Customer Ratings & Reviews

This Best Buy exclusive release of 1999's October Sky shows Jake's future potential. It has a beautiful score by Mark Isham and is based on the true story of Homer Hickam. In the special features, more light is shed on the real story of Homer, by Homer himself. The relationship between Jake's character and his father, played by Chris Cooper, is heartfelt and powerful. I highly recommend this film and this excellent high definition transfer to blu-ray!

A adventure that starts with a dream & ends with the help of friends into a major life changing achievement! The sky's the limit!

October Sky is one of my favorite movies. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend you watch it. It’s a great underdog story.

I remember they pulled out the tv on wheels and putting this on at my high school. Made me want to rewatch it.

This movie is based on a true story. There is some bad language in it, but it’s not horrible.

Great movie for school age to adults and for anyone interested in science & space ! Now on Blueray !

Great movie for the price! This Blu-ray sounds and looks great!

In 1950's mining town called Coalwood, Homer Hickam is a kid with only one future in sight, to work in the local coalmine like his father. However in October 1957, everything changes when the first artificial satellite, Sputnik goes into orbit. With that event, Homer becomes inspired to learn how to build rockets. With his friends and the local nerd, Homer sets to do just that by trial and a lot of error. Unfortunately, most of the town and especially Homer's father thinks that they are wasting their time. Only one teacher in the high school understands their efforts and lets them know that they could become contenders in the national science fair with college scholarships being the prize. Now the gang must learn to perfect their craft and overcome the many problems facing them as they shoot for the stars. This stellar movie brings this true story to life. If you've never seen it, check it out.

Set at the crossroads of the 1950s and 1960s, this is a very well done adaptation of Homer Hickam's Pulitzer Prize nominated autobiographical book 'The Rocket Boys' about how he and a group of high school friends, who were the least likely to succeed in school, were inspired by a one in a million teacher to excel and shoot for for the impossible goal of winning the grand prize in the National Science Fair competition (and the collage scholarships that went along with it), the only hope they would ever have of escaping their coal mining company town of Coalwood and their otherwise certain fate of following in their father's footsteps into the mines and into the very difficult lives of coal miners. The conclusion of this film will move anyone with a heart capable of being moved. Highly recommended!

This is an exceptionally well-done movie that should have been available on Blu-ray long ago. It's great that it is finally available. I'm no expert with Blu-ray transfers, but the picture is very detailed, and the movie sounds great too. Those who are fans already know that the story and the acting are excellent, even though you get a pretty good idea what the conclusion will be before it happens. Not sure why it was an exclusive at BestBuy in the U.S., but if that had anything to do with it finally being put on Blu-ray, then I'm all for it, and definitely willing to support only BestBuy having it, even though a movie as good as this should be available everywhere. More movies should be like this one. Recommended.

This is a really well done move about the space race and kids growing up in a coal mining town wanting a better life for themselves. Well written, well cast, well acted, and some good humor is thrown in too. I've been waiting for this to come out on Bluray and was thrilled when it finally did; the picture quality is a nice improvement over the previous release on DVD. This doesn't have reference caliber audio or video, but when the movie is great, that doesn't matter so much.

If you haven't seen OCTOBER SKY, go see it now! It's a heartwarming true story about Homer Hickam who dreams of building and launching rockets for NASA. (If you haven't seen the movie, I'll leave it up to you to find out what happened to Homer.) His home life isn't the greatest and his best supporters are his friends and his teacher. There is some melodrama to enhance emotions but they work. The events supporting the melodrama were all true stories so they work even more. On a technical level, Universal's Best Buy exclusives (this, The 'Burbs, Money Pit, etc.) aren't the greatest. There is a lot of digital noise, no remastering was done. Audio is DTS-HD MA and it works for what is is. For budget prices and very little or no extras, you get what you pay for. But this movie is worth more!

Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper work so well together in this family true story of a rocket scientist. The time period, look, characters and story is so well created. If you like Joe Johnston films then this is a no brainer to own. The video and audio is good on the Blu-ray and it even includes a 30 min documentary on the real people it is based on.

Finding October Sky at such a deep dicount was like finding hidden treasure! I have always liked movies based on inspirational true stories! This one is solid but does contain a bit of very rough language and scenes of violence including an abusive parent. Review the parents guide for it on imdb and you should be able to decide if you and your family would enjoy it. We did!

What a great movie! It was inspiring watching this little-known story about Homer Hicks. He loved making rockets fly as a kid, and this love would later propel him to become a rocket scientist and part of the Nasa space program. The acting is top notch, the story will make you laugh, cry and cheer! It's a great film for the entire family to watch. very highly recommended.

This was one of my favorite movies of the year when it was released. Great story, terrific acting and all the nostalgia of an era long gone. If you haven't seen it, it's a must see and if you have seen it this is a great upgrade in picture and sound to the DVD released many years ago. At this price it's a steal and deserves a nice spot on your shelf. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

So this Blu-ray was exclusive to Best Buy for a while. It's not anymore, but I bought it while it was. Got it for a good price, too. The movie itself is awesome, it's the true story of Homer Hickam and how he built working model rockets despite his father's disapproval. If you haven't seen it before, you really should, especially if you like spacecraft.

I remember seeing this movie back in grade school & when I saw it was available I had to get it as it’s based on a true story about space & the journey or a scientist

OCTOBER SKY is a little known gem of a film from Joe Johnston, most well known for his genre work on STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. The movie is about real life rocket scientist Homer Hickam (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) , and his first experiences creating a rocket. With a great cast featuring Laura Dern and the always solid Chris Cooper as Homer's father, this is a wonderful true story that will inspire anyone who seeks to follow their passion.

Based on true characters and happenings in the 1950's, this movie kept me interested the entire watch. If you like rockets and how they were built in the beginning of our U.S undertaking then you'll enjoy this movie. No complaints here.