Date: Fri 22-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-13

Quick Words:

Hanks-Howard-Bacon-Apollo-13

Full Text:

Now Playing-

A Hat Trick For Hanks?

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Tom Hanks can do no wrong. He rolled the dice and came up big by winning an

Academy Award for his role as a lawyer dying of AIDS in Philadelphia . The

next year he did the unthinkable - something only Spencer Tracy had done -

when he won the Best Actor Oscar for the second time in a row (for Forrest

Gump ). When 1995 came around, many wondered what he would do next... and

could he pull off the hat trick?

Hanks struck box office gold again this summer with Apollo 13 , the latest

film from director Ron Howard, which is currently playing at the Crown Cinema

in Danbury. Although the popularity of this taut, exciting movie soared as

high as the rocket that blasted the astronauts into space, it is unlikely this

production will net Hanks his third Oscar - his performance is on the money,

but this is definitely an ensemble piece, not a single-star vehicle.

As is explicit in the motion picture's title, Apollo 13 tackles the real-life

incident from April of 1970 in which three NASA astronauts were trapped in

space with little means to make it back to Earth. Hanks stars as Jim Lovell,

the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, and is ably flanked by Bill

Paxton and Kevin Bacon, who round out the trio of astronauts on the moon

flight.

The film opens with a party at Lovell's house as his family and friends gather

around the tube to gaze at the incredible images of Neil Armstrong's historic

Apollo 11 moon walk. Do not underestimate the importance of this prologue; it

definitely and tangibly establishes the milieu - the wonder and awe that

gripped America during those early days of space exploration - and also gives

us real, flesh-and-blood characters to concern ourselves with when they are

later put in jeopardy.

And as history has noted, serious jeopardy is where Lovell, Fred Haise

(Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Bacon) find themselves after an explosion in the

oxygen tanks of their Odyssey spaceship hinders their Apollo 13 mission and

cripples their craft. As they scramble to find solutions to their urgent

predicament, the fellas back at Mission Control on terra firma, led by a

determined flight commander, Gene Kranz (Ed Harris, in an earnest, steady

performance), labor feverishly to uncover ways to get their boys back home

alive.

Just taking on this project was a big step for Howard because most of the

tension would seem to be reliant on an outcome that is public knowledge. I

would bet that a big hurdle Howard had to jump in order to get this project

made was to convince the suits at Universal Pictures that Apollo 13 would make

a viable (translation: profitable) venture even though ticket buyers already

know the ending.

But Howard and his crew were smart in their translation of Lost Moon ,

Lovell's memoir of these events. First of all, the casting is impeccable.

Second, Howard eschews, for the most part, using melodrama to heighten the

suspense within the film. Sure, he establishes the characters within Lovell's

family, particularly his wife, Marilyn (well played by Kathleen Quinlan), and

elicits sympathy by following their movements as they anxiously await the safe

return of Apollo 13. But he doesn't milk the situation, nor does he manipulate

their emotional moments in an outright attempt to mercilessly tug the puppet

strings of the audience's reaction.

But best of all, Howard has found a way to create suspense out of the Apollo

13 incident by giving us loads of details. Howard does an incredible job of

conveying in great simplicity, the sheer complexity and size of the task at

hand for the Apollo 13 astronauts and the professionals on the ground.

Howard's brilliant move of emphasizing the minutia of all that had to be done

to save the astronauts gives us a better appreciation - and sweatier palms -

while we witness what was accomplished.

Apollo 13 is rated PG for its intensity, occasional profanity and some early

sexual innuendo. Overall, it should be appropriate for all those old enough to

comprehend its detailed story. Personally, I look forward to seeing this one

again, maybe after I rent The Right Stuff and look that one over once more as

well.