Space Cowboys - 2000

Clipsal Films, Mad Chance, Malpaso Productions

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Cast:

• Frank Corvin – Clint Eastwood
• Francis “Hawk” Hawkins – Tommy Lee Jones
• Jerry O'Neill – Donald Sutherland
• Father “Tank” Sullivan – James Garner
• Bob Gerson – James Cromwell
• Sara Holland – Marcia Gay Harden
• Eugene Davis – William Devane
• Ethan Glance – Loren Dean
• Roger Hines – Courtney B. Vance
• Barbara Corvin – Barbara Babcock
• Dr. Anne Carruthers – Blair Brown
• General Vostov – Rade Serbedzija

Story: High above the Earth, a Soviet satellite is about to fall out of orbit. Everyone thinks it is a communications satellite, so no big deal, right? Wrong, the Russians insist this relic needs to be placed back in orbit for reasons of national pride and stability. The problem: its so old, none of the engineers at NASA know how to fix it. But the original engineer, a retired Air Force Test Pilot from 1958, is still alive and knows what to do. He was one of the four members of “Team Daedalus, four Air Force pilots, who were replaced by a chimpanzee before they took their shot at getting into space. And the programs director at NASA is the man who cheated them out of their chance to go. After NASA asks Frank Corvin, the original engineer, to help them prepare for the mission, Corvin comes up with an alternative...let his original team go up in the Space Shuttle and fix the satellite.

Review: Now the cast alone is enough to get me to buy a ticket to this film. Clint Eastwood both stars and directs this fantastic tale with the skill that accompanies every Eastwood film. He knows how to get the best out of his cast, which would hardly be necessary since the cast is what so many critics in the past have called “Star Studded”. Donald Sutherland portrays the group's horn dog, James Garner the kindly country preacher, and Tommy Lee Jones the show-off who never grew up. Marcia Gay Harden is, as always, lovely and charming as the NASA Mission Director who must make sure the group can qualify for the flight. William Devane is the cranky Flight Director, and appearances by Barbara Babcock and Blair Brown make the show a little easier on the eyes, as if that were necessary. The photography is uncanny, and had to incorporate some of NASA's footage of the Space Shuttle and some EVA's (extra vehicular activities) and the entire film breathes realism from start to finish. But that's Eastwood for you. Great show, no problems for the kiddies, and might even inspire a few more astronauts down the road.