Agent Palmer

It has been a while since I went out and did 18 Holes with Tin Cup, so let’s take it slow and stick to just the front nine; with this Rober Redford directed film, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Steven Pressfield, starring Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Charlize Theron.

What is it? It’s a fable of sorts, an allegory for golf and life (as most golf movies are), about Rannulph Junuh (Damon) a local golf hero who is suffering from post-traumatic stress since surviving World War I with distinction…

When you read as much on the subject of early NASA even back to the Space Task Group, predecessor to NASA, there are a few names that always come up, and one of them is Chris Kraft.

He was basically the father of what would become Mission Control as we know it today, and in his autobiography Flight: My Life in Mission Control, the first NASA Flight Director, known simply as Flight, holds no punches.

It’s possible there exist plenty of places on the internet where you can read about the historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies in The Right Stuff. This is not really that place. I chose to overlook that and focus on one very important thing they got right. It is an inspiring story of the early tribulations of America’s space program, and to this day, it’s still an inspiring watch.

I have not yet read Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff on which the film was based, though it is making its way to the top of my list.