Space Cowboys

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.

While much of the film is predictable (except for a couple of surprises) and and almost certainly implausible, the movie was enjoyable because of the camradarie between the characters and the theme of redemption. How often does someone get a second chance and then also make good on it? The sets and special effects were very convincing and Eastwood seems to be good at both the artistic and technical aspects of directing. There's great chemistry between the stars as well. All in all, a very enjoyable movie, 8/10.

I enjoyed this one, good not great, with old man humour from a fantastic cast who all seem to be having a great time working together -which in itself makes this worth a watch.

The story flows, even if it tends to go on a bit and feel clichéd at times, its entertaining. Directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars as one of a group of retired former pilots, recruited by NASA 40 years after their heyday to stop a runaway Russian satellite from hitting earth. He insists that his equally old teammates accompany him into space. They go through training again, bar fights, old wounds are healed, romances begin. Decent special effects and a bittersweet ending "fly me to the moon"

The opening flashback scene from the 1950's also makes this worth a watch, where we get to see young lookalike actors portraying Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones and James Cromwell -using voiceovers from the real men. Very clever.

This did remind me of Armageddon -which I watched about a week ago, almost the same story, a bit less action here, not sure which came first?

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.

There is so much about "Space Cowboys" that is unrealistic and, if you think about it, silly. But, it manages to tell this story in an entertaining fashion. So, my advice is just turn off your brain and enjoy.

The story begins in 1958. Despite all their training towards orbital travel, NASA is created and the Air Force folks who were working towards space were told to stand down. This part of the story is true and some of the pilots from all different branches of the military went on to become NASA astronauts. But some didn't...and the story now jumps to the present (2000). Frank (Clint Eastwood) is still rather bitter he never got a chance to go to space when his project for the Air Force was canceled...but now, in his senior years, an opportunity arises. A Soviet satellite is falling out of orbit and somehow the only person on a planet of 7,000,000,000 people who can fix it is Frank!! He insists that he doesn't want to tell a young astronaut how to fix it but will go to space himself...provided NASA also allows his three friends who were ALSO with project Daedalus to join him on the flight.

What follows are lots of old geezer jokes and montages. Eventually, the four guys are shot into space with two young hot shots. Unfortunately there are two huge problems. The satellite is NOT a communications satellite AND one of the crew members might just endanger millions because he's a horse's butt.

So is any of this believable? Not really. But it is engaging and the special effects quite amazing for 2000. My only real quibbles are that James Garner's character is poorly written, as he acts nothing like a Baptist minister (how many Baptist ministers say the Rosary as well as quote Alan Shepard instead of making a simple prayer??) and a lot of what surprises everyone in the film seems telegraphed. But the good far outweighs the bad and the picture is never dull.