Drama Space Cowboys (2000)

[Anthony G Williams]

Title: Space Cowboys

Tagline: Space will never be the same.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, James Cromwell, Marcia Gay Harden, William Devane, Loren Dean, Courtney B. Vance, Barbara Babcock, Rade Šerbedžija, Blair Brown, James MacDonald, Jon Hamm, Toby Stephens, Anne Stedman, Jay Leno, Nils Allen Stewart, Eli Craig, John Asher, Matt McColm, Billie Worley, Mark Thomason, Georgia Emelin, Rick Scarry, Tim Halligan, Steve Monroe, Gordy Owens, Kate McNeil, Karen M. Waldron, John Linton, Paul Pender, Steven West, Cooper Huckabee, Hayden Tank, Gerald Emerick, Renee Olstead, Don Michaelson, Steve Stapenhorst, Lauren Cohn, Chris Wylde, Erica Grant, Kristin Quick

Release: 2000-08-04

Runtime: 130

Plot: Frank Corvin, ‘Hawk’ Hawkins, Jerry O'Neill and ‘Tank’ Sullivan were hotdog members of Project Daedalus, the Air Force's test program for space travel, but their hopes were dashed in 1958 with the formation of NASA and the use of trained chimps. They blackmail their way into orbit when Russia's mysterious ‘Ikon’ communications satellite's orbit begins to degrade and threatens to crash to Earth.

 

[Anthony G Williams]

Film: Space Cowboys (2000)

Yet another film which had escaped my attention until now, this is a present-day (actually, slightly historical since it includes an operational Space Shuttle) comedy drama concerning an emergency space mission by four elderly former test pilots.

The film starts in 1958 with four USAF officers who are part of a rocket-plane test programme leading up to the first manned space flight. However, they are denied the chance to get into space. Move on to the present day, when an old Russian satellite is in danger of re-entering the atmosphere and crashing. For political reasons it is considered imperative to prevent this, but the satellite's navigation system is malfunctioning and needs repair. It turns out that this was copied from a US system designed by Frank Corvin (played by Clint Eastwood, who also directed and produced the film), who happens to be one of the now retired USAF officers. The system is so old that only Corvin knows how to repair it, so he assembles the other members of his old team - Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O'Neill (Donald Sutherland) and Tank Sullivan (James Garner) - to achieve at last their dream of getting into space.

On the way there is much gentle humour concerning the problems of the ancient astronauts, internal battles among themselves and with an unwilling NASA, and a major and unwelcome surprise when they eventually reach the satellite.

This isn't the sort of film I would normally make a point of watching since despite involving space travel there is very little SF in it – it might best be described as a techno-thriller with comedy overtones. In a way, it made me think of Apollo 13, which I have never seen since I regard it as more of a dramatised documentary, a category which doesn't interest me. Space Cowboys is formulaic and predictable, offering nothing new, but it is serviceable entertainment that pushes enough of the right buttons to be worth viewing.


(This entry is cross-posted from my science-fiction & fantasy blog.)

 

[Tim]

I actually saw this at the cinema and can say it doesn't have anywhere near as much impact on the small screen! It is an enjoyable film though I can watch over and over again.