X-15 (1961)

If you are an aviation junkie than X-15 is the film for you. You will understand and grasp more readily than any of us ordinary film fans what's going on. I had to consult Wikipedia about the X-15 so I was sure of what I was writing.The narrator of the film was well known Hollywood aviator James Stewart whose love of flying and flight was deep and sincere. He was in fact a general in the Air Force Reserve from his wartime experiences. Stewart always took a reverential approach to flight, possibly too reverential to make his projects entertaining enough. It was the biggest flaw with Strategic Air Command.Perhaps had X-15 been done as a straight documentary it would have been better. We never really get involved with any of the characters of the test pilots and their homes and families. It was true that one test pilot of the X-15 was killed during the experiments and one of the pilots is killed in the film.The X-15 was kind of a not missing link between airplanes and rocket travel. It had rocket power that boosted it straight into the highest altitudes yet known and it sure was faster than anything yet known. The experiments would provide a lot of data for NASA to design the space capsules that our Mercury and later Gemini astronauts used.It would have made a great documentary the X-15 story. For aviation buffs this film's a 10. It's something less for the rest of us.

This is one of those flicks you find by accident. You see a few familiar names in the cast, notice the early date, then rent it on a whim. And if you're like me, you say to yourself, "Good choice." A space film without all the invasion drama. This dealt with actual exploration. And unlike a lot of sci-fi, seemed to take it seriously.Mary Tyler Moore in an early role, and she looked good. The talent was blossoming.Bronson played his usual strong, weary type. He never had a prayer as a sex symbol, but he was underrated as an actor.This is in need of reviving.

From the late 50s, this early Charles Bronson starrer dramatized the real-life development of the rocket-powered X-15 experimental aircraft, which was launched from the belly of a B-52 bomber and was flown by test pilots to high speeds and high altitude in an effort to touch the edge of space. The X-15 was a successful part of the development program that also included precursors like the X-1 and the Stiletto, and later produced pilots for NASA and technology used in early space shuttle concepts. I saw the film more than once on its initial run, and it seems to me this was sometimes double-billed with the somewhat similar air power goings-on of Karl Maulden's BOMBERS B-52.

Substantial good footage of actual X-15 flights, better than in some of the documentaries I've seen. The strongest points of this film are the flight footage and its technical accuracy.This film was produced with meticulous script review of technical details by NASA Dryden and by the Air Force. Even in shots showing actors faking flight actions in the cockpit what they show is accurate in the sense that it's the truth even if it's not the whole truth. The best way to appreciate much of this is to first study the X-15 flight manual. In any case the attention to technical accuracy is remarkable by the standards of sci fi & aviation/space movies made around 1961. It appeared that nearly the entire film was shot on location at NASA Dryden and Edwards AFB. All flight footage is real except for a couple short hokey segments showing a model for flight outside the atmosphere and during reentry.The rest (script, production, directing, & such) is fairly lame and underwhelming. If only Tom Hanks had an urge to redo this film the result probably would be a great one, but it wasn't Tom Hanks who did this edition.Bottom line: X-plane enthusiasts will love the real & authentic action, but most others will conclude that it's appropriate for this flick to only show up infrequently on obscure cable & satellite channels.