Product Description

Coalwood, West Virginia, 1957. Working in the coal mines is an inescapable way of life in this small town. When high schooler Homer Hickam, Jr. (Jake Gyllenhaal) sees the Sputnik satellite in the night sky, he dares to break free of the mines and reach for the stars. With the support of his teacher (Laura Dern) and three friends, Homer sets out on an inspiring quest to build his own rocket. Overcoming a poor education, a tough father (Chris Cooper) and a series of misfires, Homer turns his dreams into reality in this incredible true story of hope, determination and triumph. "You’ll laugh with it, cry with it, and go away absolutely loving it," says Robert Butler (Knight Ridder News Service) of the critically acclaimed October Sky.

This special edition dvd includes:

*Aiming High: The Story of the Rocket Boys, starring the real Rocket Boys.
*Feature Commentary with Homer Hickam
*Spotlight on Location
*Production Notes
*Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #868 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2005-01-25
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
Based on the memoir Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam Jr., October Sky emerged as one of the most delightful sleepers of 1999--a small miracle of good ol' fashioned movie-making in the cynical, often numbingly trendy Hollywood of the late 20th century. Hickam's true story begins in 1957 with Russia's historic launch of the Sputnik satellite, and while Homer (played with smart idealism by Jake Gyllenhaal) sees Sputnik as his cue to pursue a fascination with rocketry, his father (Chris Cooper) epitomizes the admirable yet sternly stubborn working-man's ethic of the West Virginia coal miner, casting fear and disdain on Homer's pursuit of science while urging his "errant" son to carry on the family business--a spirit-killing profession that Homer has no intention of joining.

As directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer), this wonderful movie is occasionally guilty of overstating its case and sacrificing subtlety for predictable melodrama. But more often the film's tone is just right, and the spirit of adventure and invention is infectiously conveyed through Gyllenhaal and his well-cast fellow rocketeers, whose many failures gradually lead to triumph on their makeshift backwoods launching pad. Capturing time and place with impeccable detail and superbly developed characters (including Laura Dern as an inspiring schoolteacher), October Sky is a family film for the ages, encouraging the highest potential of the human spirit while giving viewers a clear view of a bygone era when "the final frontier" beckoned to the explorer in all of us. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
An inspirational story of a fairly conventional sort-four boys stuck in a West Virginia coal town in 1957 begin playing around with rockets and compete for a science prize-has been made into something square but stirring by filmmakers who get the look and shape of things right. The skies are gray, and a wrought-iron tipple sits at the mouth of the mine like a gallows. The boys, expected by their elders to sacrifice their lives to coal mining when they graduate from high school, escape by sending up the little projectiles they've made, which sometimes explode, sometimes whirl about in circles, and occasionally soar straight up; when that happens, director Joe Johnston, imitating Steven Spielberg, makes the awestruck spectators rise into the frame, mouths open, eyes wide. The little rockets become the poetry of a depressed community. With Jake Gyllenhaal as the leader of the boys and the leathery, serious Chris Cooper as his heroic dad. Screenwriter Lewis Colick adapted the recent memoir "Rocket Boys," by retired NASA engineer Homer Hickam, Jr. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

2.5 stars out 4
The Bottom Line:

A capable-enough movie on its own right, October Sky unfortunately cannot capture the joy and triumph of Hickham's original memoir; it's recommended to those who haven't read the book, but the attempts to jazz up real life events to make them more dramatic may grate on anyone who knows the real story.

October Sky DVD
A great movie with some very good actors. I bought it because my mother was born in Coalwood, so it was a way of remembering those days. It would have been a good movie otherwise, but Homer Hickam's books about Coalwood are even better. Don't give up on your dreams.

Wonderful Movie to Watch Alone or With Family
One of my all-time favorite films. No matter how many times I see it I still cry at the same scenes. Based on the true-life experience of a humble but determined young man "October Sky" shows that perserverence can make dreams come true.