Space Cowboys (Blu-ray) (2000)

"A delight.  Eleanor Ringel, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"What a fun ride! Four terrific actors having the time of their lives.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"The effects are fabulously realistic, and the guys are adorable in the extreme.  Susan Stark, The Detroit News

Editor's Note Clint Eastwood teams up with some old friends to make SPACE COWBOYS, a rollicking motion picture that wraps action, comedy, and science fiction into one neat package. Eastwood plays Frank Corvin, a former air force pilot who was shunned from flying into space in 1958 after NASA was created. Forty years later, when a Russian satellite appears to be headed for a collision with Earth, Corvin finally gets his chance. He bribes his archrival Bob Gerson (James Cromwell) into letting his team go into space to repair the satellite, on the condition that they pass the physical. However, passing the physical isn't so easy for aging veterans Jerry O'Neil (Donald Sutherland), Tank Sullivan (James Garner), and Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), who, while still mentally sharp, aren't in the best of physical shape. Nonetheless, they manage to fill all the requirements. Ignoring the two cocky upstarts who have been sent along to back them up, the old-timers blast off and head straight for the satellite. But when they get there, the realization that the satellite is actually carrying six nuclear warheads changes the course of the mission, endangering the lives of the astronauts as well as the citizens of America. With exceptional special effects and a breezy tone, SPACE COWBOYS is one of Eastwood's most entertaining films to date.

	Clint Eastwood
	Donald Sutherland
	James Garner
	Tommy Lee Jones
	Clint Eastwood - Director
	Clint Eastwood - Producer
	Clint Eastwood - Original Music By
	Henry Bumstead - Production Designer
	Howard Klausner - Writer
	Jack G. Taylor, Jr. - Art Director
	Jack N. Green - Cinematographer
	Joel Cox - Editor
	Ken Kaufman - Writer
	Lennie Niehaus - Original Music By
	Tom Rooker - Executive Producer

A 60-year-old astronaut is sent on a mission to repair a broken satellite that threatens to cause a disaster on Earth if it falls from outer space. The only catch is that he insists that three of his friends, who were not originally selected in the astronaut training program, accompany him as his crew. This high-tech, high-action drama, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, mimics classic space favorites such as THE RIGHT STUFF while providing some of the chummy machismo of earlier Eastwood movies. USA Today
"...Four irresistible co-leads help it gallop along..." -- 3 out of 4 stars 08/04/2000 p.4E

New York Times
"...[It's a great pleasure] watching four great actors reclaim their prime..." 08/04/2000 p.E16

Entertainment Weekly
"...The old-pro actors fly in a pleasing, ageless orbit all their own..." 09/01/2000 p.59

Total Film
"...[The film has] its own ticklish charm..." 10/01/2000 p.83

Chicago Sun-Times
"...The stuff in outer space is unexpected, the surprise waiting out there is genuine, and meanwhile, there's an abundance of charm and screen presence from the four veteran actors..." 08/04/2000 p.31

ReelViews 8 of 10
While his overlong Space Cowboys is not a portrait of cinematic perfection, it is consistently engaging, features likable, irascible characters, and does not descend into the shoot-and-scoot idiocy that has marked far too many recent outer space endeavors. While there are definitely a few plot point similarities between Space Cowboys and Armageddon, in tone and approach, Eastwood's effort owes more to Contact...Undoubtedly, the return of John Glenn to space was the inspiration for Ken Kaufman & Howard Klausner's screenplay. In the movies, putting senior citizens in space is nothing new...but this is the first time it has been done semi-realistically. The screenplay incorporates a lot of material, including secret cold war politics, cover-ups, political infighting, melodrama, media manipulation, male bonding, and, of course, science fiction action/adventure. Some of these elements work better than others, but, taken as a whole, they make for an entertaining ride. Space Cowboys is a blast for those who don't mind geriatric heroes. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
The guys who had the original right stuff get a second chance in "Space Cowboys," 42 years after their Air Force experimental flights in the X-2 rocket plane were replaced by orbiting monkeys and something called "astronauts"...Great swatches of "Space Cowboys" are constructed, indeed, out of generic expectations. But the stuff in outer space is unexpected, the surprise waiting out there is genuine, and meanwhile, there's an abundance of charm and screen presence from the four veteran actors. There is a reason Eastwood, Garner, Sutherland and Jones have remained stars for so long, and the movie gives them all characteristic scenes...The actors know where the laughs and thrills are and respect them. Eastwood as director is as sure-handed as his mentors, Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. We leave the theater with grave doubts that the scene depicted in the final feel-good shot is even remotely possible, but what the hell; it makes us smile. - Roger Ebert