One of life's many mysteries is why so many women dig chick flicks - - they're tacky and clichéd yet, obviously, oddly compelling. Mystic Pizza? Steel Magnolias? Come on... But October Sky may help you understand, because it's the nearest thing you'll get to a male-orientated chick flick.
This isn't to diss the source material, true-life novel Rocket Boys. Author Homer H Hickam Jr is a NASA engineer, and October Sky is the film version of how he dreamed about becoming a rocket scientist in 1957, despite his coal-mining father's opposition. It deals with father/son conflicts in a manner which verges on the schmaltzy ("A dozen men would've died today if it hadn't been for your Dad!"), but twangs enough blokey chords at the right moments to make you tearful. A convincing, sometimes touching drama that's enough to make you run out and give your old man a big hug.
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