Number 5 in the '50 Films To See Before You Die Challenge.'
Collection: http://www.polyvore.com/50_films_to_see_before/collection?id=916766
This film is, in my opinion, one of the greatest films ever made. It is meticulous in detail and keeps to the hard facts. There's only a few instances where artistic license comes into play. Most of the filming in the spacecraft was done in a zero G plane at 30 second intervals instead of using strings and special effects. It feels like a very authentic picture of what really happened.
A great companion to this film is the Discovery series "When We Left Earth". If you have Netflix and are interested in the history of NASA go check it out on the instant player!
Quotes:
Jim Lovell: From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. And it's not a miracle, we just decided to go.
Marilyn Lovell: Naturally, it's 13. Why 13?
Jim Lovell: It comes after 12, hon.
Jack Swigert: So long, Earth. Catch you on the flip side.
Jim Lovell: Houston, we have a problem.
NASA Director: This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever faced.
Gene Kranz: With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.
Marilyn Lovell: Blanche, Blanche, these nice young men are going to watch the television with you. This is Neil Armstrong, and this is Buzz... Aldrin.
Neil Armstrong: Hi.
Blanche Lovell: Are you boys in the space program too?
Jim Lovell: [narrating] Our mission was called "a successful failure," in that we returned safely but never made it to the Moon. In the following months, it was determined that a damaged coil built inside the oxygen tank sparked during our cryo stir and caused the explosion that crippled the Odyssey. It was a minor defect that occurred two years before I was even named the flight's commander. Fred Haise was going back to the moon on Apollo 18, but his mission was cancelled because of budget cuts; he never flew in space again. Nor did Jack Swigert, who left the astronaut corps and was elected to Congress from the state of Colorado. But he died of cancer before he was able to take office. Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 16, and flew the Space Shuttle, having never gotten the measles. Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago. And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things, but some are still there. As for me, the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 were my last in space. I watched other men walk on the Moon, and return safely, all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston. I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?