Replies

From the one script of "The Right Stuff" I could find on the internet...
my apologies for my imperfect editing/formatting and the all-caps:

Reporter:
MR. COOPER! THERE HE IS. BIG SMILE.
WE'RE TALKING TO GORDON COOPER, THE NEXT AMERICAN ASTRONAUT TO
ORBIT THE EARTH.
SINCE YOU'RE THE LAST OF THE ORIGINAL SEVEN AND THE LEAST WELL-KNOWN,
TELL US,
WHO WAS THE BEST PILOT YOU EVER SAW?

Gordon Cooper:
WHO WAS THE BEST PILOT I EVER SAW? WHO WAS THE BEST PILOT I EVER SAW?
WELL, I'LL TELL YOU... I SEEN A LOT OF THEM.
MOST OF THEM ARE PICTURES ON A WALL.

Reporter:
WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Gordon Cooper:
PICTURES ON A WALL, BACK AT SOME PLACE... THAT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST ANYMORE.

Reporter:
MR. COOPER, SPEAK UP.

Gordon Cooper:
SOME OF THEM ARE... RIGHT HERE IN THIS ROOM, AND SOME OF THEM
ARE STILL OUT THERE SOMEWHERE, DOING WHAT THEY ALWAYS DO--
GOING UP EACH DAY IN A HURTLING PIECE OF MACHINERY,
PUTTING THEIR HIDES OUT ON THE LINE, HANGING IT OUT OVER
THE EDGE, PUSHING THAT ENVELOPE AND HAULING IT IN.

BUT THERE WAS ONE PILOT I ONCE SAW WHO I THINK TRULY DID HAVE
THE RIGHT--

Reporter:
HOW CLOSE WERE YOU TO NOT HAULING IT BACK?

Gordon Cooper:
WHO WAS THE BEST PILOT I EVER SAW? WELL, UH...YOU'RE LOOKING AT HIM.

(VOA's humble opinion: Dennis Quaid will never top that scene)

Wow, thanks for posting that scene, and your're right, Dennis Quaid was at his finest portraying Gordon Cooper. The kind of greatness epitomized by those guys probably couldn't happen these days in quite the same way, though it's ironic that the private space venture succeeded at the same time we lose G.C. I'm just thankful to have lived while it was happening.

(VOA's humble opinion: Dennis Quaid will never top that scene)

Agreed - it was a gem of a scene, in an equally impressive film. I'll take it a step futher: Quaid will never top that role. That's what awes me every time I watch that film, or read or view *anything* on the Mercury, Gemini or Apollo programs. Those men seemed larger than life back then - and time has not eroded that stature.

I'm reminded of another line from The Right Stuff:

(Cooper to Pancho Barnes):
Rookies? Now hold on, sis. You are looking at a whole new ballgame here now. In fact, in a couple of years, I bet you're even gonna immortalize us by putting our pictures up there on your wall.

Way to go, Hot Dog.