There’s a lot of cosmic footage in “The Last Man on the Moon,” including NASA space footage from the Gemini and Apollo missions.
One of the wildest images, though, is of an 80-year-old man sedately driving his SUV through the nondescript streets of a Houston suburb. The scene could not be more ordinary, and that’s the point, for the octogenarian driver is the last man to walk on the moon.
How Gene Cernan got from the moon to the suburbs is the subject of “The Last Man on the Moon,” a gauzy account of the Apollo 17 Commander. His steps onto the ladder of the Lunar Module on December 14, 1972, were the last time anybody set foot on the Moon. For now.
The film tracks through “Right Stuff” material, as Cernan recalls his days as a hotshot pilot and then as a member of the third group of NASA’s astronauts.
Some of this will be familiar to fans of 1960s history: the cocky personalities of the astronauts, the fatal fire of the first Apollo project, the jockeying for position to be the first man on the Moon.
Director Mark Craig (who wrote the script with Cernan himself) does little to make this fresh. But if you’re of a certain age or disposition, this stuff never gets tired.
Twists of fate abound in these stories. Cernan and Tom Stafford were slated as the backup crew of Gemini 9, but became the prime crew when two fellow astronauts were killed in a freak plane crash.
Cernan flew on Apollo 10, which went all the way to the Moon without actually touching down. His participation in Apollo 17 was hanging in the balance when NASA canceled some remaining planned flights, and his selection remains a touchy subject.
The interview subjects provide vivid memories. Included in the roster are Stafford, Cernan’s old Navy buddy Fred “Baldy” Baldwin, and Cernan’s ex-wife, Barbara.
Baldwin’s sarcastic kidding is a nice touch. It punctures the generally worshipful tone of the movie, which sometimes drowns Cernan’s story in inspirational music and well-worn platitudes.
Cernan himself has told his story many times (the movie notes that he replaced his NASA experience with equally gung-ho work as space advocate and full-time celebrity). It’s too bad “The Last Man” doesn’t explore his more roguish side, which is clearly visible in vintage footage and old photographs.
In his youth, the crewcut Cernan resembled a cross between Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Carson, and he seems to have had some of Carson’s mischief, too. As a grand old man, that side of him isn’t for the cameras anymore.
Still: The guy did something only 11 other people did. If he’s resting on his laurels, he’s earned it.
“The Last Man on the Moon” (3 stars)
A good if overly worshipful documentary about Gene Cernan, astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs and the last man to leave his footprints on the Moon. The NASA material is fascinating, even if you’re familiar with the subject, and Cernan — once a hotshot, now mellowed — is a unique individual.
Rating: Not rated; probably PG for subject matter
Showing: Sundance Cinemas
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