The Right Stuff
A daring test pilot fights personal fears, fierce rivalry and deadly setbacks to earn his place among the Mercury Seven and become America’s first man in space.
“How the future began.”
Synopsis
At the beginning of the Space Race, seven test pilots aimed to become the first American astronauts to travel into space. However, the journey to making history presented significant challenges.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 79+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Glenn FarrShot by Caleb DeschanelScored by Bill ContiDesigned by Geoffrey Kirkland
Box Office
1983 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.8× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$21.5M
US & Canada: $21.2M — 99% of worldwide · International: $308K (1%)
Opening weekend: $1.6M — 8% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $2.2M — 10% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 229 theaters
Also known as
- Der Stoff, aus dem die Helden sindde
- Elegidos para la gloriaes
- L'Étoffe des hérosfr
- Uomini veriit
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Cast & Crew
79 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Sam Shepard
as Chuck Yeager
Scott Glenn
as Alan Shepard
Ed Harris
as John Glenn
Dennis Quaid
as Gordon Cooper
Fred Ward
as Gus Grissom
Barbara Hershey
as Glennis Yeager
Kim Stanley
as Pancho Barnes
Veronica Cartwright
as Betty Grissom
Pamela Reed
as Trudy Cooper
Scott Paulin
as Deke Slayton
Charles Frank
as Scott Carpenter
Lance Henriksen
as Wally Schirra
Supporting cast
54Donald Moffat
as Lyndon B. Johnson
Levon Helm
as Jack Ridley / Narrator
Mary Jo Deschanel
as Annie Glenn
Scott Wilson
as Scott Crossfield
Kathy Baker
as Louise Shepard
Mickey Crocker
as Marge Slayton
Susan Kase
as Rene Carpenter
Mittie Smith
as Jo Schirra
Royal Dano
as Minister
David Clennon
as Liaison Man
Jim Haynie
as Air Force Major
Jeff Goldblum
as NASA Recruiter
Harry Shearer
as NASA Recruiter
Scott Beach
as Chief Scientist
Jane Dornacker
as Nurse Murch
Anthony Munoz
as Gonzales
John P Ryan
as Head of Program
Darryl Henriques
as Life Reporter
Eric Sevareid
as Himself
William Russ
as Slick Goodlin
Drew Letchworth
as The Permanent Press Corps
Christopher P Beale
as The Permanent Press Corps
Richard Dupell
as The Permanent Press Corps
William Hall
as The Permanent Press Corps
John X Heart
as The Permanent Press Corps
Ed Holmes
as The Permanent Press Corps
Jack Bruno Tate
as The Permanent Press Corps
Edward Anhalt
as Grand Designer
Mary Apick
as Woman Reporter
Robert Beer
as Dwight D. Eisenhower
Erik Bergmann
as Eddie Hodges
James Brady
as Aide to Lyndon B. Johnson
Katherine Conklin
as Woman TV Reporter
Maureen Coyne
as Waitress
Tom Dahlgren
as Bell Aircraft Executive
John Lion
as Bell Aircraft Executive
Peggy Davis
as Sally Rand
John Dehner
as Henry Luce
Robert Elross
as Review Board President
Drew Eshelman
as Assistant Scientist
Robert J Geary
as Game Show M.C.
Royce Grones
as 1st X-1 Pilot
David Gulpilil
as Aborigine
Anthony Wallis
as Australian Driver
Kaaren Lee
as Young Widow
Sandy Kronemeyer
as Cocoa Beach Girl
Frankie Di
as Cocoa Beach Girl
Michael Pritchard
as Texan
Edward Corbett
as Texan
O Lan Jones
as Girl at Pancho's
Mark Todd
as Astronaut Trainee
Allen Gebhardt
as Astronaut Trainee
Chuck Yeager
as Fred
Mimi Sarkisian
as New Mexico Nurse in Lobby (uncredited)
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
2Other crew
9Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Right Stuff yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Right Stuff yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Right Stuff?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Right Stuff.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Right Stuff yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The Right StuffNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…