Space Cowboys is well named, since the film combines the majesty of space with the plausibility of a cowboy film. Four old guys go up into space to fix a relic of the cold war that has gone horribly off course. And since it so old in engineering years, only the man who made it, can fix itŠClint Eastwood.

But Old Clint has such a load of chips on his shoulder that he could likely feed England. 40 years after he was replaced in the space program by a monkey, he's just as angry as the day it happened. So when he's asked to help out, he will only do so if his old team gets back together to pick up where they left off in the '50s. And of course, the team is all willing and able to just jump in a space ship and save the world.

Like all good cowboy flicks, there's the guys in the white hats, and the guys in the black hats. In this case, the black hat guys are the Russians, the politicians, and basically anyone younger than Clint Eastwood.

But there's much to admire in this film. There's great charm in the fabulous four who put aside their age to follow a dream. Clint Eastwood plays his role of Frank Corvin like Dirty Harry with wrinkles. But as director he's as sharp as a tack, as evidenced by the easy narrative motion of the film.

Then there's Tommy Lee Jones who was Frank's flying buddy, Hawk. Even though Jones is very obviously not old enough to play the part--40 years ago he was in grade school--but then again, why should fact stand in the way of a good yarn!

Donald Sutherland and James Garner round out the foursome, and both seem to be there to add humor and a voice or realism to the otherwise fanciful material. There are some great lines as these guys face physical training, eye tests, etc. etc.

And since we're in the realm of cowboy's, there has to be the typical treatment of women as bimbos who stand aside to admire the men. Marcia Gay Harden plays a sad little role as the NASA scientist who is instantly transformed into a middle school misfit at the sight of Tommy Lee Jones. There's one scene where she lurks outside the men's locker room waiting to see him. Unbelieveable.

So the first half of the film is pre-occupied with getting these cowboys into space, and the second half is all about getting then home again. And if things felt contrived before, you ain't seen nothing 'til you get into space.

All in all, I found Space Cowboy's to be pretty ho-hum except for the cast of the fabulous four senior citizens, who were entertaining, uplifting and a pleasure to watch.


Home || Complete list of reviews