October Sky

Entertainment 3 Minutes

October Sky is a movie, following the life of Homer Hickam, a young man in a 1950’s coal mining West Virginia town who aspires to build a rocket.  Screenrant.com has an article detailing little know facts or details about the movie.

The Title Is An Anagram

Some audiences perhaps don’t know that October Sky is based on the memoir from Homer H. Hickam Jr., first published as Rocket Boys. The movie follows Hickam’s true story, but the original title had to be changed for the movie. The title of the movie was changed to October Sky, an anagram of Rocket Boys, at the decision of the studio. AL revealed that Universal Studios thought the original title wouldn’t appeal to female-identifying audiences over 30.

It Was Shot In Tennessee

The true story of Homer Hickam and the rocket boys occurred in Coalwood, West Virginia, and the film takes place there. However, fans might be surprised to know most of the movie was filmed elsewhere. Coalwood’s official website revealed that filming actually began in Petros, Tennessee where massive sets were built for the coal mining sequences.

Homer Hickam’s Dad Had A Different Name

October Sky is one of Chris Cooper’s highest-rated movies. He plays John Hickam, Homer’s father. Their tumultuous relationship makes for some of the most emotional scenes in the movie. Fans might be interested to know that in real life, Homer’s father is named Homer Hickam, making Homer’s full name Homer Hickam Jr., unlike the characters in the film.

Tornadoes Delayed Filming

Fans of October Sky might say that the scenery of the movie gives it a lasting impression. Audiences see the bleak grey sky blanketing the events of the film, underscoring the challenges Homer faces. AL revealed that the weather in Tennessee made filming difficult. Natalie Canerday, who plays Homer’s mom Elsie, said she was supposed to work for less than a month but that time frame was stretched to five because of weather. She is quoted saying, “It rained or snowed or sleeted or tornadoed. It wreaked havoc and we ran out of interiors we could shoot.”

Elsie Made It To Myrtle Beach In Real Life

Perhaps one of the most emotionally charged moments of October Sky comes when issues within Homer’s family come to a head. Homer argues with his father John, while John’s stubbornness pushes his wife Elsie away.  In the film, Elsie threatens to leave her husband and escape to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Legacy revealed the real-life Elsie Gardener Hickam spent her last days in Garden City, South Carolina, an ocean-side town ten miles down the coast from Myrtle Beach.

Over 2000 Extras Appear

October Sky showcases the talents of a relatively small group of main actors. However, fans of the movie know it presents a huge production with hundreds of people involved. Audiences might be shocked to know that over 2,000 extras were used in the movie. Coalwood reported that they were dirtied to look like real coal miners and given time-fitting prop lunchboxes to show the town’s massive coal miner population.

Gyllenhaal Was Age-Appropriate

Perhaps Jake Gyllenhaal’s most likable character, October Sky‘s Homer Hickam showcases the accomplishments of the man he is based on. Producers of the film appear to have wanted to be as true to life as possible. During filming, Gyllenhall was 17 years old. His age is accurate to Homer Hickam Jr.’s during the time of the events of the film.

The Film Was Released On Homer Hickam Jr.’s Birthday

Rocket Boys was released about a year before October Sky came to audiences when Homer Hickam Jr. was 55 years old. When the film version was released, it came at a special time.

Homer Hickam Jr. was born on February 19th, 1943, while October Sky premiered on February 19th, 1999, on Hickam Jr.’s 56th birthday.

Miss Riley Attended The Final Launch In Real Life

October Sky is one of Laura Dern’s highest-rated movies. She plays Miss Freida J. Riley, Homer’s science teacher who supports him through his endeavors in rocketry. At the end of the film, Miss Riley is too sick to attend the final launch of the rocket boys. AL revealed that the real Miss Riley did attend the last launch, although she died prematurely in 1969 of Hodgkin’s disease.

SOURCE: SCREENRANT.COM

Unknown's avatar

Published by pat frederick

Published

57 thoughts on “October Sky”

    1. Good morning! I’ve never heard of this movie. Still waiting for Jerry to bring my mower back…..sure hope he can figure it out. I had left the doors on the shed open but got up at 1 AM to go out and close them since it got progressively windy thru the night. It’s calmed down now but looks like rain will be arriving soon. Temps will be dropping drastically, too, according to the forecast. At least I got the front yard mowed – no biggee if I don’t get the back mowed one more time before winter.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Well, there’s nothing bigger than a squirrel in my yard! LOL – I certainly wouldn’t go wandering outside at night if I lived where you live!

          Like

      2. i like this movie cuz at the end, they show you where a lot of the people in the movie (not the actors, the characters) ended up. Homer ended up in NASA. his Mom did end up in Myrtle Beach. it’s just an interesting movie.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Brett Blair
    @sermons_com
    For those who, like me, need an easy translation of these events:

    This story is a big deal for a few key reasons, explained simply:

    First, Andrew Weissmann is a well-known former top prosecutor at the Department of Justice (DOJ). He’s famous (or infamous, depending on your view) for leading parts of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump back in 2017-2019. Many see him as a key player in what Trump calls the “Russia hoax” or efforts to undermine his presidency. So, anything that puts Weissmann under scrutiny feels like payback or justice to Trump supporters.

    Second, this is about possible corruption or a conflict of interest. In 2016, while Weissmann was running the DOJ’s Fraud Section, he oversaw a huge plea deal with Odebrecht, a Brazilian company caught in a massive bribery scandal across multiple countries. The deal was “unusual” because it lumped all the bribes together by country without naming specific victims or projects. That made it harder for people or governments hurt by the bribes (like in Peru) to get their money back through restitution. Normally, these deals spell out details to help victims, as seen in similar cases with other companies.

    Why does that matter? The law firm Jenner & Block represented interests that benefited from this vague, company-friendly deal. Shortly after, Weissmann left the DOJ and got hired by that same firm, Jenner & Block, with what might have been a sweet compensation package (including bonuses). It raises questions: Did he go easy on the case to score a high-paying job later? That’s the kind of “revolving door” ethics issue that smells fishy and erodes trust in government.

    Third, this probe is happening now under a Trump executive order aimed at investigating “weaponization” of the DOJ—basically, claims that the agency was misused against political enemies. The DOJ just sent a letter demanding Weissmann’s pay records from Jenner & Block, threatening a subpoena if they don’t hand them over by October 7. If evidence shows shady dealings, it could lead to bigger investigations, charges, or reforms. For critics of the old DOJ leadership, it’s like exposing hypocrisy from the same folks who aggressively pursued Trump.

    Overall, it’s not just about one guy—it’s a symbol of potential deep-rooted bias and self-dealing in the justice system, which could shake up politics, especially with Trump back in power. If nothing comes of it, skeptics might call it a witch hunt, but either way, it’s fueling debates about fairness in law enforcement.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Pe7rot Conservative6
    October 4, 2025 3:09 am

    BREAKING: DOJ EDVA update

    Shipwreckedcrew
    @shipwreckedcrew

    What f I told you the “career”Prosecutor fired on Wed was Chief of Staff for Chuck Rosenberg, and Chuck Rosenberg was once Chief of Staff for Robert Mueller, would you want to read an article about that?

    What if I told you Chuck Rosenberg was the Chief of Staff for Alberto Gonzalez when ** Lisa Monaco ** was Chief of Staff for Robert Mueller’s?

    What if I told you that Chuck Rosenberg was the very first Chief of Staff for James Comey as FBI Director?

    What if I told you Chuck Rosenberg was US Attorney for EDVA who hired the “career”prosecutor fired Wed and later made him his Chief of Staff at DEA.

    What if I told you that Pres. Trump fired Chuck Rosenberg as DEA Administrator four months after he fired Jim Comey?

    What if I told you the “career” prosecutor fired on Wed was Rosenberg’s Chief of Staff when Rosenberg was forced to resign as DEA Administrator?

    What if I told you the “career” prosecutor worked as an associate Dep. AG for ** Lisa Monaco ** until the final day of the Biden Admin and then decided he wanted to be a “career” prosecutor again back in the EDVA?

    Would you want to read an article about all that??

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Charlotte99

    October 4, 2025 5:29 am

    HOLY CRAP!

    Senator John Kennedy exposed on the Senate floor that several of the funding provisions Democrats are demanding to open the government include… nitter.poast.org/i/status/1974229493377… …

    4M for LGBTQ in Uganda and the Western Balkans,

    $3.6M for cooking classes and dance focus groups for male Haitian prostitutes,

    $833K for trans in Nepal,

    $300K for Lesotho pride parade and

    $3M for circumcisions and vasectomies in Zambia.

    WHAT ON EARTH? The Democrats have LOST IT. They didn’t just choose illegals over Americans, but batsh*t insane foreign programs over Americans

    https://nitter.poast.org/EricLDaugh/status/1974234353594216682#m

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Just The News: “The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration can strip more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants of their Temporary Protected Status. 

    The Justice Department last month asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the case, which sought to overturn U.S. District Judge Edward Chen’s ruling that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to vacate extensions on the status for the Venezuelans exceeded her authority. 

    The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 split to overturn Chen’s decision, stating not much changed from when it made a similar ruling in May that allowed Noem to end protections for Venezuelan migrants whose protections expired in April, according to the Associated Press.

    The high court’s three liberal justices dissented and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson blasted her conservative counterparts for “wordlessly” allowing the Trump administration to “disrupt as many lives as possible.” 

    “I view today’s decision as yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket,” Jackson wrote. “Because, respectfully, I cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous and harmful interference with cases pending in the lower courts while lives hang in the balance, I dissent.”

    Temporary Protected Status is given to people from countries that are unsafe because of a natural disaster, political instability or other dangerous conditions. The protections are granted for six, 12 or 18 months and allow the recipient to work in the United States and prevents them from being deported.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. well guess what Toots? you’re getting these cases because of rogue, know nothing justices like yourself. don’t like it? resign your seat. This was similarly decided in MAY! and a lower court disregarded that, not POTUS!

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Friday night announced that the government shutdown will not keep him from celebrating the Navy’s 250th birthday on Sunday in Norfolk, Virginia, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Naval Secretary John Phelan. The Navy is hosting a “Titans of the Sea – A Salute to the Fleet,” event, which is part of the events to mark the United States’ 250th birthday next year. The Navy itself will turn 250 on Oct. 13.

    Trump said first lady Melania Trump will also accompany him to the event, which will be held despite the shutdown that went into effect on Wednesday. The shutdown will extend through at least Monday after the Senate failed to advance a resolution on Friday that would have reopened the government.

    “I am proud to announce that on Sunday, October 5th, I will be hosting a Salute to the Fleet in Norfolk, Virginia, to honor our brave men and women of the United States Navy,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the other Minority Radical Left Democrats tried their best, through the ridiculous Government Shutdown, to destroy this wonderful celebration of the U.S. Navy’s Birthday, and to stop our Military Servicemembers from celebrating American Naval History.”

    Trump said that he believes the “show must go on” because the Navy had been planning the event for months. “Despite the Democrats’ incompetence, I refuse to let [the Navy] down as their Commander-in-Chief,” Trump wrote. “This will be the largest Celebration in the History of the Navy. Thousands of our brave Active Duty Servicemembers and Military Families will be in attendance, and I look forward to this special day with all of them. See you on Sunday!”

    The event is scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. Eastern.”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Just The News: “Female athlete activist Riley Gaines gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Margot. Gaines announced the birth on social media on Thursday, after having the child on Monday.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DPU1vuxEsGX/

    “[T]here’s nothing that could’ve prepared me for a love like this. God has blessed us beyond belief,” Gaines wrote in a post on Instagram, with pictures of her, Margot, and her husband, Louis Barker. “[W]elcome to the world, sweet Margot.”

    Gaines announced her pregnancy in June. At 31 weeks pregnant, Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer, swam 1.25 miles to the Alcatraz prison alongside U.S. Navy SEALs, combat veterans, and her husband in July, the New York Post reported.”

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Just The News: “The U.S. Treasury Department is considering minting a $1 coin bearing the image of President Donald Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026. 

    Drafts released this week show a profile of Trump on one side, framed by the inscription “LIBERTY” and the years “1776-2026.” 

    On the reverse, the design depicts Trump raising a clenched fist in front of an American flag, with the slogan “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT” referencing his reaction after surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. in July 2024.

    The proposal stems from bipartisan legislation passed in 2020 authorizing the Treasury to issue commemorative $1 coins during the semiquincentennial year.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  15. “12 billion to one chance:” Fourth cousins from America and England meet at the same exact time while visiting ancestor’s grave”

    Not The Bee, Harriet Rigby, Oct 3, 2025

    Image for article: "12 billion to one chance": Fourth cousins from America and England meet at the same exact time while visiting ancestor's grave

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “British cousins Ian Brandon (74) and Malcolm Atkins (73) were visiting the grave of their great-great-great grandfather in Northamptonshire, England, on September 22 when they ran into their fourth cousin, Rand Smith (69), who had traveled all the way from Kansas City to do the very same thing.

    The cousins from opposite sides of the pond had each (separately) been planning the trip to their ancestors’ final resting place for years, and just happened to show up within a couple of minutes of each other. Brandon said,

    We basically turned up together, it was most strange.

    If you need more evidence of Divine Providence, the odds of such a meeting occurring on the same day at the exact same time are 12 billion to one, according to SWNS.

    When Rand and his wife Janeel went up to look at the gravesite at St. Peter’s Church, their British cousins were doing the same.

    Janeel asked them if they knew who the grave belonged to, to which Ian replied that it was his third great-grandfather, Anthony Smith, who died in the 1850s. All Rand could say was:

    The American cousin, Rand Smith, told SWNS,

    No one else was in the cemetery. To learn that they are our fourth cousins was absolutely thrilling.

    Malcolm Atkins is the ancestry buff in his family, a fact that his wife has often poked fun at.

    Atkins told SWNS,

    My wife Linda always wondered how I could do such a boring hobby. It is just names on a piece of paper, but on one account I’ve got 2,000 names.

    Well the joke’s on Linda now, because one of those names just happened to walk right up and introduce himself.

    Atkins went on to say,

    We met at that precise moment, and now people are saying it’s divine intervention. I don’t have a religious bone, but if we arrived half-an-hour later, we wouldn’t have known they were there.

    The cousins then had an impromptu family reunion, going out to a nearby pub for lunch, where they caught up on the past FOUR generations of family history.”

    Credit: Malcolm Atkins

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I say pull their federal funding!

    Liked by 1 person

  18. “Powerful U.S. Attorney’s Office Infested with Trump Lawfare Associates — Controversy inside the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia over indicting James Comey exposed close professional and family ties to some of the worst lawfare perpetrators.”

    Julie Kelly, Oct 04, 2025

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Before leaving the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia building on Friday for the last time, Michael Ben’Ary taped a letter on his office door.

    Ben’Ary, who was fired Wednesday night reportedly because this reporter posted screenshots of his LinkedIn account on X showing he had recently worked for former deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco, wrote a lengthy call to action to his ex co-workers.

    Insisting his firing by acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was undeserved and that Department of Justice leadership “is more concerned with punishing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our national security,” Ben’Ary urged his former colleagues to defy their higher-ups at President Trump’s DOJ. “I ask that each of you do the right thing. Follow the facts and the law. Stand up for what we all believe in –our Constitution and the rule of law. Our country depends on you.”

    Full letter here. (Ben’Ary apparently did not win any brief-writing contests in law school.)

    And in one poorly-written cookie cutter complaint, Ben’Ary—chief of the EDVA’s national security unit when he got the boot—undercut his own claims of political independence. Further, the American people are supposed to believe that the same guy now publicly advocating internal resistance at the DOJ did not play a role in privately attempting to torpedo the criminal case against James Comey after a two-month investigation.

    News reports have disclosed the existence of a so-called “declination memo,” which outlined the reasons why EDVA prosecutors did not want to pursue a federal indictment against the corrupt and disgraced former FBI director for what appears to be his perjurious testimony before Congress in 2020. “Halligan has been advised by career prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office that seeking the charges would violate DOJ policy, raise serious ethical issues, and risk being rejected by the grand jury,” ABC News reported on September 25.

    That same day, Halligan, who had never before presented a case to a grand jury, won a two-count indictment against Comey for making false statements and obstructing Congress.

    But a review of the background of several current and former employees at the EDVA reveal ties to Democratic officials primarily responsible for the lawfare against President Trump.

    Monaco Minions

    For example, Ben’Ary’s association with Monaco, one of the key architects of the Russiagate hoax among other dirty tricks against the president, dates back to 2012. (The president recently called for Microsoft to fire Monaco as the company’s head of global affairs. He stripped Monaco of her security clearance earlier this year.)

    As a prosecutor at EDVA, Ben’Ary worked with Monaco, at the time Barack Obama’s assistant attorney general for national security, to prosecute a Virginia resident for plotting a suicide bombing of the U.S. Capitol.

    One month after the FBI’s armed search of Mar-a-Lago in 2022, Monaco, who had a role in authorizing the raid, named Ben’Ary as her senior counsel. At the time, Monaco was handling the day-to-day machinations related to both criminal investigations into Trump—one for his involvement in the events of January 6 and one for allegedly hoarding classified files.

    In November 2022, Monaco’s former Obama DOJ colleague Jack Smith was named special counsel to purportedly take over the investigations. But Smith did little more than move existing DOJ prosecutors and FBI investigators from headquarters over to the special counsel’s office. And only the most naive individual, or paid lawfare pushers such as Fusion Ken, would believe Monaco distanced herself from the proceedings at that point.

    Monaco promoted Ben’Ary to associate deputy attorney general in 2023, making him a key figure in her senior leadership team. In June 2023, Smith indicted Trump in the classified documents case; two months later, he indicted Trump on four counts related to the events of Jan 6. It appears Ben’Ary returned to EDVA shortly before Trump’s inauguration last January.

    Ties to the Lawfare Axis of Evil

    But Ben’Ary was not the only top official at EDVA with deep ties to the ‘Get Trump’ cabal of bad actors including Monaco, Comey, and Smith:

    • Maya Song, the first assistant in the office before she was fired last week, served as Monaco’s senior counsel from August 2023 until October 2024.
    • The spouse of another top prosecutor in the office, Drew Bradylyons, worked directly for Monaco for almost the entirety of Biden’s term in office. Lisa Miller, Bradylyons’ wife, was appointed deputy associate attorney general in October 2021 and remained in that position until January 2025. Miller oversaw more than 200 prosecutors in one of the DOJ’s criminal divisions and reported directly to Monaco.
    • The father-in-law of Erik Siebert, the head of EDVA office until he was forced to resign last month amid pressure from Trump, is godfather to one of Comey’s daughters.
    • When the grand jury handed up the indictment last week, Troy Edwards, who was Ben’Ary deputy, sat in the front row of the Alexandria courtroom. Edwards is Comey’s son-in-law; he quit after the indictment was announced.
    • Jessica Aber, the Biden-appointed head of EDVA who resigned the day President Trump was sworn in, once worked for Smith when he headed the DOJ’s public integrity unit during the Obama administration. Aber helped prosecute, at Smith’s behest, former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and his wife, in 2014. The Supreme Court unanimously overturned their conviction in 2016, in part blaming the government for criminalizing common political behavior. Aber had worked on the McDonnell case with David Harbach, who led Smith’s classified documents prosecution team in Florida until the case was dismissed last year. (Aber died in March 2025 of an epileptic seizure.)
    • Matthew Burke led the EDVA’s public corruption office until he moved to Jack Smith’s office in 2022. According to his bio at his new gig, “Matt served as an Assistant Special Counsel under Special Counsel Jack Smith in the investigation of the efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election and the certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021. Matt further assisted in the prosecution of a former president that arose from that investigation.” Burke was fired in late January amid a purge of Smith’s prosecutors and investigators.

    This sort of political incestuousness represents a pervasive crisis at the DOJ. How can the president hold people accountable for the lawfare against him—efforts that did not just result in the near-destruction of the president but also ensnared so many innocent people and misled the American people in the process—when the loyal foot soldiers of the lawfare perpetrators infest the entire department?

    Investigations into other Trump tormentors are reportedly underway as the MAGA base grows increasingly impatient for results. But what happened at EDVA, where conflicted DOJ officials almost successfully sank the Comey indictment right before the statute of limitations expired, should be yet another example of what Trump officials are up against in overcoming the systemically corrupt DOJ.”

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Just The News: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were surrounded by as many as 10 vehicles while on routine patrol in this Chicago suburb — a confrontation that federal officials say escalated to the point of shots fired.

    According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), one of the drivers in the circle of vehicles was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that ICE agents “were forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots” against an individual identified as a U.S. citizen. McLaughlin said this person was named in an intelligence bulletin from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to Fox News.

    Officials said the agents were conducting what they described as a normal patrol in Broadview when the group of cars surrounded their vehicle. The incident is occurring amid heightened unrest in the area over recent anti-ICE protests, which have intensified tensions between federal enforcement and local communities.”

    Liked by 1 person

  27. “A ‘popular’ (he musta had a lot of friends, huh?) Alaskan climber fell to his death from Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, marking the third death in the park this summer. Earlier this year, an 18-year-old from Texas died in the park while free-soloing, or climbing without a rope, on a different formation. In August, a 29-year-old woman died after being struck in the head by a large tree branch while hiking. 

    Balin Miller, 23, died in a climbing accident Wednesday, his mother Jeanine Girard-Moorman confirmed. “He’s been climbing since he was a young boy,” she said. “His heart and soul was truly to just climb. He loved to climb and it was never about money and fame.”

    The death comes on the first day of the federal government shutdown, which left national parks “generally” open, with limited operations and closed visitors centers, according to the National Park Service. The park service said in a statement that they are investigating the incident and “park rangers and emergency personnel responded immediately.” I wonder if they brought spatulas with them. 

    Live-streaming an attempted assent on a shear rock wall. I wonder if he managed to hang on to the phone while he fell. Why do so many of these ‘influencers’ die doing stupid shit they can show off on line? 

    Hey – check this out – watch me catch a bullet in my teeth. Jeez…“

    Liked by 1 person

  31. 🦉 Owl Camouflage on Camera
    An owl disappeared into a tree so perfectly, half the internet thought it was Photoshop. Nature invented stealth before the military…

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.