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Sarah Roguski Silver
24 August 2016
October Sky (1999)
Drama/Biography
Joe Johnson
Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Dern, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, Chad Lindberg
BFCA Critics’ Choice Award for Best Family Film, Humanitas Prize Feature Film Category,
TCA Choice Drama nominee, YAA Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
nominee
October Sky​ is a movie based on the real story of Homer H
...
and his
autobiographical book ​Rocket Boys: A Memoir
...
He is inspired when he sees the launch of Sputnik 1 and,
against all odds, starts launching his own rockets and eventually fulfills his dreams and becomes
a NASA engineer
...

October Sky​ is set in Coalwood, West Virginia in the late 1950s
...
John Hickam, Homer’s father, is the mine superintendent
...
When Coalwood finally gets news of the Sputnik 1 satellite
launch, everyone in the town watches the sky the night of the broadcast
...
Homer rounds up two of his
friends and his school’s resident nerd, who happens to be a rocket engineering enthusiast
...
Their first
few tries don’t work, but they begin to figure it out after a few tries
...
The day after their article
runs, however, they are arrested for starting a forest fire with a rocket that launched poorly
...
He is really upset and the
boys stop making rockets
...
Homer is still very upset and despises the coal mines, but he still drops out of school
and works in the mine to make money while John is injured
...
This proves that the boys
could not have caused the forest fire because their rocket couldn’t have gone that far
...
They find out
that the rocket was actually from an airfield not too far away from Coalwood
...
They win their school fair and their school sends Homer to the national
science fair in Indianapolis
...
Homer’s rocketry display is very popular, but overnight someone steals the
nozzle of his rocket
...
Homer and his rocket win first prize and Homer receives many scholarship
opportunities from colleges
...
Homer and his
friends launch their newest and largest rocket, naming it the Miss Riley in memorial of their
teacher
...
After the movie, there is video footage of
the real Homer Hickam and the rocket boys, along with explanations of what became of each of
their lives
...
, making it important to maintain
accuracy as much as possible
...
For instance, there were in fact six rocket boys, instead of the
four portrayed in the film
...
Most importantly, Homer Hickam Jr
...
Johnson decided to change his name to avoid
confusing the audience
...
The movie was also praised for its likeness to
Coalwood and other small towns in the late 1950s
...

In conclusion, ​October Sky​ paints a realistic picture of small town American life in the
late 1950s and the beginnings of the Space Race
...
Even though it does not necessarily stay
true to the beginnings of Homer Hickam Jr
...


Works Cited
Butterman, Eric
...
" ​ASME
...
2012
...
24 Aug
...

Leydon, Joe
...
" ​Variety​
...
1999
...
24 Aug
...

"October Sky
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​ Coalwoodwestvirginia
...
d
...
19 Aug
...

Schwarzbaum, Lisa
...
" ​Entertainment Weekly​
...
1999
...
24 Aug
...

Stack, Peter
...
" ​San Francisco Chronicle​
...
1999
...
24
Aug
...




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