October Sky Reviewed

ROVIN' AND RAVIN' WITH MIKE

October Sky in February

In October of last year, Universal was scheduled to release a film called Rocket Boys, but a funny thing happened on the way to the multiplex. Rocket Boys finally opened this week, but you won’t see it listed anywhere, because it gained not only some four months gestation (and fine tuning by the studio) but also a new title, October Sky.

Well, the story has waited since the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, so a few more months couldn’t hurt. Based on the true story of NASA engineer Homer Hickam, the movie recounts the response of the United States to the opening of the space age by the Evil Empire: anxiety, doubt, suspicion, and, of course, paranoia. For Homer, however, the beeping orb is an angel beckoning him literally from the depths (the coal mines where all the boys in his town are virtually sentenced to spend their lives) to the heavens.

The story unwinds lazily, through a series of episodes rather than a coherent plot, Tom Sawyer with coal dust; instead of white-washing fences, young Homer (Jake Gyllenhaal, keeping his Yahoo-choking Swedish name) blows one up. The coal-mining country of Eastern Tennessee, by the way, plays the coal-mining country of West Virginia. Almost spilling his considerable guts all across the football field in tryouts, Homer sees Sputnik as a way, his only way, to get out of Coalwood, riding homemade rockets to a college scholarship.

At first, the hundred minutes of this film seems just about right for such a simple premise, but later, one wants to know more. The main relationship in the film is between Homer and his father John (Chris Cooper), who is not really a villain, but tries to keep Homer’s feet on the ground (if not his life under the ground). Apparently he is convinced that he is acting in his son’s best interest, but we have to take it on faith.

Of similar importance is Homer’s relationship with teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern). Although based on a true story, and the real Miss Riley did die young, this characterization, not much more than a woman born to die, wastes the quirky, but wide-ranging talents of Dern (from Jurassic Park to a notorious episode of the proto-lesbian television series Ellen). She is the voice of inspiration, selfless, perhaps the voice of the ever present, ever distant missile, bravely speaking lines that lesser mortals wouldn’t dare.

In fact, the Miss Riley subplot, as well as the perfunctory treatment of a miner’s strike and the father’s injury, fails to add depth or believability to the film so much as it shows the weakness of this film. The characters are pawns moved by outside forces (does this explain Sputnik’s beeps?). Townsfolk rally behind Homer and his three friends, the "Rocket Boys," while materials and talents are suddenly at their disposal as they aim themselves and their homemade rockets at the scholarships accompanying victory in a national science fair.

So many relationships rush across the screen about as fast as Sputnik across the October sky. Homer’s mother, Elsie (Natalie Canerday), paints a mural inspired by her honeymoon at Myrtle Beach. Sensitive son, sensitive mom, and clueless coal-miner dad… How many English teachers will have students read D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers after watching this film? (A sometime English teacher, I’ve been guilty of perpetrating a few such combos myself.) But, this film adds nothing, and we are left with nothing more than a beep and a shining path through the darkness.

There are a lot of nothings in this film, which left me feeling I had just watched a made-for-tv movie, complete with terminal illness of the week. And yet, there is a warmth, a richness of texture and ambiance, and… Oh, yes, did I say warmth, like a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly October night? For what it matters, there is no sex or nudity, and the language is no worse than you can hear on network television.

Perhaps it is the acting, and with what they are given, the cast works small miracles. Aside from Dern, most of the actors in this film do not have names likely to crop up in a crossword puzzle anytime soon, although at least one, teenager Jake Gyllenhaal, seems destined to drive the puzzle-writers to accept the challenge. Parade Magazine recently named him most likely to undermine (pardon me) Leonardo DiCaprio as hunk of the year, and with his sad-puppy eyes and screen-brightening smile, he just might. Irrelevant as they may be to Leonardo-dom, conviction, timing, and dedication to craft (including a consistent accent) establish him as a performer and a presence to look for again and again soon.

When all is said, and all the gum is scraped off the shoes, October Sky works so much better than it should. Perhaps producer Charles Gordon, who also produced Field of Dreams, still has his golden touch. But, when I saw it at a preview the week before its official opening, the theater was packed, and, something that I have not seen in years, the audience applauded. Determined to maintain south Georgia’s reputation for sophistication, I did not join them, but the truth is, I wanted to.

Some films, like She’s All That are called good date movies. For me October Sky is a good pickup movie, and I am not suggesting you take someone you just met in a bar. It is a movie that, despite its long list of shortcomings will pick you up. If you could walk out of a theater humming a rocket blast, you would after seeing October Sky. Till next time, keep your feet dry and your heart full of thoughts noble enough to meet Miss Riley’s expectations.