October Sky

"Sometimes one dream is enough to light up the whole sky."

1999 1h 47m EN

🙌

7.7

BANGER

★7.7TMDB · 1,508

DramaHistoryFamily

Synopsis

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The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.

“Sometimes one dream is enough to light up the whole sky.”

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Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal
Homer Hickam
Chris Cooper
John Hickam
Chris Owen
Quentin Wilson
Laura Dern
Miss Riley
William Lee Scott
Roy Lee
Chad Lindberg
O'Dell
Natalie Canerday
Elsie Hickam
Elya Baskin
Ike Bykovsky

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joe Johnston
Writers: Lewis Colick
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joe Johnston, shot by Fred Murphy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Isham. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Dalva shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper and Chris Owen carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Sometimes one dream is enough to light up the whole sky.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0132477 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joe Johnston directs. Fred Murphy behind the camera. Mark Isham scores. Robert Dalva cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

127 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Joe Johnston, shot by Fred Murphy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Mark Isham. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Robert Dalva shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper and Chris Owen carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Sometimes one dream is enough to light up the whole sky.".
7IMDB entry: tt0132477 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 14 themes, including "small town", "based on novel or book", "parent child relationship", "satellite".

The technical file

Cinematography: Fred Murphy
Original score: Mark Isham
Editing: Robert Dalva
Production design: Barry Robison
Costume design: Betsy Cox
Makeup / hair: Lynn Barber
VFX supervisor: Jim Mitchell
Stunt coordinator: Cliff Cudney
Runtime: 107 min · 1h 47m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $25,000,000
Box office: $34,698,685
Return: 139% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: October Sky (1999)

Awards

Writers Guild of America Award
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Joe Johnston

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2025-07-02
★ 10/10
'October Sky' got me in the feels. I tend to (unintentionally) be a bit of a hardnose when it comes to fiction (even if a biopic) making an impact, but it does occasionally happen and this is one of those times. Weirdly too, because it is cheesy/cliché/whatever, but it worked tremendously for me. I felt my heartstrings tug a fair number of times throughout, culminating with those lovely final few scenes; I was actually welling up, would you believe? Any longer and tears may have been shed shudder. I've basically only seen one movie this last month - what has the break done to me?! Humour aside, I did love this though. I've said it before, but to be honest if you give me what I consider to be great cast performances then I'm practically sold on the film upon that coming to fruition. Jake Gyllenhaal is terrific (this still doesn't surpass 'Source Code', mind) as lead. Chris Cooper is ace, as are Laura Dern and Natalie Canerday. Chris Owen (Sherminator!), Chad Lindberg (Jesse!) and William Lee Scott (eh... well, Roy Lee as of now!) are good supports to Gyllenhaal as well. Even the likes of Elya Baskin and Randy Stripling add needed small bits. The music is good too, especially towards the end; early on it kinda goes with what I said about the flick being a tad cheesy and/or cliché. I would describe the movie as that to be frank, but that is more endearing than anything else. I'm fine with those things if it works, which it pleasantly does here. Joe Johnston really went back-to-back with this and 'Jumanji'. Impressive!

Production companies