SPACE COWBOYS (director: Clint Eastwood; screenwriters: Ken Kaufman/Howard Klausner; cinematographer: Jack N. Green; editor: Joel Cox; cast: Clint Eastwood (Frank Corvin), Tommy Lee Jones (Hawk Hawkins), Donald Sutherland (Jerry O'Neil), James Garner (Tank Sullivan), Marcia Gay Harden (Sara Holland), William Devane (Eugene Davis), Loren Dean (Ethan Glance), Courtney B. Vance (Roger Hines), James Cromwell (Bob Gerson), Rade Serbedzija (Russian General); Runtime: 126; 2000)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
"Space Cowboys" opens in 1958 at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert. The black-and-white photography starkly highlights the empty sky and the frolicking nature of four test pilots who are breaking the sound barrier in the experimental X-2 rocket plane. But, in the process of their daredevil tactics, the pilot and co-pilot have to bail out and crash the expensive plane. As a result, the snaky officer in charge of them, James Cromwell, grounds them from further space missions, and to add insult to injury, announces that a monkey will be the first to orbit space. He also announces that a new organization called NASA will use astronauts for further space exploration, no longer will the Air Force be in charge of the program.
Cromwell is faced with a crisis 42 years later, as a joint program between the U.S. and Russia, has run into a problem-- the Russian satellite communication ship Ikon has developed a failure in the system and is about to crash. As a gesture of good will and political diplomacy, Cromwell offers to send his team of astronauts to repair the problem. But, it's not so easy, the system is an antiquated one and was built by Clint Eastwood when he was the engineer designer for Skylab, and it turns out that Clint is the only one who knows how to locate and fix the problem in that obsolete system. These new engineers and punky young astronauts have all been raised on computer technology and have no idea about the old language used in space technology, to the chagrin of Clint.
Cromwell, on the urgings of a space agency head, whose expertise is in engineering, Marcia Gay Harden, decides to contact his old rival Clint for help. When told about it in his suburban California home, Clint, who is living in retirement, tinkering around in his garage and seemingly happily married, tells Marcia he doesn't trust Cromwell. When he meets with Cromwell, he tells him that he will not train the astronauts because there is not enough time to do so, and refuses to budge from his position, even when ridiculed for not being a team player. He says, I will only fix the problem if my old Daedalus Team goes on the mission, which is met by jeers from Cromwell. But they work out a deal whereby the geriatric crew can go, with the provision being that they must pass the physical and endurance tests. The crusty flight director of the program, William Devane, also insists that two of his hotshot astronauts, Loren Dean and Courtney B. Vance, also go along, especially since the old codgers are not familiar with the new computer systems that run the space vehicles nowadays.
To add some cold war paranoia to the story, Clint wonders how the Russians got his equipment since it was classified information, only available to the Americans.
When Clint's blackmail strategy works, he goes to gather the other senior citizens to join the mission. He finds James Garner in Oklahoma City, where he is a second-rate Baptist preacher; Donald Sutherland is designing roller coasters, and though sporting a gray pony tail, wearing glasses and having false teeth, and being pictured as a friendly wolf around the younger ladies--he will be the flight engineer; Tommy Lee Jones is at least twenty years younger than those other three seventy plus seniors. He is not on good terms with Clint ever since they were grounded from any further space missions as pilots in 1958 and Clint blamed him for that, accusing him of being a reckless pilot, someone who took too many risks. Tommy is now working as a stunt pilot on a crop-duster, giving harrowing rides to those who request them. After thinking about the chance to go into space, a dream all the men had, Tommy decides to go along and make history with the other men. This premise would seem improbable, but in the recent news of the geriatric John Glenn going on a space mission for experimental purposes, it shows that their mission is possible, though not in the manner as depicted in this fantasy film.
The story takes the men through their training sessions, and each of them, giving understated performances, tries to outdo the other. Tommy, who is a widower, has a romantic spin with Marcia, who looks attractive despite her official looking NASA hairstyle. Donald is prone to act like the improvident reader of 1958 Playboy magazines he was back then, showing that his lifestyle hasn't changed even with his advancing years. While Garner has faith in God and his lucky dancing doll, but is given the short-end of the script and therefore has only a few lines to chew on in his competition with the others. There are a lot of good natured jokes about aging and some friendly ribbing between the young astronauts and the veterans, and it all seems pleasantly entertaining, though somewhat staged. Clint even makes fun of some of his older pictures, which I presume is why he has so much fun with the monkey in the opening scene. Everything seemed smooth and compliable with a formula movie, and it seemed as if the actors were having a good time acting together.
The heaviness in the story came about when America's old cold war paranoia was introduced into the mission. The paranoia is a reminder from those cold war days, when many Americans thought that the Russians were looking for a chance to nuke America. The mission turns out to be more dangerous than first perceived, as betrayal and nukes surface.
But through the wonderful special effects and the full cooperation of NASA as consultants, there was a sense of awe in seeing the sights of space travel. And, when Clint is able to make an impossible landing, something Hollywood films are good at doing, there is a sense of relief that the old timer, who now has a lined and craggy face and looks like an American icon, is safe and sound. Since the film didn't take itself so seriously, there was no undue tension and everything was fun, even all the contrivances the film allowed for.
This is not one of Clint's top films, but if it is his swan song, as rumored, there are a lot of reasons why this is not a bad film to end one's career on. The love and affection from his fellow actors comes through loud and clear, in this well-crafted production, which shows Clint could direct with the skills that only the most competent Hollywood directors possessed, even if Clint never reached greatness himself, as he was unable to overcome his artistic limitations. What he couldn't do in this film, was move beyond the easy humor and special effects, and make a film that had something involving to say about old age and those facing death.
REVIEWED ON 8/11/2000 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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