October Sky (1999)


Chris Cooper            John Hickman
Jake Gyllenhaal         Homer Hickam
Laura Dern              Miss Reilly
Chris Ellis             Principal Turner
Andy Stahl              Jack Palmer
Chris Owen              Quentin
William Lee Scott       Roy Lee
Chad Lindberg           O'Dell
Natalie Canerday        Elsie Hickman
Scott Miles             Jim Hickam
Randy Stripling         Leon Bolden
Elya Baskin             Ike Byskovsky
Courtney Fendley        Dorothy Platt
David Dwyer             Jake Mosby
Terry Loughlin          Mr Dantzler

Directed by:            Joe Johnston
Produced by:            Peter Cramer, Marc Sternberg, Charles Gordon


It's 1957 in Coalwood, West Virginia and while most of the town mines the earth, young Homer Hickman 
dreams of only the sky. Inspired by the dawn of the space age and the historic launching of the Soviet 
satellite Sputnik, Homer enlists his two best buddies as well as the school's resident math geek to help 
him design and launch space rockets. After a series of disastrous crash landings, in particular one that 
sends an entire coal mine full of workers running for cover, Homer's father demands that his son get 
serious about his future and abandon his silly science projects. However Homer's potential is limitless 
and when he starts winning science fairs and scholarships he's on a non-stop journey straight to the stars.

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In 1950's mining town called Coalwood, Homer Hickam is a kid with only one future in sight, to work in the 
local coalmine like his father. However in October 1957, everything changes when the first artificial 
satellite, Sputnik goes into orbit. With that event, Homer becomes inspired to learn how to build rockets. 
With his friends and the local nerd, Homer sets to do just that by trial and a lot of error. Unfortunately, 
most of the town and especially Homer's father thinks that they are wasting their time. Only one teacher in 
the high school understands their efforts and lets them know that they could become contenders in the national 
science fair with college scholarships being the prize. Now the gang must learn to perfect their craft and 
overcome the many problems facing them as they shoot for the stars.