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The Right Stuff (1983), which tells the story of the Mercury 7 astronauts, is successful because it shows heroes as real people with character flaws and quirks. It accomplishes this feat without diminishing what these men achieved or undermining the courage they displayed in facing the unknown obstacles confronting them. Director Philip Kaufman uses humor to underline that these men accomplished so much in spite of their own foibles, as well as the shortcomings of the politicians and scientists in charge.

John Glenn (Ed Harris) comes off as a squeaky clean marine; Harris even looks like Mr. Clean from the TV commercials. He can’t curse when he is angry and leaves it to the other pilots to fill in the profanities when he speaks. But he is admirable as he backs up his wife, who has a speech impediment, so that she doesn’t have to let in the press and the buffoonish grandstanding Lyndon Johnson (Donald Moffat) camping out on her front lawn. Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn) is a mischievous prankster who does inappropriate Hispanic impersonations of comic-of-the-time Bill Dana’s politically incorrect persona. Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid) is a bragging charmer who keeps asking, “Who is the best pilot you ever saw? You’re looking at him.” He is so calm and cool that he actually has to be woken after falling asleep in the space capsule just before his launch.

Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer are very funny as recruiters whose antics reveal how initially unprepared the US government was to engage in the space race with the Russians. When the characters show films of potential astronauts to the president, they note that surfers would be good for splashdowns, and car racers even have their own helmets. Eisenhower comes off pretty well, as he rejects the outrageous nominees and insists on test pilots, whom his advisers consider to be uncontrollable. Since the Russians are the first to send up an orbiting satellite, these advisers question American technical ability. But rocket scientist Werner Van Braun (Scott Beach) left-handedly assures them that “our German scientists are better than their German scientists.”

The best comic scenes center on the ridiculous tests the men must undergo, since the scientists are clueless about space travel. You have to laugh when Shepard can’t remove his arm from a table after a doctor has stabbed his hand with a needle that has over-stimulated his muscles. The scene wherein he must run to the bathroom after he has a balloon inflated in his rectum is also hysterical. When the astronauts are required to provide sperm samples, Cooper knows Shepard is in the next bathroom stall masturbating because he is humming the Marine Corps theme song. Cooper tries to drown it out with the Air Force counterpart, and the sounds get louder as they race toward their respective climaxes – apparently, there is competition in all areas between the armed forces. One of the scenes most overflowing with humor depicts the first flight, when it’s revealed that the shortsighted Mission Control forgot to plan for letting the astronauts go to the bathroom in space. Shepard, who has drank numerous cups of coffee, grimaces and requests permission to relieve his bladder into his spacesuit.

These funny failings of the men involved in the early days of the space program not only make The Right Stuff entertaining, but they also complement the heroic aspects of the film and prevent the material from becoming a sentimental hagiography. Ultimately, these flights were successes and are now reminders of a glamorous and uplifting era in American history. Contrasted with this historical gravitas, the humor helps us to still view the astronauts as also relatable, likeable, and therefore human, despite their larger-than-life achievements.