| Apollo 13 | |
|---|---|
theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Ron Howard |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer |
| Written by | Book: Jim Lovell Jeffrey Kluger Screenplay: William Broyles Jr. Al Reinert |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Kevin Bacon Bill Paxton Gary Sinise Ed Harris |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Editing by | Daniel P. Hanley Mike Hill |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | June 30 1995 |
| Running time | 140 minutes IMAX: 116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$62 million |
| Gross revenue | $355,237,933 (worldwide) |
Apollo 13 is a 1995 film that dramatized the event of the ill-fated same-titled lunar mission in 1970. The movie was adapted by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert from the book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger and was directed by Ron Howard. It stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris, and features Kathleen Quinlan.
Apollo 13 was widely praised by critics as a compelling dramatization of a true engineering event during the "Space Race". It was nominated for several film awards, notably nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film was modified and re-released as an IMAX film in 2002, which cut approximately 24 minutes from the original version.
In 2005 a 10th anniversary DVD of the film was released which included both the theatrical version and the IMAX version, along with several extras.[1] Then in early 2006, Apollo 13 made its way into the high-definition video format with its release on HD DVD.
Contents |
Apollo 13 opens with a flashback of the Apollo 1 fire incident, accompanied by a narration by Walter Cronkite. As Cronkite's monologue ends, the film moves on to July 20, 1969 where veteran astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) is on his way home to a party for the Apollo 11 moon landing. After witnessing Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the moon, an inebriated Lovell stares up at the moon and tells his wife, Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan), of his wish for a moon landing of his own.
A few months later, Jim, who's expecting to fly Apollo 14, is giving a VIP tour of NASA's towering Vehicle Assembly Building while Apollo 13's massive Saturn V rocket is being assembled. As the U.S. representatives among the VIPs question the possibility of any further moon landings after beating the Soviet Union to the moon, he is informed by Deke Slayton (Chris Ellis) that he and his crew have been bumped up to be prime crew of Apollo 13. After informing his family of his new flight assignment, Lovell and his crew, Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) begin training for Apollo 13 instead of Apollo 14. As the launch date approaches, Marilyn's fears for her husband's fourth space mission manifest in her unwillingness to go to the launch.
At Cape Kennedy, two days before launch, Lovell is informed by flight doctors that Mattingly had been exposed to German measles. Despite his efforts to overrule the flight surgeon's recommendations, Lovell makes the decision to bump Mattingly off the flight. He is replaced by the backup Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) to the chagrin of Haise and Mattingly. On the night before launch, Haise says his goodbye to his family; bachelor Swigert is seen off by at least one person who calls out "Jack" off screen. Also in attendance, to Lovell's surprise, is Marilyn, coming to see “a hell of a show.”
The next morning Lovell, Haise and Swigert are suited up for the launch. Meanwhile, in Houston's Mission Control Center, Apollo 13 flight director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) prepares the members of Mission Control for the flight. After the crew has been secured into the spacecraft, the mission is given a go for launch. The film then moves into a dramatic launch sequence as the astronauts are launched into orbit. The middle engine on the Saturn V's S-II stage cuts off prematurely during its intended burn, which causes brief concern, but the astronauts eventually make it to orbit without any more problems. After performing translunar injection (TLI), the burn that sends the Apollo 13 CSM/LM to the moon, Swigert maneuvers the Apollo Command Module Odyssey to dock with the Lunar Module Aquarius.
On the third day of the mission, the crew broadcasts a television program to Earth from their spacecraft. Unbeknown to them, the major networks have refused to air the program. The networks believe the public has come to view spaceflight as "routine" and this perceived lack of interest does not warrant valuable airtime. After the broadcast, the crew runs through an in-flight “housekeeping” checklist. Swigert is asked to stir the cryogenic oxygen tanks, leading to an explosion in the Service Module, which rocks the spacecraft. The crew and Mission Control are shocked to find that the oxygen tanks aboard Odyssey are leaking, which prompts Mission Control to abort the moon landing, and the crew gets to work shutting down Odyssey and powering up Aquarius to act as a lifeboat so the crew can get home.
On Earth, backup commander John Young recruits Mattingly to help prepare procedures to restart Odyssey once the crew is near Earth. Meanwhile, the Apollo 13 crew shuts down Odyssey, powers up Aquarius and orients the spacecraft so they pass around the dark side of the moon, while a melancholy Lovell daydreams of his first steps on the Lunar surface.
After regaining contact with the space craft, the team at Mission Control has to deal with more problems. To conserve power, the crew must shut down Aquarius and remain in the freezing cold in order to make it home. Swigert suspects that Mission Control hasn't given the crew a re-entry plan because they have made some kind of mistake that can't be fixed and they don't want the crew to find out that they're doomed. In a fit of rage, Haise chastises Swigert's relative inexperience as the cause for the accident, after which a full blown argument ensues, but is quickly quelled by Lovell. Then Houston radios in with another problem: they must deal with the heavy carbon dioxide being created by the three men in the two-man Aquarius. A quickly assembled engineering team in Houston puts together a crude but effective method to remove the poisonous gas, creating a "mailbox" device that cleans the atmosphere in Aquarius. Following their directions, the crew once again averts danger.
As the spacecraft approaches Earth, the crew is forced to make a risky course correction by burning the Lunar Module's descent engine in order to prevent from skipping off earth's atmosphere. Despite Haise's fever and freezing conditions inside the cabin, the crew succeeds in righting their wayward spacecraft. With Earth approaching, Mattingly's team struggles to find a way to power up the Command Module with what little power is left on the crippled spacecraft. After Mattingly gets an ingenious idea, power-up procedures are finalized and Mattingly instructs Swigert on reviving Odyssey.
After witnessing the damage suffered by the scarred Service Module, the crew strap in for their descent into atmosphere. With one final goodbye to Aquarius, the lunar module that saved their lives is jettisoned. Then, Odyssey re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, and after over four minutes of radio ionization blackout – three minutes is normal for re-entry – the crew reports that they have made it alive and well. Celebration rushes through Mission Control and in the homes of the astronauts' families. In an emotional scene, Kranz simply sits down as everyone applauds around him, looking overwhelmed and fighting back tears. After splashing down, the crew is plucked out of the water and taken to the USS Iwo Jima for a heroes welcome. The film then concludes with a slow-motion sequence with monologue by Hanks (as Lovell) about the events that would follow their return from space. Actor Hanks shakes hands with Jim Lovell, acting as the captain of Iwo Jima. The sequence ends with "I look up at the moon and wonder: 'When will we be going back, and who will that be?'"
The film is notable for its technical accuracy; principals reported that the film is reasonably faithful to the facts of the mission but adds some tension between the astronauts for dramatic effect.
The dialogue between ground control and the astronauts was taken verbatim from actual transcripts and recordings, with the notable exception of one of the taglines of the film, "Houston, we have a problem."[2] (This quote was voted #50 on the list "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes".) The words uttered by Jack Swigert were "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here." Jim Lovell then repeated "Houston, we've had a problem." The script changed the quote deliberately, as Lovell's actual words suggested something happening in the past rather than the present.[3]
Scenes involving weightlessness were filmed aboard NASA's "Vomit Comet", a KC-135 aircraft which is used to mimic microgravity for short periods by performing a series of parabolic arcs. The spacecraft interiors were constructed by the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center's Space Works, who also restored the actual Apollo 13 Command Module.
The real Mission Control room is on the third floor of a building. The Mission Control room built for the movie was on a ground floor. One NASA employee who was a consultant for the film claimed that the set was so realistic that he would leave at the end of the day and look for the elevator before remembering he was not actually in Mission Control.
By the time the film was made, the USS Iwo Jima had been scrapped, so her sister ship, the USS New Orleans, was used instead.
A dramatic event in the film occurs when Mrs. Lovell drops her wedding ring down a shower drain. According to Lovell, this actually did occur.[4] The Lovells refer to the incident in an interview on the DVD version of the film,[5] and Jim Lovell mentioned it in his book, Lost Moon.
Ken Mattingly did not watch the launch at Cape Canaveral as depicted in the film; he actually watched the launch from the command center in Houston.
A DVD commentary track, recorded by Mr. and Mrs. Lovell and included with both the original and 10th anniversary editions,[1] mentions several inaccuracies included in the film, all done for reasons of artistic license:
Some other technical inaccuracies exist in the markings on some vehicles and equipment, the exact sequence of events during liftoff, and the details of sequences of switches and indicators used.
The film contains a few anachronisms:[7]
Faults
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Tom Hanks | Jim Lovell |
| Kevin Bacon | Jack Swigert |
| Bill Paxton | Fred Haise |
| Gary Sinise | Ken Mattingly |
| Ed Harris | Gene Kranz |
| Kathleen Quinlan | Marilyn Lovell |
| Mary Kate Schellhardt | Barbara Lovell |
| Emily Ann Lloyd | Susan Lovell |
| Miko Hughes | Jeffrey Lovell |
| Max Elliott Slade | James "Jay" Lovell |
| Jean Speegle Howard | Blanch Lovell |
| Tracy Reiner | Mary Haise |
| David Andrews | Pete Conrad |
| Michele Little | Jane Conrad |
| Chris Ellis | Deke Slayton |
| Joe Spano | NASA Administrator |
| Xander Berkeley | Henry Hurt |
| Marc McClure | Glynn Lunney |
| Ben Marley | John Young |
| Clint Howard | Sy Liebergot, EECOM White |
| Loren Dean | John Aaron, EECOM Arthur |
1996 Academy Awards (Oscars)
1996 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
1996 Canadian Cinema Editors (Eddies)
1996 American Society of Cinematographers
1996 BAFTA Film Awards
1996 Casting Society of America (Artios)
1996 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
1996 Directors Guild of America
1996 Golden Globe Awards
1996 Heartland Film Festival
1996 Hugo Awards
1996 MTV Movie Awards
1996 PGA Golden Laurel Awards
1996 Screen Actors Guild Awards
1996 Writers Guild of America Awards
1996 Young Artist Awards
2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers
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