RocketMan
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| Rocket Man | |
|---|---|
 A promotional film poster for Rocket Man. |
|
| Directed by | Stuart Gillard |
| Produced by | Rodger Birnbaum |
| Written by | Craig Mazin, Greg Erb, Oren Aviv (Story) |
| Starring | Harland Williams, Jessica Lundy, William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn, James Pickens Jr., Beau Bridges |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 10, 1997 |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
RocketMan is a 1997 comedy/science fiction movie that was made by Walt Disney Pictures with Caravan Pictures and Gold/Miller Productions and was released on October 10, 1997. The movie was shot on location at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and in Moab, Utah for the scenes on the surface on Mars.
The movie was a big flop at the box office (with a gross of only $15,448,043 in the USA), but has now become a cult classic. Until recently (as of 2006), the movie was only available on a rare, out-of-print VHS release. Then, in April 2006, the Disney Movie Club began distributing a DVD release. While it was greeted warmly by fans of the movie, it lacked any special features.
Taglines:
- He's just taking up space!
- One Man's Dream... Is NASA's Nightmare!
[edit] Plot
NASA is currently training for the first ever mission to Mars. Due to a supposed glitch in the computer navigation system, NASA looks for the original programmer of the software to see why the software seems to be broken. Fred Z. Randall (Harland Williams), the eccentric programmer who wrote the software, meets Paul Wick (Jeffrey DeMunn), the lead mission director of the Mars mission, William "Wild Bill" Overbeck (William Sadler), the commander of the Mars mission and Astronaut Gary Hackman (Peter Onorati), the computer specialist. After a series of explanations and hard headed subborness from Gary, he suffers a skull fracture by getting hit with a model of the "Pilgram 1" Mars lander. NASA decides that instead of delaying the mission they get a backup astronaut. In the end, Randall gets the job.
While getting ready to go on the space shuttle, Randall realizes his fears and is afraid to go on with the mission. Bud Nesbitt (Beau Bridges), the man that Wick claims to be the cause of the Apollo 13 accident, tells Randall about the time he was given three commemorative coins by President Johnson. He gave one coin to Neil Armstrong, another to Jim Lovell, and finally shows Randall a gold coin reading, "Bravery". "It hasn't done me much good," Bud says. "Maybe it'll mean something to you."
Fred, along with Commander Overbeck, Astronaut Julie Ford (Jessica Lundy), and Ulysses, a chimp that was trained for looking for fossils on the surface (and just happens to be Fred's roommate on the ship), blast off into space. In order to save food, all crew members are put to "hypersleep" for eight months while the space shuttle makes its trip towards Mars. As if on purpose, Ulysses mistakes Randall's "hypersleep chamber" for his own and Randall has to sleep in Ulysses' chimp-shaped chamber. Randall falls asleep for only 13 minutes and has to stay up for eight months.
While looking up the Mars weather data on the space shuttle's computer, Randall notices something that could put the crew's lives in danger. Randall calls Nesbitt and tells him about a group of severe "sandstorms" that are forecasted to head over the crew's landing site. If the crew is on Mars when the sandstorms hit, they could be lost forever. Nesbitt tells Wick about the situation but Wick just ignores him.
The crew makes it to Mars, after Overbeck barks at Randall for being awake the whole time, and using all the food for painting. They land the pilgram on the martian surface. As Overbeck prepares to be the first to step on mars, Randal slips and lands first followed by Overbeck.
A day after the crew lands, the sandstorms arrive ahed of schedule. After almost losing Overbeck and Ulysses in the sandstorm, the crew immediately flies off the Martian surface. The crew members almost make it out of the sandstorm until a rock slide kicked up by the wind hits the lander. "Pilgram 1" starts to spins out of control, without power. In order to boot up the power again, Randall has to rewire the entire system in less than 2 minutes or they crash and die. With less than 20 seconds, Randall has to complete the circuit. He frantically searches for something and finally grabs the coin that Bud gave him. Randall jams the coin into the slot at the last second and the lander regains power. The crew safely return to the space shuttle in Mars' orbit.
As Randall gets ready for "hypersleep" one last time, Ulysses climbs into Randall's "hypersleep chamber" once again, forcing Randall to stay up again for another eight months on the journey back home.
[edit] Quotes
- Fred Randall [repeated line]: It wasn't me!
- Fred Randall [typing on computer keyboard]: Okay, here we go. Here it comes. Mm-hmm... Yeah. Got it, got it. There it is.
Paul Wick [looks into the computer monitor']: There's what?
Fred Randall [pulls something out of his mouth]: This popcorn kernel's been stuck in my molars for the last two weeks!
- Fred Randall [pretends his pen is a spaceship]: Commander, are you sure we're headed towards the planet Earth? It's looks a heck of a lot like the Sun.
Fred Randall [pretends he's the commander]: Of course I'm sure, you fool! How dare you question my authority?!
[he flys his pen into a Sun painted on the wall]
Fred Randall : Aaah!!
[looks over and sees some NASA employees staring at him]
Fred Randall [normal voice] : Morning.
- Bud Nesbitt : Apollo 13 was an accident.
Fred Randall : Oh, sure, sure it was. Just like the captain of the Exxon Valdez didn't see Alaska floatin' there right in front of him.
- Fred Randall : Of course. There's still moisture under the surface. And where there's water, there could be life.
Juile Ford : That's right.
Fred Randall : Or death. Death to anyone who dare disturb the vicious Martian crust devils with their venomous feet and their wet, sucking lips!
[makes sucking noises]
- Mrs. Randall : I've made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, just like you like 'em. It's a long trip.
Fred Randall : Mom, I'm not even hungry, honestly.
Mrs. Randall [points at the cookie-cutter shaped sandwiches] : Look, there's a little moon, a star and a little rocket.
Fred Randall : I'm 30 years old! I'm almost a [voice cracks]full-grown man!
[pauses]
Fred Randall : I'll take the rocket.
- Fred Randall : Sweet swirling onion rings!
- Fred Randall [repeated line]: Aaah! It burns the flesh!
- Julie Ford : So, I'll see you in eight months.
Fred Randall : Boy, I wish I had $928 for every time a girl's said that to me.
- William Overbeck : Randall, I'm going to kick your butt!
- Julie Ford [standing on Mars for the first time] : My God!
Fred Randall : It's amazing! We're the first to ever stand on Mars!
William Overbeck : Now you're the biggest idiot on two planets.
Fred Randall : We're the first to talk on Mars!
- Fred Randall [riding in the Mars Rover] : Hey, there's no airbag. What if I go flyin' through the windshield?
William Overbeck : Randall, there is no windsheild.
Fred Randall : Oh. Well, what if I go flying through the front of my helmet?
William Overbeck : I'd die happy.
Fred Randall: They've taken over the ship 50, 60 of them. I've had to hide in the jungle. Take this down, I need four barrels of gunpowder, a machete, a goat skin, a guide that speaks Hutu.
Fred Randall: "Sorry I was late, I, I, ran in to Gary."
Fred Randall: "Fun is my Chinese neighbor's middle name."
