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
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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

Space will never be the same

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

---

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

Hawk's shirt is from a Wyoming bar where Clint Eastwood shot scenes for Any Which Way You Can (1980).

---

Goofs

The "new" space shuttle on which Corvin and his crew fly their emergency STS-200 mission is named "Daedalus," the same name as Corvin's team from 1958. This is not revealed to the audience until just before the launch. During the preceding training scenes, however the crew can be seen wearing mission patches showing the name "Horizon," and Hawk refers to the vehicle as "Horizon" during the landing simulation. Whether the name of the orbiter itself was changed (and the vehicle re-marked) from "Horizon" to "Daedalus" in honor of Corvin's team, or whether the mission was originally intended to fly on a different orbiter called "Horizon" and reassigned to the orbiter "Daedalus," is never explained. If the "new" orbiter was already named Daedalus when it was rolled out, well before STS-200 was planned, no one in the film makes note of the coincidence. Either way, the crew wears different mission patches during the launch and subsequent mission scenes; NASA never used separate mission patches for the training and the mission itself, so the "Horizon" mission patches are also never explained.

---

Quotes

Frank Corvin: [after hes told Tank and Jerry to bail out] I thought i told you to bail out!
Tank Sullivan: We're staying! If you don't mind!

---

Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow logos are static and in a grayish tone on a black background, rather than being animated and in full color.

---

Connections

Features The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992)

---

Soundtracks

Last Night
Written by Charles Axton, Chips Moman, Floyd Newman, Gilbert Caple and Jerry Lee 'Smoochy' Smith
Performed by Larry Goldings, Maceo Parker, and Fred Wesley

User Reviews

A nice little movie, not too outrageous and the expert acting makes it enjoyable

We own this movie in our home collection and we haven't watched it in a while. Saw it again tonight on TV, and realized that it is still a good movie.

Clint Eastwood produces and directs this movie, and draws some "experienced" actors to help him fill the lead roles. They manage to extol the trials and tribulations of the senior years, while still capturing the exuberance of youth from the past.

the story leads a mildly predictable pattern, but in this case it is not the end of the story that is primarily important, but instead how they get there. Also, all 4 lead actors all come off as really having a good time in the movie, it feels like they really enjoyed making this one and it comes out on the screen in the performances.

The pace is even and smooth, again demonstrating Clint Eastwood's legacy of directing and acting in watchable, enjoyable movies, no matter what the gender.

I should also mention that the special effects and the space sequences are stunning and much better done than most other movies in near-earth space. That would be the industrial Light and Magic team doing it again.

Overall, enjoyable.