October Sky

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.

Director: Joe Johnston

Writers: Homer H. Hickam Jr. (book), Lewis Colick (screenplay)

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern

Movie Review: The film is set in Coalwood, West Virginia in October 1957. The coal mine is the town's largest employer and almost every man living in the town works in the mines. John Hickam (Chris Cooper), the mine superintendent, loves his job and hopes that his boys, Jim (Scott Miles) and Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal), will one day join him in his mine. When it appears that Jim will receive a football scholarship to attend college, this leaves Homer to fulfill his father's dream, although his mother, Elsie (Natalie Canerday), hopes for more for her son.

In October, news of the Soviet Union's rocket launch of Sputnik 1 reaches Coalwood. As the townspeople gather outside on the night of the broadcast, they see the satellite orbit across the sky. Filled with awe and a belief that this may be his chance to get out of Coalwood, Homer sets out to build rockets of his own and enter the science fair, writing about his progress to Dr. Wernher von Braun, one of the head engineers at NASA. Initially, his family and later his classmates think he has gone crazy and is wasting his time, especially when he teams up with Quentin Wilson (Chris Owen), the school's math geek who also has an interest in rocket engineering. With the help of his friends, Roy Lee Cooke (William Lee Scott) and Sherman O'Dell (Chad Lindberg), and support from their science teacher, Miss Riley (Laura Dern), the four try out their new passion. While their first launches are failures, they begin experimenting with new fuels and rocket designs. After several successful launches, the local paper runs a story about them.

The next day, they are arrested — accused of having started a forest fire with a rocket that had gone astray. After John picks up Homer from the police station, Roy Lee is seen being beaten up by his stepfather, Vernon. John intervenes and rescues Roy Lee, warning the drunken man that, even though Roy Lee's father is dead, he will protect him as Roy Lee's father would have. In a rare display of emotion, he tells Roy Lee that his father had been one of the best men who ever worked for him.

The arrests, along with John's lack of support, crushes the boys' dream and they abandon rocketry.

After a mine disaster, John is injured while rescuing "... a dozen men [who] would have died ...". One of the victims who is killed is Ike Bykovsky (Elya Baskin), a machine shop worker who originally let Homer use the shop to build his rockets, and then transferred to the mine for better pay. This fills Homer with even more contempt for the mine. His father was severely injured in the mining accident and had to be taken out on an ambulance. The family later finds out that he could lose an eye. In a state of despair, Homer drops out of high school and works the mine to provide for the family while his father recovers.

Later, Homer is inspired to look at a rocket science book Miss Riley has given him, and learns how to calculate the trajectory of a rocket. This reveals that the unrecovered "rocket" launched by the boys could not have caused the fire, as it was unable to travel that far. Homer and Quentin calculate the precise distance of the missing rocket and find it in a stream. The boys present their findings to Miss Riley and the school principal, Mr. Turner (Chris Ellis). Annoyed by the police, Turner identifies the offending projectile as aflare from a nearby airfield.

Homer returns to school, the boys return to rocket making, and they end up winning the school science fair. The principal has a change of heart and wholeheartedly decides to send Homer to the national science fair in Indianapolis, Indiana. Later that night, the workers' union decides to go on strike against Homer's dad. While the family was eating dinner inside, John goes to the kitchen, upset about Homer's rocket dreams. A car pulls up outside and shoots a bullet into the house. It misses John and he realizes that it was Roy Lee's stepfather Vernon. Homer and Jim express their concern to their father, but John dismisses their fears, bitterly telling Homer to go "look for your suitcase". Fed up, Homer confronts his father and a heated argument ensues. Homer storms out of the house, vowing to never return or look back.

At the national science fair, Homer's display is received very well. Overnight, someone steals his de Laval nozzle, as well as his autographed picture of Wernher von Braun. Homer makes an urgent phone call home for help. Elsie implores John to end the ongoing strike so that Mr. Bolden (Randy Stripling), the machine worker that replaced Bykovsky, can use the mine's machine shop to build a replacement nozzle. John initially refuses, but relents when Elsie, fed up with his lack of support for their son, threatens to leave him. With the support of the town, Homer wins the top prize and is bombarded with scholarship offers from colleges. He is also congratulated by his inspiration, Dr. Wernher von Braun, but does not realize the engineer's identity until after he has gone.

Homer returns to Coalwood as a hero, and visits Miss Riley, who is now dying of Hodgkin's disease. He shows her the medal he has won, and she says she'll be proud to tell her future students that she taught the Rocket Boys. A launch of their largest rocket yet (called the Miss Riley) is the last scene of the film. The rocket boys' most successful rocket reaches an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 m) — higher than the summit of Mount Everest. John finally shows up for a launch, and is given the honour of pushing the firing button. As the rocket streams upward, the film shows the view from the perspectives of many characters. As the group looks up to the rocket, John slowly puts his hand on Homer's shoulder and smiles.

A series of vignettes (including footage of a Space Shuttle launch and home movie footage of the characters in the 1950s) reveal the outcomes of the main characters' lives.