X-15 (1961) Reviews

	Timothy A.

1 out of  1  people found this review helpful

If you found this review, then by definition you are an aviation buff. If you want to see the 1961 USAF, then this is your film. From 1955 to 1962, the Air Force dominated Hollywood military film making by providing all sorts of resources to tell the "approved" Air Force side of the story on the hot issue of the day. In 1961 the issue between the Air Force-NASA-and Congress was over the best way to explore space. NASA and Congress were proponents of the capsule-on-a-vertical rocket with astronaut-as-backup, while the USAF were die-hard proponents of controlled flight with an interactive pilot for the entire process. This film is the USAF PR film on the X-15 program, which is the Air Force response to the Mercury-Gemini space programs. The film has a lot of techno-jargon, the obligatory pilot who dies, and the hand-wringing wives who wait at home. The ending is lame, but watch it for the period piece it is, and of course, history records Congress and NASA won this battle.

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	Peter T.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

Great footage of B-52s, chase planes, and, of course, the X-15.The flight director , Tom Deparma, was played by the worst actor in history, without question! It was a blown opportunity by the studio to tell a fascinating story.

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	Kris A.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

not much of a plot. mainly film of airplane footage. if you enjoy looking at airplane footage-go for it. otherwise, don't waste your time. what there was of a plot did not have a finish.

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	Thomas B.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

X-15 will appeal to aviation buffs. This is a propaganda movie about the early days of this experimental rocket plane which was controlled by a pilot and flew at the edges of outer space. It is almost semi-documentary in style. Jimmy Stewart lends his voice to do some commentary and excellent stock footage of the different aircraft are used. This is a technical movie. To simply add minutes to the film it focuses on three pilots and their families but that story line is really poorly written and acted. There were no special features on the DVD and it was letter boxed to the maximum. The entire picture seemed very thin almost like the chariot race in Ben Hur. The story of the X-15 is a very important part of history but this is not a very good movie.

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	Bon D.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

The X-15 story had a hi speed aircraft to dramatize man's conquest beyond mach 1. The actors however moved at the speed of a snail. The acting was stiled, rigid, hardly befitting test pilots whose capabilites to fly such a craft are unparalled. As a documentary it would have been fine, attempting to make a movie of it without the sense of achivement and bravery that it took was a disapointment.

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