The Right Stuff (1983)

Even when we don't know what the hell Kaufman is saying, such as the moment in which John Glenn (Harris), while orbiting the Earth, is besieged by "fireflies" (which Kaufman, tongue planted in cheek to pointless effect, attributes to an aboriginal campfire below), we feel he's saying it with panache, and while his inharmonious Ford worship and Dr. Strangelove-esque satire of sixties' US government come off a trifle heavy-handed, allusions to his own work are acute: there's a kind of running, tonal reference to Kaufman's ingenious remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (and not just in the casting of Invasion vets Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright) in the scenes involving the astronauts' base-bound wives--especially those punctuated by the "permanent press corps" (the clown act known as the Bologna Brothers, portraying an interchangeable throng of reporters) violating the sanctity of the home--that charges them with the dread of living life as a veritable and famous crash-test dummy's significant other.

Even when we don't know what the hell Kaufman is saying, such as the moment in which John Glenn (Harris), while orbiting the Earth, is besieged by "fireflies" (which Kaufman, tongue planted in cheek to pointless effect, attributes to an aboriginal campfire below), we feel he's saying it with panache, and while his inharmonious Ford worship and Dr. Strangelove-esque satire of sixties' US government come off a trifle heavy-handed, allusions to his own work are acute: there's a kind of running, tonal reference to Kaufman's ingenious remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (and not just in the casting of Invasion vets Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright) in the scenes involving the astronauts' base-bound wives--especially those punctuated by the "permanent press corps" (the clown act known as the Bologna Brothers, portraying an interchangeable throng of reporters) violating the sanctity of the home--that charges them with the dread of living life as a veritable and famous crash-test dummy's significant other.

We're introduced to urgent new developments in the Soviets' space program by the lanky legs of Jeff Goldblum ( Jurassic Park , Annie Hall ), as NASA recruiter, racing down a Washington, DC, corridor to a smoke-filled conference room to break the news to assembled powermongers.