# Space Cowboys (2000)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    SPACE COWBOYS
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

"The Ripe Stuff," is what the newspapers called them when word leaked out about their secret assignment. Four old codgers, who left the space program 40 years ago -- when NASA chose a monkey over a man to go into space first -- they are back for a quickly prepared mission to rescue an important satellite that will burn up soon on reentry if they don't get it back into orbit.

If it hadn't been for John Glenn's recent space flight at age 77, the plot might seem completely ridiculous. Instead, the script makes the old team's goal and flight seem remarkably plausible. After all, the ailing, ancient satellite's guidance system was designed by Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), and no one still at NASA knows how to fix it anymore.

Frank's only condition is that he gets to go into space to repair it and that he takes with him his old team: Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Tank Sullivan (James Garner) and Jerry O'Nell (Donald Sutherland). Setting out a condition that he figures is unobtainable, Frank's hated ex-boss and current NASA project leader, Bob Gerson (James Cromwell), demands that the four pass all of the astronaut tests for physical stamina. (These "geriatric" astronauts are supposed to be about 69, but you'll notice that in real-life Jones is a good bit younger at 53. But with his usual weathered look, Jones convincingly plays a senior citizen.)

Beautifully directed by Eastwood, the movie has two distinct parts. The first half is an inviting and good-spirited comedy, that is deliciously underplayed and that rarely dissolves into slapstick. The second half is an exhilarating action drama set in space.

Just watching these old actors work together is worth the price of admission. They have a blast, and we're there with them cheering them on.

The brightly written script by Ken Kaufman and Howard Klausner successfully creates four unique lead characters. Frank (Eastwood) is the team's cocky leader. He's a take-no-guff kind of guy. "I've got Medicare," he says, picking a fight with an unsavory younger guy at a bar. "Go ahead, take your best shot."

Ethan Glance, played in a one-note performance by Loren Dean (MUMFORD), is the hot-shot new astronaut sent to recruit Frank. "Dr. Corvin, your country needs you," Ethan argues. "Put a sock in it, Sonny!" Frank shoots back. The tension between them doesn't ease up during training. "Excuse me, I hold 2 Masters degrees from MIT," Ethan tells Frank, when Frank ignores his advice. "Maybe you should try to get your money back!" Frank retorts with a classic Eastwood sneer that would melt steel.

Jerry (Sutherland) is a "babe magnet," and a roller-coaster designer, who likes to tweak his coasters himself. With coke-bottle lenses, he has to cheat his way through the astronaut's eye exam. The four's creative fudging supplies many of the best laughs. There is also a fatalistic humor in that everyone they ask about seems to have died.

Rivaling Eastwood for the movie's best performance is Tommy Lee Jones, as daredevil pilot Hawk. Hawk spends his days taking up college kids in loop-the-loops certain to make them puke. No one can fly a plane as well as Hawk, but there's been bad blood between Frank and Hawk for 40 years now.

In the least developed role, James Garner plays Tank, a Baptist preacher. Tank, the group's navigator, can't even find his way through his own sermons.

There are lots of subplots, including a romance between Hawk and a NASA engineer (Marcia Gay Harden), and most of them work quite well without needlessly complicating the story.

The film's special effects are quite credible. Looking authentic but not overly glamorous, they nicely compliment the story rather than dominating it.

What a wonderful contrast this movie makes with typical movie fare these days. Rather than having another in our weekly releases of bad-to-mediocre teen comedies, we have an intelligent and funny picture featuring people who have real acting experience that's measured in decades, not years.

Let's hope that this starts a trend away from bad movies, whose only claim to fame is their demographics, and toward good films with experienced, really experienced, actors. It's probably too much to hope for. After all, we've raised a generation who thinks that all movies end in a prom sequence, and that all jokes must involve crude references to some bodily fluid.

SPACE COWBOYS runs 2:00. It is rated PG-13 for some language and would be fine for kids around 9 and up. It is also a good movie to take multiple generations to see. My parents and my son are planning on seeing it together this weekend with us. It's the kind of film that it's fun to view again.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

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