Space Cowboys

We own this movie in our home collection and we haven't watched it in a while. Saw it again tonight on TV, and realized that it is still a good movie.

Clint Eastwood produces and directs this movie, and draws some "experienced" actors to help him fill the lead roles. They manage to extol the trials and tribulations of the senior years, while still capturing the exuberance of youth from the past.

the story leads a mildly predictable pattern, but in this case it is not the end of the story that is primarily important, but instead how they get there. Also, all 4 lead actors all come off as really having a good time in the movie, it feels like they really enjoyed making this one and it comes out on the screen in the performances.

The pace is even and smooth, again demonstrating Clint Eastwood's legacy of directing and acting in watchable, enjoyable movies, no matter what the gender.

I should also mention that the special effects and the space sequences are stunning and much better done than most other movies in near-earth space. That would be the industrial Light and Magic team doing it again.

Overall, enjoyable.

This was a pretty enjoyable tale of "The Ripe Stuff," four old geezers going up into space to help save a project they had a hand in years ago. It's pretty long at 130 minutes but the four diverse characters help keep your interest. Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner are quite a foursome. Add Marcia Gay Harden to the mix, along with Loren Dean, Courtney Vance and James Cromwell and you have a fabulous cast.

This is a drama but one in which there is a fair amount of comedy and some romance. There are some Hollywood clichés (a suspect boss, arguing pals going back-and-forth all the time, a weak minister, etc.) but they aren't as blatant as usual.

The storytelling is pretty good but the real show here is not the story but that group of veteran actors. One joke was overplayed: Sutherland and the size of genitals. Not real classy stuff but, overall, the movie is fine. Definitely a rental, at the least.

Space Cowboys builds its humor around a quartet of aged characters who seize their first and last opportunity to fulfill their lifelong goal of going into space. Space Cowboys satirizes the traditionally romanticized conception of the young hero by portraying its characters as sagacious --yet imperfect-- old men.

Space Cowboys revisits its embittered protagonist, the retired Air Force test pilot Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), forty years after a humiliating episode where he is replaced by a monkey for a 1958 NASA mission to space. Unexpectedly, Frank is summoned by ex-boss and NASA official Bob Gerson (James Cromwell) to fix a Russian communications satellite that is soon to crash, and that contains the obsolete guidance system that he and his colleagues designed for the earlier satellite, Skylab. Realizing he is the only one who can fix the system, Frank coerces the desperate Bob into rehiring his old team: pilot Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), structural engineer Jerry O'Neil (Donald Sutherland), and navigator Tank Sullivan (James Garner) --all seemingly unlikely candidates for the task at hand. Gaining the trust of NASA Engineer Sara Holland (Marcia Gay Harden) and the mistrust of flight director Eugene Davis (William Devane), the reunited "Team Daedalus" face the biggest mission of their lives.

Space Cowboys, which benefits from the performances of four seasoned actors, successfully establishes its four main characters as the source for all its comedy. Space Cowboys' initial introduction of its protagonist (in the brief black and white sequence which includes the humiliating incident with the monkey), offers a convenient setup which allows the ellipsis of forty years to hyperbolize the four characters' emotional states and to justify their subsequent actions. Furthermore, this initial sequence, which also depicts the four characters as audacious US Air Force pilots, establishes itself as a point of reference against which the present inconsequential lives of Frank, Hawk, Jerry and Tank will be contrasted.

Space Cowboys subtly and effectively creates an analogy between the characters and the troublesome "guidance system": while the men's present occupations are portrayed as rather useless, the guidance system's design is described as old and obsolete, yet neither the men nor the system are entirely expendable. (This suggested duality of man/system is emphasized by Frank's ironic statement: "...it wasn't designed for this duration.") While Space Cowboys draws its humor from the characters' efforts to revert to their prior occupation and regain importance, the second part of the film --the mission-- serves a dramatic purpose, where the characters' true mission is to disprove the others' belief that they are outdated and replaceable. Narratively, Space Cowboys' space sequence does little more than simply prolong the characters' task of proving themselves, yet visually, it offers eye-catching special effects and set design.

Nevertheless, Space Cowboys succeeds more as a comedy that deconstructs its heroes than as a drama that exalts their heroism.

The storyline is secondary when you have four seasoned veterans like Eastwood, Garner, Sutherland and Jones entertaining you. They have the ability to raise the level of any writing with their professionalism. At no time could you detect any scene stealing. All four are comfortable in their own abilities and don't need to resort to gimmicks or scene stealing. Eastwood is at his economic story-telling best behind the camera.

This is one of the greatest action/dramas that I have ever seen. Not since ARMAGEDDON has there been such a movie that managed to satisfy my craving for action, laughter, and drama all at the same time. Clint Eastwood returns to show us that he can handle any role that comes his way. While the film was not a really big hit in theaters, it managed to catch my eye at the video store because it had to do with a failing Russian satellite and since the four lead actors are so good. Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner and Donald Sutherland are the title characters and our heroes in SPACE COWBOYS, one of the most memorable movies of the year for me.

I enjoyed the way the film slowly develops the characters and shares with us their past history. The film is great in my opinion. The supporting cast includes James Cromwell, Marcia Gay Harden, William Devane, Loren Dean and Courtney B. Vance (Loren Dean and Courtney B. Vance both being men). All of the key actors and elements of the film are wonderful and create a film that is both memorable and, in my opinion, timeless. SPACE COWBOYS gets 5/5.