SPACE COWBOYS

SYNOPSIS:
When Team Deadalus was grounded in 1958, four very disappointed (pissed off, more like it) men were left out of the race into space: Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O’Neil (Donald Sutherland) and Tank Sullivan (James Garner). Four decades later, the Ikon Russian satellite, supposedly purely for communications, is threatening to fall out of the sky after a circuitry malfunction that can’t be fixed – because the design technology in it is too old. When NASA’s Bob Gerson (James Cromwell) discovers that the design came from the brain of Frank Corvin, he enlists Corvin, but only under duress. Corvin takes on the task for his nemesis from 1958, but only if he can take the old Deadalus Team into space with him to make repairs. The friction and adventure that is triggered in this agreement is set to rewrite history.

"A terrific script drives these veteran actors to pull out all their techniques and twirl about in a movie that manages to combine self deprecating humour, wily stunts and bravado adventure in a riveting and thoroughly entertaining mix. Just as we are lulled into thinking the film is going to be a broad comedy of ageing jokes (the old would-be astronauts are dubbed The Ripe Stuff), the script ups the ante into full-scale space adventure, and does it far better than Mission to Mars did. There is probably a bias in my enjoyment of these veterans turning into vanquishing heroes, but my younger companion seemed to share the thrill of the ride. I guess there aren’t too many deep and meaningful messages here, although some of the old Cold War wounds are given a little scrape and the inter-personal conflicts make for plenty of texture. So do the action scenes in space. Eastwood demonstrates his mastery of film technique as director and star, and shows the young cats a thing or two about getting maximum mileage out of even the odd cliché. For a top remedy against movie tedium, go for a ride with these cowboys; you’ll be saddle sore but happy."
Andrew L. Urban