Wither Tom Hanks

So last night we watched Apollo 13. This is a fine film staring Tom Hanks, the finest actor of his generation.

[Not Denzell Washington?-Ed]

Well, either/or.

Anyway prior to Apollo 13, Hanks  made four movies that propelled him to stardom-all in a row. These were A League of their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. Hanks won the Academy Award for best actor for those last two films, and rightfully so. Forrest Gump was huge a pop culture and technological phenomenon. How did they get Forrest in the shot with Lynndon Johnson? Philadelphia was a human tragedy and something of a sop to the gays, but still a fine film. Sleepless in Seattle was a silly rom-com and feels more like a Meg Ryan vehicle. A League of their Own is a goofy sports film.

Hanks' was an extraordinary run.

Prior to this awesome quartet of films, Hanks was kind of a goofball actor staring in films like Dragnet. At its' release, Apollo 13 was considered a very solid film, but something of a comedown from the previous four. Ironically, Apollo 13 has aged better than any of those films and has more pop culture significance. 'Uhhh, Houston we have a problem...' may be the most memorable line of Hanks' career. Hanks' only quote from the previous four films is, 'There's no crying in baseball'.

Apollo-13* ends with Hanks' narration about the fate of the characters involved and asks, or challenges really, 'When will we go back?'

By 1995 it already seemed like the space program was stagnanting. The high adventure of The Right Stuff and national effort of the moon shots gave way to the dreary teamster feel of the Space Shuttle. It was disappointing, really. When the shuttle first launched in 1980 it was a big enough deal for our school to watch live on TV.

The shuttle was permanently set back by the Challenger disaster, Generation X's 'where were you?' moment. As Apollo 13 was in theatres, NASA had vague plans for an International Space Station. Today the shuttle is retired and American astronauts hitch a ride to the space station with the Soviets....errr, Russians. 

When will we go back? As it happens the other day we took our youngest on a school trip to the local planetarium 'where fishes swim', she told us. The gift shop sold spaceship stickers books. We bought one. Inside it was all Saturn rockets, Apollo landers and space shuttles. The youngest vehicle was 40 years old. 

There's your answer, Mr. Hanks.

*BTW harkening back to out Battlestar Galactica binge from last summer, Herbert Jefferson plays a reporter.