For All Mankind poster & wallpaper

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Alan LaVern Bean, Buzz Aldrin

A collection of footage taken from NASA's nine missions to the moon.

Flixster Users

91% liked it

1,078 ratings

Critics

92% liked it

13 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 20 min.

Directed by: Al Reinert

Release Date: January 1, 1989

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: February 15, 2000

Stats: 99 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (99)

  • her69eyes
    July 19, 2009
    her69eyes
    I'm writing this on July 19th, 2009 - the day before the fortieth anniversary of man stepping on the moon. Having not been born until 1988, I don't have the pleasure of having memories of that significant day. But, with "For All Mankind", the 1989 documentary by Al Reinert, the s...( read more)ense of spectacle is illustrated beautifully in a film that taps into the collective unconscious of humanities' curiosity of the vastness of space.

    To appreciate Reinert's documentary, you must know what it took to make the film. Reinert was given access to over six million feet of film (well over one thousand miles) by NASA and edited it down to a sleek eighty minute theatrical release. In it, he combines the footage of the twelve Apollo missions, and even some footage on board Apollo 13 and from the Gemini spacecraft. "For All Mankind" differs from the rest of the films about the lunar missions in that it's not a historical record, but rather a sort of metaphysical meditation on Earth and the infinite universe.

    We aren't given name tags to clue us in on who is speaking or from which mission the footage we're seeing is from. It doesn't paint a portrait of any astronauts in particular, but rather the collective "astronaut". By being so vague, it makes it all the easier to place ourselves in their space helmets and explore right along with them.

    The best thing about the film is how much it embraces the trivialities of space travel. We see numerous shots of the astronauts playing with gravity, and discussing the methods they used to both eat and make waste. And, most memorably, we get plenty of footage of the men simply playing on the moon. They jump around recklessly, toppling over onto their faces, and narrate with the enthusiasm of a child at Chuck E Cheese.

    The breathing room in the film is phenomenal. This footage is some of the most spectacular ever filmed, and so Reinert makes sure he gives us enough to digest every last moment. Ample time is given to the launch, the journey, and the moon landing, and, in a wise decision, he chooses to leave off the trip back. The images are accompanied with a beautiful score that creates an atmosphere unlike anything you've ever seen.

    While not being the most historically accurate recollection of the Apollo missions, "For All Mankind" is extraordinarily successful in capturing the journey. It's a wonderful film, up there with the best documentaries i've ever seen, and a film I could easily see myself revisiting for the rest of my life. It's a timeless treasure.
  • Dracula787
    August 9, 2009
    Dracula787
    I?ve heard a lot of good things about this Doc, but I?ve avoided it for a really long time simply because I feel like I?ve seen more than enough about the moon landing for one lifetime. I still feel that way after seeing it, but I can appreciate the strong filmmaking behind this...( read more). The movie combines footage from all the Apollo missions and edits it to look like one lone mission. That?s a really interesting format, and it?s done in a really artful way. There?s very little voice over and no talking heads, just original footage and audio made into a collage with some wistful Brian Eno music to hold it all together. It?s sort of like Koyaanisqatsi in space.
  • littlecharmer1959
    July 8, 2009
    littlecharmer1959
    A fascinating documentary. No annoying voice overs from an outsider, instead great narration from the astronauts and the actual radio transmissions.
  • jfvirey
    November 11, 2009
    jfvirey
    Constructed out of film footage shot from 1968 to 1972, in the heyday of the Apollo program, with audio commentary by the astronauts who were in missions 8 to 17 and either flew around the Moon or actually set foot on it, "For All Mankind" (a title borrowed from a Kennedy speech)...( read more) portrays the whole Apollo program as one single composite flight, and is therefore structured not chronologically, as one might expect, but according to the various stages of the journey, from preparation to ocean plop.

    Puzzled as I was by this unusual narrative order (which I only figured out after the film was over), and a bit left behind by some of the astronauts' heavy accents, I found this very informal documentary less engrossing than, say, "In the Shadow of the Moon". It is not about context and history, or even science and technology, but about the human experience of going to the Moon, and especially the moments when nothing significant is happening, and the astronauts are just goofing around on the surface, listening to country music or having fun with food and zero gravity.

    The two things that fascinated me about this documentary, apart from the stark beauty of our satellite and the surprisingly good definition of the later films, were how often religious language and references popped up in the astronauts' commentaries, and how quickly these outlanders began to feel at home on the Moon, and form an attachment to this inhospitable, black and white dustbowl.
  • dperry0071
    January 5, 2009
    dperry0071
    the Best NASA Doc ..i have it on Criterion DVD
  • MovieGuruDude72
    June 28, 2007
    MovieGuruDude72
    A fantastic documentary with spectacular moon footage. Try arguing we faked the landings after watching this.
  • poutchy
    May 28, 2006
    poutchy
    Dreamy, moody film about the many trips to the moon made by Apollo crews.

View All For All Mankind Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

View more For All Mankind reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "For All Mankind" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Satan's Sadists
    Satan's Sadists (67%)
  • UHF
    UHF (22%)

More Movies like For All Mankind

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

For All Mankind : Watch Free on TV

For All Mankind Trivia

  • In what movie does Keanu Reeves say,"What if i told you god and the Devil made a wager for the souls of all mankind?  Answer »
  • From what movie does this line comes from... What if I told you that God and the Devil made a wager for the souls of all mankind.  Answer »
  • "Independence Day" is a classic example of aliens ruining our human society. Luckily for us, we now know that alien technology can be the instrument of their demise. What did Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum use to ultimately stop the destruction of all mankind?   Answer »
More For All Mankind Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for For All Mankind. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add For All Mankind to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?