By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos
“Fly Me to the Moon” opened July 11 across the nation featuring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. Based loosely on the Apollo XI moon landing July 20, 1969, this highly entertaining movie riffs off an old conspiracy theory that the government filmed a fake moon landing and passed it off as the real thing. Fortunately, in the 55 years since, we have come to recognize that theory as the hoax, but it does provide this film with a plotline.
Those of us who were around in 1969 will remember being glued to our TV sets to watch the first humans to step on the moon. We may not remember the hype leading up to this event. Congress was busy worrying about the war in Vietnam; we were made to watch that war on the nightly news as reporters beamed in stories from the front lines. At the same time, NASA was having difficulty raising interest among the public. Congress was reticent to give the funding NASA needed. Our national commitment to the late President Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade was in danger of failing.
So, NASA brought in a PR team who made celebrities of the astronauts, coaxed members of Congress to keep funding Apollo, and created partnerships with companies who would pay to claim their product was used by astronauts. This movie gets all of that right.
The fiction in “Fly Me to the Moon” provides a Manhattan marketing specialist named Kelly Jones (Johansson) as the PR team NASA needed. The Nixon Administration, in the person of a shady Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), entices Kelly to take the job with NASA, while offering to expunge her past offences. With that promise, Kelly heads to Florida where she is joined by her able assistant Ruby (Anna Garcia).
The Apollo Launch Director, loosely based on Deke Slayton, is Cole Davis (Tatum), who with Henry Smalls (Ray Romano) oversees a huge team of engineers, technicians and support staff. Among the engineers, two play key roles in the film: Stu Bryce played by Donald Elise Watkins and Don Harper played by Noah Robbins. The massive crew we see represents the actual 400,000 NASA people it took to make Apollo XI a success.
Sparks fly when Cole and Kelly meet. Later, he is horrified by what she wants to do to bring attention to the program. Giving the media access to interview the astronauts? Letting companies pay to advertise their products with a space race connection? Letting Senators tour the facility so they will give their support for funding? It’s all too distracting for Cole.
As the story evolves, Moe asks more of Kelly than is ethical. A black cat keeps threatening Cole’s confidence that all will go well. And Cole is warming to Kelly. What could go wrong?
“Fly Me to the Moon” is Rated PG-13 for some strong language, and smoking. It has arrived just in time for us to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing. Plan to view it at SALA through July 25!
