posted 11-29-2005 05:48 PM               

I was wondering if Fred Haise had any involvement with the making of the film? If not, has Hasie ever spoken about the film in public and his feelings about it?
Jay

posted 11-29-2005 06:02 PM               

Quote from personal letter from Fred Haise to me dated June 2 1998:

'Like Gene Kranz I thought the Apollo 13 movie was the best that Hollywood has done to give the "person on the street" a good picture of what a launch, floating around on orbit, and an entry at lunar return velocities looked like. The artifacts; eg Spacecraft, Mission Control etc were fabricated beautifully to look like real things.

There were many small technical errors, but only two things bothered me. First was the use of profanity. I reviewed all the air-to-ground transmissions in helping to write the Mission Report and none of us ever used any profanity. The other thing was the fabricated crew conflict over throwing a switch (which I would have moved had I been in my normal position in the CSM when Mission Control requested that action) I was told that this artistic license was taken to make us "seem more human" !

Hope this helps

posted 11-29-2005 06:20 PM               

I was wondering if he even wanted to visit "the set" during filming.
I assume not.

Mattingly said something similar during his last speech by the way.

posted 11-29-2005 06:26 PM               

In addition to what Steve brought up, he wasn't too happy with the remark about Mary's (his wife then) pregnancy being a surprise.

By the way Jay, Jim Lovell asked Dave Scott to be involved because he was in the middle of the book tour and knew he wouldn't be able to devote the time necessary to the movie. Marilyn Lovell was also an extra in the movie. She appears briefly at the launch scene right before the wives are taking their places.

I had an opportunity to speak with both Jim & Marilyn Lovell at a fuction at the HoF and told her my wife loved the rebuke she gave NASA PAO about the media putting equipment on the front lawn. She laughed and said that was true.

Thanks for your post and bringing the memories back for me.

Tim

posted 11-30-2005 12:23 PM               

1.) There was no profanity during the mission, as evidenced by the official record

2.) The LMP/CMP conflict in the film was not 'what happened'

Both points were mentioned previously in this post, so it seems to me that it might represent a pattern to his public comments about the film. During the presentation he appeared to have strong feelings about both points, which was understandable.

I've often wondered what those who were close to Jack Swigert thought of the way in which he was portrayed. To me his character comes off as inexperienced and hot-headed, not overly flattering.

Jonathan

posted 11-30-2005 01:03 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by NC Apollo Fan:
I've often wondered what those who were close to Jack Swigert thought of the way in which he was portrayed. To me his character comes off as inexperienced and hot-headed, not overly flattering.

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It seems pretty clear the makers of the movie wanted to build some conflict and tension into certain scenes. Making Jack's character appear inexperienced was one means to do so (which seems a little unfair...especially since the real Jack Swigert was no longer around to defend himself).

If you have access to the DVD of the film, be sure to watch it with Jim Lovell's commentary playing...which I found more entertaining than the movie itself. Lovell makes it a point a couple of time to reassure us that Swigert was more than competant and that he had full confidence in his abilities.

There is a scene where they building up the tension when Swigert is going to dock the CM with the LM. One of the flight controllers says something to the effect that "If Swigert can't do this, the mission is over." Lovell points out that any one of the crew members was more than capable of performing the dock, if needed. Then he points out that he had no doubts in Jack's ability to do the docking.

posted 11-30-2005 01:42 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by 4allmankind:
I was wondering if Fred Haise had any involvement with the making of the film? If not, has Hasie ever spoken about the film in public and his feelings about it?

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I do believe that Haise was actively consulting during the movie. As far as speaking publicly, at separate events within the last 12 months I have heard Fred Haise, Gene Kranz and Tom Mattingly speak. each one of them mentioned the Apollo 13 movie.

Some of Haise's points made above were the same ones I heard. He denied there was any swearing or discussion of any body parts on a Rhinoceros -- alive or dead. He also denied any resentment at all toward Swigert. He said that they were so well trained that any of the backups could step in seamlessly.

When I saw Tom Mattingly last month he gave a tongue-in-cheek critique of Gary Sinese's portrayal of a guy feeling sorry for himself referring to it as "an amateur performance" -- implying that in reality Mattingly was feeling even more low down than portrayed in the movie.

posted 11-30-2005 02:42 PM               

Look at the way they hacked up Slick Goodlin's reputation in Top Gun. Jack is just another victim of the Hollywood elites license to make money at the expense of somebody’s reputation.

In Hollywood, it is all in a day's work.

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Kind Regards

Douglas Henry

posted 11-30-2005 02:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Glint:
My recollection of Kranz is that he was less critical of the movie and that he referred to it much more often than either Haise or Mattingly.

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I don't know if the real Gene Kranz was kicking trash cans during the Apollo 13 flight, but the portrayal of Kranz was pretty sympathetic in the movie. Ed Harris was a good choice of actor to play Kranz. Whether or not it was an accurate portrayal is something I'm not qualified to judge, but you come away from the movie with the impression that he and Mattingly were the heroes on the ground (which they obviously were, to some degree...but they weren't the only ones).

However, this is occaisonally at the expense of the other flight controllers, some of whom are portrayed as a bit squirrly and unsure of themselves...and quick to panic at any crisis. All one needs to do is to listen to the actual audio tapes of the first hour of the crisis (as heard on the Spacecraft films DVD set) to realize just how cool-headed everyone was when handling the crisis. The film-makers appeared to use these "nobodies" (in their eyes) to help bolster the drama and make the "heroes" stand out all that much more. The truth is that the flight director is only as good as the flight controllers working for him.

Ideally, the movie would have done a better job of showing that the astronauts, flight directors, and flight controllers were all equally vital in solving the problem.

posted 11-30-2005 04:39 PM               

I do recall vividly him feeling the portrayal of Swigert was wrong, and that there was absolutely NO animosity at his stepping in, nor any feelings of inadequacy.

He also felt any CMP could step in- and that Jack Swigert was an excellent one. Not some untrained maroon who was chasing skirts all the time.

He also felt Freddo did a remarkable job during the mission in spite of the infection and felt that was a statement of Fred's professionalism.

posted 11-30-2005 04:40 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Aztecdoug:
Hollywood, as well as other media outlets, appear to consider it their duty to fabricate the truth in a manner which suits them the most financially.

Look at the way they hacked up Slick Goodlin's reputation in Top Gun. Jack is just another victim of the Hollywood elites license to make money at the expense of somebody’s reputation.

In Hollywood, it is all in a day's work.

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posted 11-30-2005 04:53 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by albatron@aol.com:
Err the Right Stuff Doug........

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Ah, you obviously don't know that, in the worst piece of casting and scriptwriting ever, Kelly McGillis was actually playing Slick Goodlin in Top Gun...

posted 11-30-2005 05:25 PM               

I have had Top Gun on the brain today... I was looking at one of those blooper sites and making cracks with a co-worker about Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle strapped to the back of a truck and other stuff...

Thank goodness I work in IT. If I miss-type anything, I just knock out the WAN for my company, until I reboot something! Okay, going back to shades of red now...

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Kind Regards

Douglas Henry

posted 11-30-2005 09:42 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by FFrench:
Ah, you obviously don't know that, in the worst piece of casting and scriptwriting ever, Kelly McGillis was actually playing Slick Goodlin in Top Gun...

FF

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