Research Paper On October Sky

The movie “October Sky” by, Joe Johnston is a great film. The story is located in West Virginia. It is a small coal mining town during the 1950’s. The town's mine is owned by John Hickam (Chris Cooper) who has two sons, Jim (Scott Miles) and Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal). John wants his sons to follow his footsteps to become coal miners, but when Jim gets a football scholarship and Sputnik 1 passed over their little town, Homer gets other Ideas of what he wants to be. His friends, Quentin Wilson (played by Chris Owen) Roy Lee Cooke (William Lee Scott) and Sherman O'Dell (Chad Lindberg) help him on a journey to fulfill his dreams.

Soon after seeing Sputnik 1 pass over their town Homer starts building rockets with his friends. At first no one thinks much of it until Homer's father realizes that he doesn't want to become a coal miner. Upoun knowing this Homer's father forbids building rockets all along the coal mining properties. So he and his friends, build rockets in the next town over, in Snakehead which at first was a 12 mile hike until they could get someone to drive them. When Miss Riley (Laura Dern) hears that Homer

wants to build rockets he asks him if he would like to go to a National Science Fair representing their school. She says that if you get into the placings, first, second or third there is a very high chance of getting a scholarship to College. When Homer is accused of starting a fire with one of his missing rockets and is arrested for it, Homer's dream is crushed. Then the very next day his father is hurt in the mine and Homer takes his father's place to keep their family going. But once Homer found where his rocket landed, he quit his job and the dream too go to the fair is sparked again.

The main actors and actresses included, Miss Riley (Laura Dern), John Hickam (Chris Cooper), Jim (Scott Miles) and Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal), Quentin Wilson (Chris Owen), Roy Lee Cooke, (William Lee Scott) and Sherman O'Dell (Chad Lindberg). These people all impact the story because most of them all want Homer to build rockets. All except for his father who wants Homer to become a coal miner. Miss Riley is the person who mentions the national science fair so she is a pretty important person in this film. His friends are also important in the film because without Quentin and Roy they would have gotten nowhere with their rocket's fuel, design of the rocket and the calculations for the height and distance for each rocket. Lastly since Homer's dad wanted him to become a coal miner the plot of the movie was much more dramatic with the two of them clashing with each other.

The main engineering challenges that Homer faced in this movie included, lack of money, resources and places to launch rockets.

In the movie they needed a carbon steel, alloy called, S.A.E. 1018 bar stock. This alloy is more heat resistant than the steel that they were originally using. The metal that they were originally using was not heat resistant enough and the nozzle of the rocket kept on getting melted, meaning that the rocket would not fly straight. The metal that they needed though costed a lot much. They had to de-rail an old rail track and sell the steel to get enough money for the S.A.E. 1018 bar stock. The last engineering challenge was the place they lived in. Since they lived in West Virginia they did not have a lot of open space until they got to an old abandoned mine deposit in Snakehead which is the district next to

them.

The theme or underlying message is that once you realize who you want to be and do, you should try hard to reach that goal. This is the theme because right from the start of seeing Sputnik 1 streak across the October sky Homer realizes that his goal is to launch a rocket into space. Then from they're Homer gets his friends and teachers to support and help him on his journey. When Homer succumbed to his father by working in the coal mine he was miserable. All he thought was about his rockets and eventually he gave up trying to be what his father wanted him to become but instead became his own person. In the end Homer and his father realize that they are actually alike. They just have different goals of what they wanted to become.

I would give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars with a PG rating. This is because the plot and story were really good, but sometimes the acting wasn’t the greatest like when Homer and his father are arguing over building rockets. They went a little overboard and the acting seemed over dramatized. Another part was when Quentin was talking to them about the nozzle of their rocket and he totally geeked out. I think this part was also overdone because he was waving his hands around in the air and yelling. I would recommend this movie to everyone that likes space, engineering and a inspirational story. I think a great part of the film was that it was true. This shows you that everyone has potential, even a boy living in a coal mine town in West Virginia.