it was, with some sadness, look you see, that i saw one of my most favourite shops close down. That's Entertainment, where i was able to obtain many splendid discs - some of them for as little as 49p - is no more. well, kind of. from what i can ascertain the stores were owned by that "Music Magpie" website, what is also splendid. it appears that they are to be strictly online as of now.
my sadness at the closure of the nearest store did not, however, prevent me from taking advantage of their splendid clearance sale. i picked up several discs at bargain prices. whereas some were in "proper" DVD cases, their range of boxless ones what were normally 49p a go were reduced to 10p a shot.
whereas i did not go too wild, carefully selecting titles, it must be noted that i got a few which i probably already own, but alas still have all boxed up. one which would certainly be in this category is this one, presented for pure effect in Commodore 64 mode.
yes, The Right Stuff, that mostly celebrated mid-80s film with an ensemble or if you like group of talented actors cast, telling the story of how America "won" the space race and that, bypassing any trivial distractions such as stealing research and giving amnesty and shelter to Nazi criminal scientists.
to be honest, i am certain i have this in a proper box somewhere in my collection. but, as you might expect, when i saw this i immediately thought of my brother, Richard, and happily paid 10p for another copy, for it is what he would have done.
we will look at that in more detail later, but for now the exciting part of this disc. that would be the title variations, or if you like translations. clearly this disc was made in bulk to be foisted onto the European market entire. hence the title being in English, German and for minority interests French on the disc.
if we start off with the German, because let's face it few are going to be interested in the French, it's quite interesting, exciting and wonderful to see that they know the film as Der Stoff Aus Dem Die Helden Sind. now then, thanks to David Bowie, we in the rest of the world know that Helden translates as Heroes.
according to Google translate, the German title for The Right Stuff translates back as The Stuff Of Which The Heroes Are, which is a most splendid name for this or any other film. in fact, or as point of fact, i think the film should be re-released with this title.
how much of a fan of The Right Stuff is my brother? he ranks it up there with Convoy, Cannonball Run and The Sword And The Sorcerer, which is to say one of the greatest films of all time. whilst i don't disagree, my recollections are that it was a bit slow and drawn out in places, but ultimately not bad.
oh, praire sh!t, why not. in French, or France, this film got called L'Etoffe Des Heros, which according to Google Translate is The Stuff Of Heroes. not bad i suppose, but lacking the authority, clarity and excellence of the retranslated German name. i quite like how they drew a little aeroplane next to the French title, so as the French may know what it is about.
did The Right Stuff inspire my brother to want to be a pilot or astronaut? very much so, yes. he would have been successful too, only that nice Jimmy Savile off of Jim'll Fix It never fixed it for him.
my brother was never what you would call a prolific correspondent with people via letters. but, credit where it is due, he wrote many letters to Jimmy, asking him to please fix it for him to ride a motorbike out of a plane as in Cannonball Run, please to have a three bladed sword where two of the blades are missiles, a la Sword & The Sorcerer, please to drive a truck off of a bridge and make a policeman wet himself, which was basically the plot of Convoy, and indeed to please fix it for him to fly a plane faster than the speed of sound, crash it, but survive, as was the case in the film this post is ostensibly about.
no, Jimmy didn't fix any of them. for many years Richard harboured dreams of "what if", and how even more class his life would have been if only that nice Jimmy Savile had said yes to any of his humble, reasonable requests.
knowing what we do now, of course, different story. mostly Richard believes he dodged a bullet in not being accepted onto Jim'll Fix It, for there was, it would seem, an unspoken price. but this relief is always tempered with another what if, of course. sometimes Richard thinks "maybe i should have written PS, yes, Uncle Jimmy, i would love to sit on your knee, and i know how to keep a secret". such might have secured him, at the least, the chance to ride a motorbike out of the back of a plane, then parachute into a car.
anyway, perhaps i will watch The Right Stuff again. if i am honest i am fairly sure i've only seen the film once or twice at the most. Richard has watched it far more often; let me consider the film to see what beyond dreams of speed he considered to be so amazing of it.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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