Apollo 13 (1995)

 Overwhelming.
Apollo 13 is a good Ron Howard film, I just don't think it's his most accomplished work. Tom Hanks pulls off another excellent performance, the problem I have with this film is the pacing, it's slow but the ending more than makes up for it. Apollo 13 is a film every young adult should watch, good history lesson. May 9, 2008

 Ron Howard's & Tom Hank's Best Collaboration
As I write this review on the anniversary of the launch of that fateful mission, I am reminded of how I felt during this tragedy. I was a teenager with an eye towards the sky. I had watched every launch I could since Mercury. Landing on the moon seemed so easy after Armstrong and Aldrin. It was hard to find out even when they would land let alone find coverage. We were all distracted by Vietnam. Little did I know, nor did anyone, that this, not the landing on the moon, would become, as Gene Kranz, the flight director, said, "NASA's finest hour." This movie captures the mood of the time and the joy of that moment on April 17th when radio contact resumed after re-entry.

This is an excellent ride, as one of the astronauts once said.

Here's an interesting footnotes from Wikipedia:

Grumman, the maker of the LEM (lunar excursion module) sent a bill for towing to the North American company, the maker of the command module. North American, jokingly declined, by saying that their accountants priced out a towing fee for the LEM for past missions to the moon. The LEM was the crew's lifeboat after the accident that crippled the command module.

Ironically, stirring the O2 tanks may have prevented a worse tragedy. A level gauge failed early into the mission causing ground control to doubt a reading. So, the frequency of stirring the tanks was increased in the hope that the gauge would clear, i.e., function again, or that the cause of its failure could be determined. Increasing the frequency also upped the risk of failure of the heater. Based on normal stirring, the accident would have had a greater chance of failure later in the mission when there would have been less provisions to ration ¯ sometimes luck throws some English your way.

If this review was helpful, please add your vote.
April 11, 2008

 Appollo 13
Came as it was suppose to. Thank you for the excellent promptness of the delivery.




















April 6, 2008

 A good movie...
this movie has great acting... by tom hanks and kevin bacon and the rest of the cast.its like armagedon but even better becouse it is of a real event. I would recomend it to anyone. February 13, 2008

 We Shall Overcome
Apollo 13 is a riveting and accurate account of the doomed mission to the moon, a human endeavor gone awry, a mission in which the lives of the men aboard the dying spacecraft were saved trough teamwork, intelligence, improvisation and raw nerve.

The mission is proof that humans, working together, can meet even the most dire challenges and overcome them.

For a different perspective on Apollo 13, I also recommend the HBO TV series "From the Earth to the Moon". The Apollo 13 episode shows the entire mission from the perspective of the people on earth, with an emphasis on the press. Also, the book "Failure is Not an Option" by Eugene Kranz provides an account of the mission from the perspective of the flight director himself.

This movie is a timeless addition to your collection, a reminder of the power and the possibilities of the human spirit. January 22, 2008

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