X-15 is a 1961 American aviation drama film that presents a fictionalized account of the X-15 research rocket aircraft program, the test pilots who flew the aircraft, and the associated NASA community that supported the program. X-15 starred CHARLES BRONSON, RALPH TAEGER, JAMES GREGORY, David McLean and Mary Tyler Moore (in her first feature film role).
The film marked the feature film directorial debut of the American actor, producer and director Richard Donner: Richard Donald Schwartzberg, of Russian-Jewish descent, he was an aerial photographer for the U.S. Navy and later he directed SUPERMAN and LETHAL WEAPON and co-produced all X-MEN.
The movie was introduced and narrated by James Stewart: Jimmy Stewart was a pilot & Charles Bronson was an aerial gunner in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Stewart was especially interested in aviation since was also a brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
The screenplay was written by the American writer and producer Tony Lazzarino (a former Air Force radio operator) & James Warner Bellah (an American journalist, author and historian who was a pilot in the 117th Squadron of Great Britain's Royal Flying Corps during World War I, later in the R.A.F., and also became a Colonel in the U.S. Army during World War II).
The movie was produced by Tony Lazzarino & the American boxer, pianist and music manager Henry William "Hank" Sanicola (of Italian-Sicilian descent, body-guard, manager, collaborator and close friend of Frank Sinatra) for FRANK SINATRA PRODUCTIONS.
Originally planned around the earlier NASA Bell X-2 program, the writer, producer and screenwriter Tony Lazzarino shopped the project around Hollywood in 1958, appearing under several titles: Exit, Time of Departure and Beyond the Unknown. After approaching the USAF for stock footage of the X-2 flights, the Pentagon made a recommendation that the newly introduced X-15 aircraft held out much more promise as a film subject.
Pentagon assistance was largely responsible for the attention to detail and accurate portrayal of the NASA program. Much of the principal photography for the film was undertaken at Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA High-Speed Flight Station (now the Dryden Flight Research Center) in California, with the direct assistance of NASA, the United States Air Force and North American Aviation. USAF Capt. Jay Hanks and NASA research pilot Milton Orville Thompson served as technical advisors on the film. Thompson himself later became an X-15 pilot.
The film featured carefully edited NASA footage of X-15 flights intercut with original photography, with a minimum of special effects work using animation.
The high altitude high speed experimental rocket-powered research aircraft X-15 was built by North American Aviation and Reaction Motors in 1955-56 and it was operated by the U.S. Air Force and NASA as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 achieved altitude and speed records and still holds the official world record for the highest speed reached by a manned aircraft. Its first flight was on 8th of June 1959. Its maximum speed was 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h), its maximum altitude was 67.0 miles (107.8 km), and it had a range of 280 miles (450 km). Three X-15s were built and flew a total of 199 test flights. Twelve test pilots flew the X-15.
The first manned orbital space flight by the Soviet Union (as generically referenced in the film) was on April 12, 1961. This film was released in December of 1961. The first U.S. orbital space flight was not until February 20, 1962. Some of the narration and dialogue in the film regarding aerospace engineering at that time, while accurate, should be considered in light of this context.
The crash of the F-100 piloted by Charles Bronson's character (LTC Lee Brandon) was footage of a real fatal F-100 Accident, on 10 January, 1956. The footage is commonly known as the "Sabre Dance" film which highlighted an issue with Adverse Yaw under certain conditions that was a source of a lot of problems for the F-100. What was supposed to be an 11 Minute Flight, From Accepting a brand new F-100 at NAA's Palmdale facility, and a short hop to George AFB, Turned into an ordeal because of a Gear malfunction that resulted in a Divert to Edwards AFB, and the Death of Lt Barty Brooks., and this short bit of footage has been incorporated in dozens of films, and Television shows.
The film's dramatic climax, which depicts an X-15 actually orbiting the Earth, is a clear case of cinematic license. (The real X-15 was capable of sub-orbital flights only.) Nevertheless, a larger, 2-man version, the X-15B, was designed by North American Rockwell, and there are many that still believe it could have achieved low earth orbit.
According to a review, "The Air Force pilots of the secret rocket plane X-15 will take the rocket plane 100 miles above the Earth into Space and reach the new speed of 4 times the speed of sound".