Spaceman

This movie was very funny. A lot of the humor was very spontaneous and original. I love how he gets everyone to sing "He's got the whole world in his hands" and how he passes the time in the isolation chamber by conducting his own puppet show. Leonard Maltin definitely missed the boat by giving this film a bomb rating; considering that he called this film and Judd Nelson's "From the Hip" a bomb while giving two stars to "Senior Trip", Maltin has given me sufficient reason to take his reviews with a grain of salt.

I worked at a Video -rental shop when this movie came out on PAL-VHS, and as we were only allowed to show PG rated films (Sorry I dont know the US rating) Anyway, I slapped this film on to see what it was like. I had trouble serving customers, I was laughing that much! I put the film on loop for my whole 12 hour shift, and nearly drove myself loopy. I sang along to "He holds the whole world..." and later found my self talking to my socks.

I don't work there any more...

I too thought this movie was hilarious! I saw it in the theater to appease my husband and it really took me by surprise. I laughed so hard I almost, well, you know... It's zany comedy is several notches above Jerry Lewis (who drives me nuts).

My favorites are the opening scene where young Fred is twirling in the dryer (we've all thought of it!) and the "Isolation Chamber" aka nuclear reactor: Fred plays with his socks and beats the pants off the competing astronaut. I have to contend that this is not only for children. Actually, adults will probably enjoy it more.

The other reviews missed mentioning the obvious references to "The Right Stuff." All of the training sequences in Rocket Man were taken from this non-fiction astronaut movie. It's obvious that the creators of this film wanted to make a funny and light space movie.

The first time I saw this movie I couldn't stop laughing. I happened to see it again a couple nights ago, and it was the same, only it seemed even funnier. I just ordered it from Amazon, I've got to have this movie available when I need a good laugh. I can understand why some people don't like it, you have to be 10 years old at heart to get it. What I don't understand is why I haven't seen more of Harlen Williams, he was a riot in this movie.

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard during a movie. Harland Williams is a genius. "C'mon all you Chinese....." Who comes up with this stuff??? I got the feeling that the directors and writers just told Williams to work around the script and improvise whatever he wanted? Some of this stuff is so off the wall, you wonder just how much was scripted. And this is not your typical Jerry Lewis slapstick. Williams has a great deal of pure talent. Anyway watch it and just enjoy the wonderful absurdity that is Rocket Man.