THE MOVIE

October Sky will play at Sioux City's beautiful Orpheum Theatre on April 26 and 27. Based on a true story, this award-winning movie was adapted from Homer Hickam's bestselling memoir Rocket Boys and filmed on location in Oliver Springs and Petros, Tennessee. Hickam's Web site gives the following synopsis of the movie:

Growing up in a small mining town in West Virginia, the future of many of it's young teens were obvious: they would become miners. When 14-year-old Homer Hickam, Jr. witnessed the Soviet sattellite, Sputnik, fly over Coalwood, WV, he knew he was destined to change the inevitable. Watching Sputnik soar across the night sky helped to inspire Homer and a small group of his friends to to build and launch their own homemade rockets, thus leading to a local uproar. Before long the boys are able to end the discouraging remarks and win over the hearts of many, including their chemistry teacher, Miss Riley, who helps lead them in the direction to secure their prosperous futures... by attending college.

Read the author's essay "On the Set of October Sky."

Opened: February 19, 1999

Rated: PG (for language and alcohol use)

Starring:

Jake Gyllenhaal ... Homer "Sonny" Hickam, Jr.
Chris Cooper ... John Hickam
Natalie Canerday ... Elsie Hickam
Laura Dern ... Miss Riley
Chris Owen ... Quentin Wilson
William Lee Scott ... Roy Lee Cooke
Chad Lindberg ... O'Dell
Scott Thomas ... Jim Hickam

 

Directed By: Joe Johnston
Produced By: Larry Franco & Charles Gordon
Released By: Universal Pictures
Running Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
Video Release Date: July 2, 1999

Information from Homer Hickam online.