Space Cowboys (2000)

This has to be one of my all time favourite films. I wasn't sure what to expect. The acting had to be some of the best I've seen in a long time, but with four such amazing lead actors it was hard to believe it could be any other way. The story didn't let the film down either. It could have been so easy for them to have just put in four really well loved actors and then not bother with an exciting and heart wrenching storyline. This is a film which has every emotion flowing, one minute your laughing, the next your on the edge of your seat and can't believe what is happening. It is very rare to come out of the cinema and be blown away by a totally amazing film but this did it. I now have four films which impressed me in the cinema and I'm very pleased to add this one to my list.

Fmovies: NASA is in a pinch. A Russian communications satellite is about to crash after an obsolete guidance system fails. The system was designed by Dr. Frank Corvin(Clint Eastwood)retired Air Force test pilot. Corvin and his old crew team up to ride to the rescue. The aging astronauts are as humorous as they are fit for duty; well. The other space "cowboys" are:Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Southerland and James Garner. Garner is a bit of a disappointment among the "cowboys", but other notables in the cast are:Marcia Gay Harden, James Cromwell and William Devane. This is a fun watch. No great shakes, but really enjoyable.

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.

Space Cowboys fmovies. As always. The people putting in the post here are looking for too much in this movie. This was a fun old geezer movie. So what if it reeked of Armageddon. Client Eastwood going around collecting men to help him save the world. Just like Bruce Willis did. So what if a lot of the "Scientific Facts" did not mess out correctly. Who cares. This was a funny and entertaining movie. I laughed in all of the right places. Just pure entertainment. Nothing to take all serious. Get over it!!!!! If you wanted something serious - read a book.

The year is 1958. Frank Corvin, a bit of a rebel and a hothead, leads Daedalus, a small Air Force team training to be the first men in space. However, his lead pilot, William "Hawk" Hawkins is even wilder. He pushes a test flight beyond its limit. They have to bail out. The plane is destroyed, and it leads the project director, Bob Gerson, to pull the plug on Daedalus and set his sights on putting a chimp into space first instead.

We cut to the present (circa 2000). A Russian "communications satellite" is experiencing problems and will return to Earth if it isn't fixed. We see a Russian General, Vostow (Rade Serbedzjia) and Gerson (James Cromwell), now a NASA director, agreeing to attempt repair. The only problem is that the guidance system is so antiquated--it's the same as the old Skylab guidance system--that no one in NASA can quite figure it out, and they only have a few weeks to act. It turns out that Corvin (Clint Eastwood) designed the guidance system. Gerson and Corvin understandably hate each other because of the events in 1958, but Gerson gives the okay to contact Corvin to see if he can fix the system somehow or train others to do it. Corvin finally agrees, but only if Gerson consents to a seemingly crazy plan--Corvin wants the four members of Daedalus--Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O'Neill (Donald Sutherland), Tank Sullivan (James Garner) and himself, all now senior citizens--to be sent up in the space shuttle to fix the satellite.

As many have pointed out, Space Cowboys seems like a bit of a riff on Armageddon (1998), and understandably so--an unlikely, gruff, motley crew are sent into space by NASA on short notice to stave off some kind of impending disaster. However, it would be difficult to say that Space Cowboys was directly influenced by Armageddon. They're too close in time, and scripts have a tendency to float around Hollywood for a while before they're picked up and greenlighted. What seems more likely is that Space Cowboys was just another one of the films riding on a trend in the late 1990s for sending motley crews into the face of danger in some kind of insular vehicle, against all odds, to "save the planet". It wasn't only Armageddon that had that plot, and at any rate, anyone who regularly reads my reviews knows that I disagree with the "cult of originality". Films aren't better just because they're unprecedented. Space Cowboys does the plot just as well as Armageddon.

Besides, like Armageddon, there are other stories happening here, too. The focus is much more on the geriatric crew and their relationships to each other and a few select NASA employees. After the period intro, the bulk of the film focuses on Corvin fighting for the agreement to get his friends into space, trying to get his friends regrouped, fighting against Gerson, who is trying to sabotage him in various ways, and Daedalus' training period.

Given that structure, the casting was extremely important. Eastwood, who also directed, produced and contributed some of the music, put together an excellent bunch. Eastwood, Jones, Sutherland and Garner mesh extremely well, even if Sutherland and Garner do not get nearly as much screen time. This is a fairly serious film in many ways, but it also has a strong comic element running throughout. Eastwood and scriptwriters Ken Kaufman and Howard Klausner find a nice balance between the film's various modes. Although the NASA-oriented material works well enough, the best moments arrive throug

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.