MovieChat Forums > Apollo 13 (1995) Discussion > Did They Quietly Blame Jack?

Did They Quietly Blame Jack?

posted 6 years ago by Sandman81 (1510)
8 replies | jump to latest

One of scenes that I always wonder what everyone was really thinking, is the scene after the accident when Jim has to calm down both Jack and Fred, and Fred is kind of grilling Jack about being the one who pressed the button to trigger the explosion. Lets break down what everyone is saying, and what they might actually be thinking.

Fred: While he does challenge Jack on what the gauges read before he stirred the tanks, he doesn't say that until Jack ask him if he blames him. While Fred might still see Jack as the outsider and "the backup guy", I don't think actually blamed him. If anything he might have just kind of needed a scape goat at that moment, and Jack presented himself as an easy target.

Jim: And while he tells Jack to stop kicking himself in the ass, and reminds him that if he had been sitting in that chair when the call came in, then he would have stirred the tanks, is it possible he did blame Jack. Perhaps being the commander he knew he had to keep his crew together mentally, and couldn't have Fred pissed at Jack, and Jack blaming himself for it.

Jack: When he yells at Fred "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" I don't think he's trying to convince Fred as much as he's trying to convince himself. And this is probably more due to him feeling like he's JV and doesn't deserve to be on the varsity team, and he screwed it up for everyone.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

pretty much agree with you on all counts

These are fictionalized versions of the events and people, so it's anyone's guess what the characters are really thinking. Lovell insists there wasn't any of that drama aboard the real mission; in light of how polished and cool-headed these guys tended to be, I'm inclined to believe him.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 5 years ago

Yeah in real life that fight never happened and there was never a question about whether jack could do the mission, yeah one thing that always puzzled me was why they would send jack into space when he’s getting them killed in the simulator 2 days out. But of course that never happened in real life.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] strntz (12773) 5 years ago

Exactly.

While Apollo 13 was one of the great dramas in human history, they still gilded the dialog a bit to make it more entertaining and nail biting to the people in the seats who didn't really know much about space technology. According to Lovell, there was never any drama between the men as shown in the movie.

Most people don't know that it was Swigert who (calmly) first said "Okay,Houston, we've had a problem here". Lovell also said pretty much the same thing a minute later.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 5 years ago

Actually Jack says “we’ve had a problem here” in the movie first also. Just like in real life radio transmission went out for a brief moment and then Jim came in and said the line.

[–] Ranb (11345) 5 years ago

That scene along with another scene questioning Swigert's ability to dock with the LM after TLI were inventions of the script writer. While this was a decent movie, for some reason the writer and director felt they needed to make up crap to make it their own project instead of going with the more interesting real story.

Read Lovell's book Lost Moon, for more details.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 5 years ago

another scene questioning Swigert's ability to dock with the LM after TLI

Right, as I recall, Swigert actually developed that procedure himself, which is why we see him showing it off to some gal at the party (using a beer bottle, an empty glass and a LOT of innuendo).

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 5 years ago

Did swigert really invent that maneuver?