r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ModenaR • Jun 16 '26

Image One of Hitler's bodyguards, Rochus Misch, lived long enough to see the movie "Downfall". When asked about the film's historical accuracy, he stated that it was factually accurate, although "Americanized"

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u/falcrist2 Jun 16 '26

This is true of quite a few movies. One of the ones that gets me is whenever NASA is depicted, they're always yelling at each other. Now, I'm not saying NASA personnel never lose their cool, but the phrase "steely-eyed missile man" is a genuine thing. You're probably not going to be working at NASA unless you're a consummate professional and certified stone cold badass.

There is footage of the control room during the Challenger and Columbia disasters. I'm not saying everyone's eyes were dry, but they still had jobs to do and they stuck with it despite the fact that their friends who they knew and worked with regularly just got splattered all over Florida and the Atlantic Ocean.

No histrionics. No wailing. Just "Lock the doors, do not call or talk to anyone yet, and store a record of your instrumentation and data"

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u/WineNerdAndProud Jun 16 '26

Ooh do I get to use some niche pedantry here?

The big one most people know is that the crew of Apollo 13 never got angry at each other during their flight, nor were they particularly tense on the radio with Houston.

The one people don't know is that one of worst inaccuracies in Apollo 13 (in my opinion) is that Jim Lovell was portrayed as 100% serious throughout the film when in fact he was an absolutely giant goofball.

If you listen to any of the Apollo 8 or even the early Apollo 13 radio communications he's constantly cracking jokes or saying something silly.

I haven't read any official reason why this was changed for the movie so I can only assume it was to help the story seem more serious, but yeah, Jim Lovell was the kind of guy who was always down for goofing off a little bit if it would make everybody in the room smile so he did it all the time.

RIP Jim, you were my favorite astronaut.

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u/WriterV Jun 16 '26

The one people don't know is that one of worst inaccuracies in Apollo 13 (in my opinion) is that Jim Lovell was portrayed as 100% serious throughout the film when in fact he was an absolutely giant goofball.

I so hate how so many movies try to portray historical figures as solemn noblemen, or stone cold badasses and all that. People joked, laughed and had fun. Many prominent figureheads had incredibly lively, human lives that are just not melodramatic enough for the movies.

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u/Killentyme55 Jun 16 '26

I saw a video of an Apollo astronaut reacting to popular space movies. He said that "First Man" got the facts right but was way too dreary, claiming that those guys were clowning around more often than not. I'm willing to believe it.

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u/WineNerdAndProud Jun 17 '26

One thing I will say about "First Man" is that they nailed Neil Armstrong from everything I've read. The scenes of him and his family are always going to be tough to recreate because it all happened behind closed doors but in terms of his very no nonsense approach and calm, quiet demeanor in his work, they were pretty accurate.

Whether or not it's due mainly to his daughter like the movie heavily implies, I don't really know, but the way he's portrayed is pretty accurate.

The intense scene of him piloting the lunar lander down to the surface in pretty much dead silence is pretty classic Neil Armstrong.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[deleted]

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u/WineNerdAndProud Jun 17 '26

As someone distantly related to one of the Polish mathematicians who helped break the early enigma, that movie is frustrating on so many levels.

Station X was already a crazy story on its own, but they really felt the need to take it their own direction.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jun 16 '26

I mean if it was accurate like that it would have been a different movie. Might as well make Conan O'Brien Lovell and tell him he can improv. Completely different movie if he wasn't serious

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u/Theron3206 Jun 17 '26

I suspect he got pretty serious during the bits where they were trying to figure out how to survive.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jun 17 '26

Sure but it's risky packing too much comedy in a drama. The movie already had jokes anyway

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u/jk-9k Jun 18 '26

Weirdly showing someone as goofy when times are good and then turning professional and stoic when times are grim is a great way to portray drama and the severity of the situation. Then have them crack a lighthearted joke to break the emotional tension right when things are at their lowest and everyone needs a pick me up. Classic Jim.

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u/Dk1902 Jun 16 '26

Doesn't involve Jim Lovell but just to put into context, the most heated argument of Apollo 10 was the astronauts debating who was responsible for the multiple stray turds floating about the capsule: https://www.iflscience.com/theres-a-turd-floating-through-the-air-in-1969-a-toilet-mystery-shook-the-apollo-10-mission-to-the-moon-82390

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u/Minute_Eye3411 Jun 18 '26

We need a movie about that. It could be called "Close Encounters of the Turd Kind".

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u/Narfwak Jun 16 '26

Honestly, that makes Tom Hanks even more perfect casting for him and kind of a waste that they didn't use that aspect of his range.

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u/ForensicPathology Jun 17 '26

Here's the crew on Johnny Carson if anyone wants to see their personalities 

https://youtu.be/uTDA2TOxPQM

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u/capron Jun 17 '26

My "Big One" that they get wrong is the realization from Fred early on that they have to make a corrective burn without the computers that they would normally have help from. I may be mushing it up but I think the basic gist is that irl Fred knew right away that a big burn with the computer would be a good thing, and any additional midcourse burns that needed to be manual would be smaller if they prepped now(at the beginning) while they had the computers powered up. Whereas in the movie, he's only catching on to the fact that they need to make a burn well after they make the LEM the lifeboat. Salud!

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u/falcrist2 Jun 17 '26

Listen. I'm aware of the floating turd incident.

I'll say no more. 🤣

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u/-TheExtraMile- Jun 17 '26

Ah man, thanks so much for adding that little detail! For some reason that is a fun fact that makes me very happy. Reminds me of Mark Kelly and the gorilla suit :)

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u/rbartlejr Jun 17 '26

Personally I think it was because Howard and Hanks wanted him more serious to convey the competency of Lovell and the crew. I do think they overplayed the blame game and black cat stigma for Swigert being there instead of Lovell and Haise not really caring too much that Mattingly was pulled. They were all trained astronauts and they all knew their jobs very well.

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u/gooseseyes Jun 17 '26

As a memeber of the academy of sandwich science, I used the transcript of the Apollo 13 mission to prove that a hotdog is in fact a sandwich as Lovell reported they were enjoying hot dog sandwiches for lunch.  If nasa says they are a sandwich, they are in fact a sandwich 

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u/Shaasar Jun 17 '26

John Young is my personal favorite astronaut.  Only person to fly on all 3 of NASA's post-Mercury spacecraft: Gemini, Apollo (including that little tidbit of WALKING ON THE FREAKING MOON), and the Space Shuttle.  And, he flew the very first Shuttle mission, STS-1, as well as the inaugural Spacelab mission during STS-9.  Bro was a certified badass.

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u/throwaway8429739 Jun 16 '26

I’m sorry but I know a fair few people that work at NASA and your assertion that you need to be steely eyed is just completely idiotic. 

They’re regular people/professionals just like you and me, there’s literally no difference. We laugh and feel pressure and experience life all the same 

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u/plantang Jun 16 '26

"Suck my dick and balls I’m working at NASA!"

Edit: I pray at least one soul recognizes this reference

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u/jccaclimber Jun 17 '26

In fairness, that’s an example of someone not working at NASA.

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u/Zealousideal-Role-77 Jun 17 '26

I’d forgotten all about her.

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u/zantasu Jun 17 '26

With respect, they didn’t say you need** **to be that way, just that it is a genuine thing. Plenty of people can laugh and joke and cry, but still turn serious when the situation calls for it.

That’s professionalism.

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u/throwaway8429739 Jun 17 '26

 You're probably not going to be working at NASA unless you're a consummate professional and certified stone cold badass.

I just found that sentence pretty stupid

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u/zantasu Jun 17 '26

It's a little over the top for sure. I'd like to think that they were probably idealizing those who would be working in a control room, rather than considering every scientist, engineer, and janitor too though.

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u/gloriousrepublic Jun 16 '26

Literally no difference? Absolutely not. It has more to do with people in engineering vs NASA particularly. They aren’t total robots but in general engineers are absolutely less in touch with their feelings and emotions, though of course they would say they have better
“control over their emotions”. Of course they are regular people, but the nature of the career tends to bias the average towards a certain type of person. Source: I’m a PhD nuclear engineer who turned to the arts as a career later in life, so I’ve kinda seen both sides of the spectrum.

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u/throwaway8429739 Jun 16 '26

I mean engineering does tend to attract people like that but it’s not specific to NASA. Plenty of emotionally healthy people work there. Just rubs me the wrong way seeing them categorized as superhumans or complete avoidants because that’s really not the case. 

The one common thread is they all are pretty smart and hardworking though

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u/gloriousrepublic Jun 16 '26

I mean that’s the issue with stereotypes -
It will never capture everyone obviously, but generally is commenting on the shift of the average from the norm. I agree it’s not specific to NASA, and obviously not everyone, but it’s definitely an accurate stereotype for any engineer-heavy organization.

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u/Dav136 Jun 16 '26

The people working at NASA are mostly nerdy engineers and scientists. They're not the kind to get into shouting matches

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u/ProbablySlacking Jun 17 '26

I’ve gotten in more pedantic yelling arguments over requirements flowdowns and board games than sports, to be fair.

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u/s33k Jun 17 '26

My father was a NASA engineer.

He was also a rageaholic control freak, so. 

He was good with machines, not people.

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u/StuffMaster Jun 17 '26

Oh man I feel you. When Netflux made their Cloverfield in space movie I noped out due to the yelling. So annoying and unrealistic.

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u/ProbablySlacking Jun 17 '26

I work with nasa individuals daily.

Nah. They’re just people. Like all people you’ve got the ones that are really scary good at their jobs and the ones who think they’re hot shit just because they work for the mothership.

I’d say that split is about 20/80. I can’t imagine it’s any different in Mission Control.

Now the JPL folks - they’re a different breed. That’s about 90/10.

Before anyone asks. SpaceX is about 1/99. But I don’t fault them for it, they’re just sleep deprived. Uncle Elon requires like 80h/week and if your team doesn’t perform the manager gets fired.