Hollywood has a tendency to rewrite events to its liking. Movies based on real life stories are rarely seen as they happened in the "real world". Frequently, elements are changed so much that in the end, you might-as-well have written an original story. Apollo 13 throws out the Hollywood way of doctoring a script and sticks to the facts. And the results are spellbinding.

Apollo 13 is the story of the 1970 NASA mission to put a third man on the moon. Three rugged astronauts - Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) blast off on the ill-fated mission.

Starting slowly, Apollo builds tensions in increments. By lift-off we've had a half-dozen foreshadowings of events to come. Then the tragic moment. An explosion on board the vessel cripples any hopes for a lunar landing. Now, all the three can hope for is to once again walk on the earth. But to get home, they have to overcome a carbon dioxide poisoning problem, a failing power supply, and flying the ship "blind", all while cold, dark, and hungry.

What makes Apollo 13 so convincing isn't the weightless scenes in outer-space, or the spectacular special effects. It's the small, realistic touches that abound in the film. The techno-speak of the astronauts. The intercutting of newsreel footage with Walter Cronkite narrating. The critical conferences at Mission Control. And the real-life drama of the families back home.

Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan give stellar performances as chief of mission control and Jim Lovell's wife. Harris convincingly coordinates the crew at home, trying to find solutions to a host of Apollo problems. Quinlan presents a courageous figure of determined hope, and should be an Oscar contender.

As for the three astronauts, they are men from the same mold. Stalwart, and unerringly dedicated to their cause, they fly in the face of tremendous odds to pull off one of NASA's greatest triumphs.

Ron Howard puts together a fine cast, excellent footage, spectacular special effects (the lift-off of the Apollo is a knock-out scene), great art direction, and a wonderful script. Sticking to the facts and holding true to every known detail, we get a film that is as close to a docudrama as one can get.

Virtually every instrument in the LEM module was duplicated exactly. By the end of shooting, Tom Hanks had's spent so much time in the cockpit that he said he'd be able to perform many of the real Apollo 13's functions if need be. Well, next time I get caught in space with Tom, I'll let him fly me home.

But till then, a vicarious movie experience will do just fine.

Copyright (c) 1995 Tony Zidek