Based on fact, this is the story of a teenager named Homer Hickam, growing up in a coal town in West Virginia where a boy's usual destiny was to "end up in the mines." But Homer had his eye on the sky and a love for flying rockets... to the dismay of his mine-foreman father, and the consternation of the townsfolk generally. A misfit for sure, he and three of his equally outcast buddies begin making rockets, which they fly from a patch of barren land eight miles out of town... so as to no longer terrorize the community with their oft-times errant rockets. However, the people become intrigued and soon start coming out in droves to watch the 'Rocketboys' send off their homemade missiles, and with the enthusiastic support of Miss Riley, their teacher, plus a signed picture from Wernher von Braun in response to a question Homer had written him, they finally are entered in the National Science Awards competition. But none of this was all that easy, especially for Homer, as problems much more dire than flying rockets seemed to push the young man toward maturity, as well as to his eventual destiny... as an instructor of our shuttle mission astronauts.
| Release Date: | Feb 1999 |
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| Genre: | Biography / Drama / Family |
| Awards: | 3 wins & 11 nominations |
| Cast: | Jake Gyllenhaal (Homer Hickam), Chris Cooper (John Hickam), Laura Dern (Miss Riley), Chris Owen (Quentin), William Lee Scott (Roy Lee), Chad Lindberg (O'Dell), Natalie Canerday (Elsie Hickam), Scott Miles (Jim Hickam), Randy Stripling (Leon Bolden), Chris Ellis (Principal Turner), Elya Baskin (Ike Bykovsky), Courtney Cole-Fendley (Dorothy Platt), David Dwyer (Jake Mosby), Terry Loughlin (Mr. Dantzler), Kailie Hollister (Valentine Carmina), David Copeland (Coach Gainer), Don Henderson Baker (Jensen), Tom Kagy (Lenny), Donald Thorne (Trooper One), Justin Whitsett (Kid), Larry Rue (Neighbor), Neva Howell (Neighbor), Terry Nienhuis (Neighbor), Brady Coleman (Anderson), Rick Forrester (Roper), Terrence Gibney (Basil Thorpe), Doug Swander (Corvette Guy), Keeli Hale Kimbro (Corvette Girl), Mark Jeffrey Miller (Vernon), Blaque Fowler (Reverend), Don Tilley (Rescue Worker), Rockford Davis (Chemistry Teacher), John Bennes (Doctor), Jonathan Fawbush (Barney), Larry Black (Fred Smith), Frank Schuler (Moonshiner), Tommy Smeltzer (Man at Mine), Charles Lawlor (Miner), Tom Turbiville (Miner), Ida Ginn (Quentin's Mom), Richard Lumpkin (Judge at Welch), Mark W. Johnson (Union Official), Don Taylor (Union Official), Don G. Campbell (Mr. Morris), Liz Byler (Ivy League Girl (as Elizabeth Byler)), Bradford Ryan Lund (Ivy League Boy), Frank Hoyt Taylor (Judge at Indy), Dave Hager (Head Judge (as David Hager)), Ray Elder (Tom Webster), Andy Stahl (Jack Palmer), Joe Digaetano (Wernher von Braun), Thomas Taylor (Miner in Elevator), David Ducey (Man in Crowd), Jenny Patterson (Nurse), O. Winston Link (Locomotive Engineer), Brian Keith (Coal Miner (uncredited)), Shawn Lindsay (Miner) |