Research the details of the NF-104 program, why it was canceled, and the opinions of the other test pilots at Edwards. Read how he destroyed an airplane none of his peers said he was qualified to fly. He didn't bother with checklists, refused to follow the flight profile, screwed up, and only got away with his unauthorized flight (and crash) because of who he was, and the powerful connections he had (Le May no less), destroying the plane and ending the program in the process. Frank Borman, who was intimately familiar with the NF-104, would provide a very different picture of Yeager than the one we're sold in the movies. He was quite put out when Yeager screwed up, destroyed the plane and ending the program, then had the nerve to blame the aircraft (the flight data recovered showed there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with the aircraft). And Borman isn't alone in his opinion.
It's tempting to assume that "The Right Stuff" is historically accurate. I loved the movie too, but Wally Shirra referred to it as "Animal House in Space", entertaining but factually bankrupt. The more I learn about Yeager, the more I have to agree. Great war hero? Absolutely. Arrogant, vindictive, in need of the spotlight, but totally out of his league with his contemporaries by 1963? Yeah, afraid so.