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 & 8 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:

space shuttle | old age | satellite | astronaut | rear nudity | 

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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:

Space Cowboys

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, Mad Chance, Malpaso Productions

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

During the training scenes, the astronauts are wearing mission patches on their clothing showing the name "Horizon," and Hawkins identifies the spacecraft as "Horizon" during the landing simulation. However, from the launch scene onward, the vehicle is called "Daedalus" and the crew is wearing a different mission patch.

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Quotes

Jerry O'Neill: I'm an engineer! I stopped running when Nixon was president!

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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.

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Alternate Versions

In some television versions, Tank's recitation of Alan Shepard's prayer "Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up" is replaced by "Dear Lord, please don't let me screw up".

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Connections

Featured in Strictly Background (2007)

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Soundtracks

Old Man
Written by Neil Young
Performed by Brad Mehldau

User Reviews

The pleasure of watching four old pro's entertain you

The storyline is secondary when you have four seasoned veterans like Eastwood, Garner, Sutherland and Jones entertaining you. They have the ability to raise the level of any writing with their professionalism. At no time could you detect any scene stealing. All four are comfortable in their own abilities and don't need to resort to gimmicks or scene stealing. Eastwood is at his economic story-telling best behind the camera.