Space Cowboys (2000)

When a retired engineer is called upon to rescue a failing satellite, he insists that his equally old teammates accompany him into space.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Ken Kaufman, Howard Klausner

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Frank Corvin
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Hawk Hawkins
Donald Sutherland	...	Jerry O'Neill
James Garner	...	Tank Sullivan
James Cromwell	...	Bob Gerson
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Sara Holland
William Devane	...	Eugene Davis
Loren Dean	...	Ethan Glance
Courtney B. Vance	...	Roger Hines
Barbara Babcock	...	Barbara Corvin
Rade Serbedzija	...	General Vostov (as Rade Sherbedgia)
Blair Brown	...	Dr. Anne Caruthers
Jay Leno	...	Jay Leno
Nils Allen Stewart	...	Tiny
Deborah Jolly	...	Cocktail Waitress

Storyline

When a Russian satellite orbiting the Earth starts to veer off course. It seems like the guidance system in the satellite is of American origin. It's important to try and fix it before it comes into the atmosphere. The NASA man, Bob Gerson tries to find out who designed it and discovers that it was designed by Frank Corvin, an Air Force pilot who 40 years ago was part of the team who was originally suppose to go to space but when NASA was formed and Gerson's influence they were dropped. Gerson asks Frank to help but Frank still holds a grudge. But after some prodding he agrees but only if he and his team can go there so he can fix it. Gerson reluctantly agrees so Frank recruits his former team members, Tank Sullivan, Jerry O'Neill and Hawk Hawkins to join him. After some strenuous tests, they're cleared. And they go up with two other astronauts and check out the satellite and discover that they weren't told the whole truth.

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Plot Keywords:

nasa | space shuttle | old age | satellite | space | 

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Taglines:

Space will never be the same

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 August 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jinetes del espacio

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,093,776, 6 August 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$90,464,773

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$128,884,132

Company Credits

Production Co:

Clipsal Films, Digital Image Associates, Mad Chance

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Clint Eastwood, James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones, and Donald Sutherland are all playing characters in the same age demographic. In actuality, only Eastwood and Garner are close in age, while Sutherland and especially Jones are too young to have been astronaut pilots in 1958 as mentioned in the script.

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Goofs

It takes considerably more delta-vee to soft-land on the moon from earth orbit than it takes to escape earth entirely and enter solar orbit. This could have been done by simply firing the rockets in a horizontal orientation and in the orbital plane. No piloting would be required after this point.

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Quotes

Jerry O'Neill: [Watching Frank and Hawk in the centrifuge machine] Makes them look younger, doesn't it...

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits after the title is shown.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #22.57 (2005)

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Soundtracks

Grazin' in the Grass
Written by Harry Elston and Philemon Hou
Performed by Boney James and Rick Braun
(Courtesy Warner Bros. Records)

User Reviews

brilliant script, amazing actors, generally wow.

This has to be one of my all time favourite films. I wasn't sure what to expect. The acting had to be some of the best I've seen in a long time, but with four such amazing lead actors it was hard to believe it could be any other way. The story didn't let the film down either. It could have been so easy for them to have just put in four really well loved actors and then not bother with an exciting and heart wrenching storyline. This is a film which has every emotion flowing, one minute your laughing, the next your on the edge of your seat and can't believe what is happening. It is very rare to come out of the cinema and be blown away by a totally amazing film but this did it. I now have four films which impressed me in the cinema and I'm very pleased to add this one to my list.