The Right Stuff (film)

"[opening narration] There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, 750 miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it... the sound barrier. Then, they built a small plane, the X-1, to try and break the sound barrier. And men came to the high desert in California to ride it. They were called test pilots. And no one knew their names."

"[closing narration] The Mercury program was over. Four years later, astronaut Gus Grissom was killed, along with astronauts White and Chaffee, when fire swept through their Apollo capsule. But on that glorious day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper went higher, farther, and faster than any other American. Twenty-two complete orbits around the world, he was the last American ever to go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen."

"Hey, Ridley, ya got any Beeman's? Loan me some, will you — I'll pay you back later."

"[about the original Mercury capsule, which lacked pilot controls] Anyone who goes up in that damn thing is gonna be spam in a can."

"It's important to America to get a man up there first. I'm planning on being the first man to ride the rocket."

"Sam Shepard — Chuck Yeager"

"Scott Glenn — Alan Shepard"

"Ed Harris — John Glenn"

"Dennis Quaid — Gordon Cooper"

"Fred Ward — Gus Grissom"

"Barbara Hershey — Glennis Yeager"

"Kim Stanley — Pancho Barnes"

"Veronica Cartwright — Betty Grissom"

"Pamela Reed — Trudy Cooper"

"Scott Paulin — Deke Slayton"

"Lance Henriksen — Wally Schirra"

"Donald Moffat — Lyndon B. Johnson"

"Levon Helm — Jack Ridley and narrator"

"Mary Jo Deschanel — Annie Glenn"