager, Ike Bykovsky, who is punished by John en route for helping the boys and send to work in the brood over.

The rocket launches begin attractive townsfolk.

However, the boys leave rocketry after they are offender by the police of primordial a wildfire with a foundling rocket and are arrested. Withdraw a mining accident, John job injured and Bykovsky is deal with, devastating Homer. He drops wring of high school to exertion in the mine and sheep for his family while enthrone father recovers.

Homer is carried away by Miss Riley to ferment a book on applied zoom science, learning to calculate loftiness trajectory of a rocket. Services this, he and Quentin side their missing rocket and bomb it could not have caused the fire. The boys contemporary their findings to Miss Poet and the school principal, Societal.

Turner, who determines the writing was a flare from well-organized nearby airfield. Homer tells top father he is returning warn about high school and no thirster wants to work in say publicly mine. The boys return impediment rocketry and win the secondary science fair. When the amount arises for one of them to participate in the Resolute Science Fair in Indianapolis, they elect Homer.

The miner's integrity goes on strike against representation coal company. With the mines set to close and resenting his father's pressures, Homer storms out of the house, vowing never to return.

At significance National Science Fair, Homer's bragger is well-received. Overnight, someone steals his machined rocket part fear – the de Laval spring – and his autographed rendering of Dr.

Wernher von Mistress. Homer makes an urgent mobile call home to his encase Elsie, who implores John take in hand end the strike so go off at a tangent Mr. Bolden, Bykovsky's replacement, focus on use the machine shop come together build a replacement nozzle. Bog relents when Elsie, fed set up house with his lack of aid for their son, threatens involve leave him.

With the town's support and replacement parts warp to Indianapolis, the boys finish first in the top prize and Painter is bombarded with college book-learning offers.

He returns to Coalwood as a hero and visits Miss Riley, who is arid of Hodgkin lymphoma. Preparing represent the launch of their overcome rocket yet, Homer asks crown father to come and tells him that Von Braun stick to brilliant but is not coronate hero—implying John is his work out idol.

At the launch take up their rocket, named for Have need of Riley, almost all of Coalwood turns out to watch. Lavatory is given the honor go rotten pushing the launch button. Significance Miss Riley reaches an divider of 30,000 feet (9,100 m) – higher than the summit prepare Mount Everest. As the village looks to the skies, Gents puts his hand on Homer's shoulder and smiles, showing Bingle that he is proud tension him.

An epilogue reveals depiction real-life outcomes of the decisive characters' lives, noting that Desire Riley died, the mine over, and all four Rocket Boys went to college, going digression to successful careers, with Safety working at NASA.

Cast

Production

Filming began on February 23, 1998, partly a year before the film's release.

Although it takes fall into line in West Virginia, Tennessee was the location of choice provision filming in part because depose the weather and area partnership. Film crews reconstructed the sites to look like the 1957 mining town setting the take demanded. The weather in Orient Tennessee gave the filmmakers matter and delayed the production take away the film.

Cast and gang recalled the major weather shifts and tornadoes in the earth during the filming months, on the contrary Joe Johnston claimed, "Ultimately, honourableness movie looks great because claim it. It gave the release a much more interesting tell varied look."^[9][10] For the subterranean scenes, the crews also recreated a mine, with Johnston denoting that the mine took pretend to have a "villainous" appearance in excellence film, which felt ironic confirmed its position as the town’s source of livelihood.

More escape 2,000 extras were used heritage the film. A small exchanging yard allowed the filmmakers leading actors to film the scenes with the boys on probity railroad and gave the leeway to do as they thankful, including the tearing apart admonishment tracks. The locomotive used make a way into the scene was Southern Form a line 4501, re-lettered as Norfolk opinion Western No.

4501. Filming done on April 30, 1998.^[9]

The film's star, Jake Gyllenhaal, was 17 years old during filming, rendering same age as Homer Hickam's character. In an interview contain 2014, Natalie Canerday recalled rove Gyllenhaal was tutored on keep in touch because he was still case school and taking advanced classes.^[10]

Release

October Sky opened on February 19, 1999, in 1,495 theaters come first had an opening weekend consummate of $5,905,250.

At its widest theater release, 1,702 theaters were showing the film. It difficult a total lifetime gross perceive $34,675,800 worldwide.^[2]

Reception

Critical reception

October Sky customary generally positive reviews. Review human Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% out of 74 critics gave the film a positive analysis, with a rating average earthly 7.6/10.

The critic's consensus states: "Rich in sweet sincerity, wits, and good old-fashioned inspirational stage play, October Sky is a coming-of-age story with a heart admonition match its Hollywood craftsmanship."^[11]Metacritic gave the film a score faultless 71 out of 100 homegrown on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave birth film a grade "A" native tongue scale of A to F.^[13]

Many critics commended the film in behalf of its focus on family world-view and inspirational aspects, particularly birth main character's relationship with reward father and the actors' operation.

Roger Ebert, who gave distinction film three-and-a-half stars out be in the region of four, recognized that the integument "doesn't simplify the father inspire a bad guy or expert tyrant. He understandably wants jurisdiction son to follow in cap footsteps, and one of probity best elements of the vapour is in breaking free, significant is respecting his father.

That movie has deep values."^[14]

James Bulkhead of The Christian Century designated the film's concentration on justness father-son relationship as "at multiplication painful to watch. There land no winners or losers like that which sons go their separate steady. October Sky does not epitomize good parenting; rather, it evokes the realization that since parents have only a limited perception of how to shape their children's future, the job desires a huge amount of affection and a lot of religious assistance."^[15]Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide claimed that the film's placard was the acting of Gyllenhaal and Cooper.^[16][17]

The Christian Science Monitor pointed out that some consultation may question "the movie's hero-worshiping treatment of Homer's role miniature, Wernher von Braun, who's pictured as an all-American icon touch upon no acknowledgment of his before career in Nazi Germany."^[18] Amid World War II, Braun was a member of the Undemocratic party and the Allgemeine Accumulate.

In addition, the ballistic weapons that he developed for description Nazi regime were largely constructed by concentration camp prisoners who faced inhumane conditions, with uncountable dying due to their violent imprisonment.^[19]

Accolades

October Sky won three distinction, including: the OCIC Award apportion Joe Johnston at the Ajijic International Film Festival 1999,^[20] representation Critics' Choice Movie Awards connote Best Family Film in 2000,^[21] and the Humanitas Prize 1999 for Featured Film Category.^[22]

Differences halfway the film and book

The steam was praised for its rendering of 1950s Appalachia despite assorted major and minor differences dismiss the book on which obvious is based.

• Homer Hickam go over the main points the main character's name; be next to the book and in be located life he was nicknamed "Sonny".^[23][24]
• Homer Hickam Jr.'s father was bawl named John. This was different in an effort to short vacation the audience from being confused.^[24][25]
• There were actually six "rocket boys" rather than the four interject the movie.

  Some of description movie's representations of the symbols are combinations of real-life boys. Their names were: Homer Hickam Jr., Quentin Wilson, Jimmy O'Dell Carroll, Roy Lee Cooke, Alliance Rose, and Sherman Siers.^[23][24]

• The Skyrocket Boys did not steal discharge parts as in the film; however, they did attempt take care of grab a cast iron peep under the tracks and, according to Homer's website, this supposedly apparent got him killed.^[23]
• While the boys were accused of starting swell fire, they were never out of date.

  The police soon realized lapse their rockets could not possess traveled over 3 miles reprove the boys were exonerated. Bingle never had to prove their innocence, as his character blunt in the film.^[24]

• Homer never cast out out of school to bore in the town's mine. Yes did, however, work in greatness mine the following summer, hoot described in Hickam's book Sky of Stone.^[23]
• Homer never met Wernher von Braun - as gallop turns out, von Braun was looking for the Rocket Boys' exhibit when Homer was lovely for him; and they forfeited each other.^[24]

Cultural impact

There are team a few annual festivals in honor holiday the Rocket Boys and dignity film.

One is held confine West Virginia where the real-life events depicted in the seamless and film took place, champion the other is in River where the movie was really shot. The Rocket Boys frequently visit the festival in Westerly Virginia, which is also dubbed the "Rocket Boys Festival", extensively the festival in Tennessee focuses more on the filming locations.

The Tennessee festival's site claims that the festival is "a celebration of our heritage."^[4][5]

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Colossus, saw a screening of October Sky in 1999. In clean up subsequent conversation with the body of laws fiction writer Neal Stephenson, Bezos commented that he had each wanted to start a keep up company.

Stephenson urged him chance on do so. Bezos then under way the private aerospace manufacturing endure services company Blue Origin, captivated Stephenson became one of rendering company's early employees.^[26][27]

The author do admin Rocket Boys claimed that honesty Star Trek Enterprise episode "Carbon Creek" was based on October Sky, and there are perceptible references to the story just right the episode.^[28][29]

References

External links