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Author
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Topic: Jack Swigert, a different viewpoint to 'Apollo 13'
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dtemple
Member Posts: 729
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 08-23-2015 02:37 PM
   
Just stumbled upon this 1995 article which offers a different version of Jack Swigert than was portrayed in the movie, "Apollo 13." I was disappointed in the one-dimensional portrayal of rookie astronaut Swigert, whom I met in 1968. Bacon was forced to play Swigert a bit lopsided — first giving us the impression that in his off-hours he was a cocky, skirt-chasing bachelor and later portraying him as an intimidated, insecure and perhaps resented member whose every move was scrutinized for error. As a last embarrassment to the memory of Jack Swigert, who died in 1984 after being elected to Congress in Colorado, Haise utters a nasty and silly crack about somehow having contracted "the clap" from the rookie.I would like to attempt to set the record straight on Swigert, who was a best friend. For several years from 1968 through 1972, he flew to LAX from Houston to visit me when he had six or eight hours away from training. He would run up my walkway in his NASA jumpsuit and give the neighbors a big thrill... |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 08-23-2015 03:00 PM
Won't be the first time Hollywood hacked a character. Look what they did to Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff."We all know the real Right Stuff both Gus and Jack were made of. How many people do you think have watched the real Apollo 13 or Mercury on YouTube? Not many... The lies... Long live Hollywood! Yeah, right! |
randy
Member Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 08-23-2015 03:35 PM
In the collectors DVD edition of "Apollo 13," the narrative of Jim and Marilyn Lovell, they both stated that Jack was very professional and highly qualified and that for some reason Ron Howard gave the impression that Jack had to continually prove himself, which was very wrong. I think the Lovells did what they could to correct that impression. |
albatron
Member Posts: 2732
From: Stuart, Florida
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 08-23-2015 03:35 PM
"Tom" Haise?  |
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 08-23-2015 03:51 PM
Is this news? I think most of us knew those scenes were bunkum. Yeah, they make Swigert look bad, they don't exactly make Lovell and Haise look great either. That's Hollywood, no respect for the truth, not much more for their audience. Let's face it, Apollo 13 is a bit of a dull story and really needed spicing up. |
mach3valkyrie
Member Posts: 719
From: Albany, Oregon
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 08-23-2015 04:24 PM
If Jack Swigert was a best friend to the woman who wrote the article, she probably would have gotten the year in which he died right. (1982, not 1984.) Also, the 'Tom' Haise thing. Both glaring errors.In the movie, I liked when Kevin Bacon, portraying Swigert, dropped the empty beer bottle into the empty glass when describing the docking maneuver to a female acquaintance at a party. Now that was entertaining. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-23-2015 05:23 PM
As for the portrayal of Swigert as a "skirt-chasing bachelor," justified or not, it was how he was publicly depicted at the time of the mission, as the real clip of Dick Cavett included in the movie captures. ("He's the kind of guy they say has a girl in every port, he has that reputation. I think he may be kind of foolishly optimistic though, taking nylons and Hershey bars to the moon.") |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 08-31-2015 11:52 AM
Fighting Hollywood's version of history is an uphill fight, and usually a losing one, too.I know of a family member of someone portrayed in the movie, "A Bridge Too Far" who has been pushing against the depiction of his family member ever since the movie came out in the 70s. Nobody has paid any attention to his efforts in all these years. |
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 09-01-2015 03:56 AM
Which is why the standard retort of Hollywood film makers and their apologists that "it's only entertainment, no-one really believes it because it's a movie", is a pretty disingenuous excuse for lining your pockets at other's expense. |
Skylon
Member Posts: 274
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 09-01-2015 10:50 AM
quote:
Originally posted by David C:
Yeah, they make Swigert look bad, they don't exactly make Lovell and Haise look great either.
How does the film make them look bad? What seems inaccurate about Swigert may be his skirt-chasing and cockiness - though its hard to imagine any astronaut as not being cocky, and Mike Mullane's anecdotes about the sex-life a bachelor astronaut could have at his finger-tips would make anyone wonder - but in any case, during his flying scenes (transposition and docking and re-entry) to powering up the LM - he is shown to be professional - what is inaccurate are Lovell and Haise's doubts about him - Lovell states his only concern was effectively working with Swigert while he was alone in the CM and he and Haise would be in the LM or on the Moon - something that the film could not show since Apollo 13 never landed. Haise - the clap comment is something I feel any guy would make a crack about in a similar situation. But he gets short-changed a bit by having a full blow-up at Swigert over the cryo-stir - his rookie enthusiasm is there in full, complete with him using the cabin repress valve - but sadly his expertise with the LM doesn't shine thru. He also gets a little sidelined by the script when his UTI flares up. Lovell - What does the film portray negatively about him? Lovell felt the film's portrayal of it being his call to fly Swigert over Mattingly was inaccurate - Slayton also confirms this, as he was the one to tell Mattingly he was off 13. So, I guess this makes him what - too eager to fly? His kids get Hollywoodized a bit as Lovell and his wife joke during the audio-commentary that they don't recall Barbara being a Beetle-maniac. Comparing the three, I'd say it seems Fred Haise got the short end of the stick. Swigert gets an arc of earning his wings and his crew's respect - Lovell keeps his crew together - Haise gets sick.
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uk spacefan
Member Posts: 168
From: London
Registered: Jan 2007
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posted 09-15-2015 01:01 PM
This article provides extra details to possibly prove or dispel views held about Swigert. |
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