Write to the Point
By the time these words are read by those other than editing eyes, one of the most bitter mid-term elections in our times will have thankfully been finished.
Forgotten? Not at all. Whomever claims victory in the “Mudstock 2018” will crow until the cows come home. And the loser, well that all depends. Just hope most of it can wash off.
There are probably any number of ways to either celebrate or commiserate, some of those taking place at one’s favorite watering hole.
I hope some will do what I did by accidently receiving a preventative inoculation of nostalgia taking in the movie, “First Man,” the story of Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon in the summer of 1969.
The decision at the box office as to which film to see last Saturday was between “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the story of the rock band Queen, and of course what proved to be an easy winner.
Special effects seemed to have it dialed in, particularly Armstrong’s hectic journey into the wild blue yonder on board an X-15 rocket plane that was designed to simulate a near-space experience.
Or he and fellow astronaut David Scott helplessly hurtling out of control on Gemini 8 after a short-lived docking experiment that would be necessary should anyone make it the moon.
The theater, with its vast expanse of screen and thunderous sound system, proved to be the only way to watch the many perilous rocket rides into the unknown.
The 55-inch screen and surround sound at home will do fine for Freddie Mercury and friends.
Based on the book, “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong,” by James Hansen, a professor of history at Auburn University, the 141-minute cinematic trek to the heavens brought back fond memories of my time as a kid.
That’s when those of us who are old enough to remember gathered around the RCA Victor black and white television every time the United States launched a man into space trying to one-up the evil Soviet Union.
Amazing to think it has been nearly 50 years since that time and memories of that time still can still be conjured from the old brain.
Hollywood tends to take plenty of creative license with any adaptation from book to screen. But reviews are giving this effort some good marks for not veering too far.
Because while telling an abbreviated tale of the race to the moon, the film dealt more with getting a glimpse into one of the most famous people in the universe. It was July 20, 1969 when Armstrong uttered those famous 10 words: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” on the Apollo 11 mission.
Where were you, or better yet, were you even on earth then?
I was 16 when Armstrong landed on the moon and hanging out in Seattle where we were staying for the week watching the Pilots, the city’s short-lived Major League Baseball team likely lose another one or two or three games.
At the time, my parents entrusted me to take the family car for the day and drive to visit my best friend Dave who had recently moved to Olympia. We listened to the events unfold 238,855 miles away on some AM radio station as we both drove to Ocean Shores.
Armstrong is played by actor Ryan Gosling. The movie spends as much time with what we may already have known from his public persona.
But it also took peeks into the personal lives of these space explorers who, at many times, seemed to narrowly cheat death.
Never knew Armstrong’s young daughter, Karen, lost her battle with a brain tumor, but then again, I never read much about him until now. And one can only imagine the uncertainty that surrounded what these voyagers and their families thought and faced.
Young or old, feeling good, or feeling bad after Nov. 6 — or any other day for the matter — take a little diversion and travel back in time with this film.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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