I was sorry to hear about the death of Tom Wolfe, age 88. I've not paid much attention to him lately but read two of his famous books, Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff, both made into movies, one so-so and one good one. I remember a time in the 80's after The Right Stuff had been made into a movie, I went to Provo to visit my dad and his wife. He had a VHS machine and watched John Wayne et al, almost nothing else. I took a copy of The Right Stuff and we watched it in an afternoon. I was glad that he liked it. Maybe I should read it again.

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/15/471414238/tom-wolfe-best-selling-author-and-genre-breaking-journalist-dies-at-88

I remember The Right Stuff coming up in a conversation at some church function, and can't imagine why. So many people that I knew never read anything except church stuff, and I always wondered why.

Probably the most remembered bit of dialog to transfer from "The Right Stuff" to daily (or maybe monthly) use was "he screwed the pooch..."

I didn't remember that about him. Maybe I need to see if my local library has a copy of it.

Amazing elderdogbutt actually got one right finally!

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/screw_the_pooch

What I really liked about "The Right Stuff" (both book and movie, though the dialog is better in the book) was that it made the Mercury 7 *human.*

Wolfe took them off their "American Hero" pedestal, and made them human beings. Brave, brash, arrogant, fearful, flawed...human beings. For me, it made them all the more interesting.

My favorite "Wolfeism": "Masters of the Universe."
(the term he coined for the Wall Street idiots he speared so well)

Thanks for making us think, Tom.

I read both those books, and saw both movies. Bonfire of the Vanities was better as a book than a movie, and it was my favorite. I was never part of that counter-culture, but it was fun to read Wolfe's books.

Haha! Yeah Tom Wolf was cool. Wearing white suites and writing handwritten letters with a real fountain pen. The Right Stuff was a good movie. I liked all the crap they did to the astronauts in the clinic.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lelucLkl-l4"; frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Did you mean this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tekGhkHgEE

I loved the book, loved the movie, and aside from when I was forced to go to school, I never missed the broadcast of a launch. I thought Ed Harris' portrayal of John Glenn was marvelous.

I remain such a "fan" of things space-related that my younger daughter bought me a tee shirt with the NASA logo on it. I cherish that!!

I remember watching one of the Mercury broadcasts when I was still at home. I was just about breathless, with all the adventure. I said, "I'd LOVE to work in the Space Program some day!" Mother, never one to miss an opportunity to point out my shortcomings, remarked, "But you have to be good at MATH and SCIENCE." Wouldn't you just know it? I got A-grades in everything else.