"'Space Cowboys' Have the Wrong Stuff"
by Scott Mantz

"Space Cowboys"
Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones
Directed by Clint Eastwood

"Grumpy old men get a second chance in 'Space Cowboys'"

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense why Clint Eastwood would decide to make a movie about NASA. Why? Well, for one thing, they both could use a little career boost. It's hard to believe that the organization that once put a man on the moon is the same organization that botched up the two recent (and expensive) Mars fiascoes. It's also hard to believe that the director who once collected 4 Academy Awards for "Unforgiven" is the same director who botched up the recent (and expensive) "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "True Crime." The teaming up of the two parties may have looked good on paper, but perhaps they should have delayed the launch of their film just a little bit longer. Instead of flying high into the wild blue yonder, "Space Cowboys" is grounded by an underdeveloped script that falls short of becoming the emotionally gripping story that it should be.

In 1958, Frank (Clint Eastwood), Hawk (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry (Donald Sutherland), and Tank (James Garner) were part of an elite group of Air Force test pilots who were poised to become the first men to go into space--that is, until NASA got the bright idea to send a monkey up instead. It's now 40 years later, and a Russian communications satellite is in danger of crashing back to Earth. The problem is that nobody at NASA is familiar enough with the obsolete technology to fix it. That's where Frank, who originally designed the system, and his former flight buddies come in. They have just 30 days to train for the mission, but that's a piece of cake compared to dealing with the office politics and the raging egos. Oh, and one more thing--just what was American technology doing on a Russian satellite in the first place?

NASA and Hollywood actually have a lot in common, especially when it comes to rushing things into production prematurely. "Space Cowboys" is yet another example, and while it has an interesting premise, it feels like it was just one re-write away from being a polished script. John Glenn's recent return to space lends the film its credibility, but that's where it ends. The rest of the story pushes the boundaries of disbelief so far that it actually takes you out of the film. For example, here are a bunch of guys who've been out of the loop for decades. It would have made perfect sense to have them tag along for the ride as consultants, but to have them pilot the Shuttle as the primary crew seems way too contrived to be believed.

The attempt to make an emotional connection fails to take hold, and the "Grumpy Old Men" meets "The Right Stuff" scenario, while funny at times, runs out of steam. Director Eastwood takes his usual time with setting up the story, and the resulting film ends up testing the patience of the audience. When the action finally does get off the ground, it goes into "Armageddon" territory, with the Russian satellite's true purpose finally (and predictably) revealed. Even though it's obvious that there is more to the satellite than meets the eye, it's hard to believe that nobody at NASA had the guts to ask more questions about it in the first place.

Clint Eastwood plays Frank with the same type of anti-authoritative intensity that he's brings to every role, and as long as you like Clint when he's just being Clint, then you'll like the movie. Frank is not exactly what you'd call a team player, and he takes every opportunity to start trouble with the NASA brass and the younger astronauts. Tommy Lee Jones has the best chemistry with Eastwood, as their competitive rivalry knows no bounds, while Donald Sutherland and James Garner seem to be having fun with their roles as a womanizing rollercoaster engineer and a Baptist preacher respectively. In an effort to connect with the women in the audience, Marcia Gay Harden plays the NASA exec with an ulterior motive for Jones, but for the most part, "Space Cowboys" is a movie for men who like movies.

For a film that showed such strong promise, it's too bad that the characterization is left either underdeveloped or unresolved. The sheer joy of finally getting into space after 40 years is ineffectively conveyed, and the climax ignores some of the more effective developments that were touched upon earlier in the film. Having said that, while the eventual space sequences are riveting and suspenseful in their own right, the rest of the film is never able to achieve orbit. What a shame. It would seem that NASA and Clint Eastwood still have some way to go before they can reach their former glories.

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