Being old usually doesn’t help someone’s career prospects in youth-obsessed Hollywood. Those who escape such fate and actually age like wine are very rare people that have accumulated enough charisma and clout through their long and successful careers. One such person is Clint Eastwood who in the later stages of his life enjoyed more respect and success than anyone could have imagined when he was ascending action star in his physical prime. Eastwood even managed to put his advanced age to good use and make summer ambitious blockbuster based on the premise of old people doing something young people are supposed to do. That film was 1999 action epic Space Cowboys.
Eastwood, who directed the film, plays Dr. Francis D. “Frank” Corvin, former member of Daedelus, top secret team of US test pilots that were gathered in 1958 in order to become first men in space. Unfortunately for them, overcautious NASA has replaced them with monkeys, thus allowing Soviets to win the next leg of Space Race with Gagarin, while Daedalus members remained grounded and forgotten. Four decades later Corvin is summoned by Bob Gerson (played by James Cromwell), his old acquaintance who is now top NASA official. It turns out that there is still some need for Corvin’s astronaut skills. Icon, former Soviet satellite is about to crash down to Earth on populated areas. The only people who might redirect it are US astronauts from Space Shuttle in orbit, but they, unlike Corvin, don’t know how to handle ancient 1950s technology used on satellite. Corvin uses that as an opportunity to demand NASA to fulfill his dream and allow him to fly into space and help with the mission more directly, claiming that he has kept physically fit throughout years. NASA reluctantly accepts his request and Corvin even manages to win the same privileges for his old friends from the program – stunt pilot William “Hawk” Hawkins (played by Tommy Lee Jones), travelling preacher Tank Sullivan (played by James Garner) and Jerry O’Neill (played by Donald Sutherland), engineer who is, despite advanced age, unrepentant ladies man. Four men arrive to NASA centre where they are subjected to multitude of tests and rigorous training, also having to endure scepticism of their younger colleagues and NASA bureaucrats. But only when they indeed reach space they will face real challenge and realise the true purpose of their mission.
Space Cowboys would represent pleasant surprise for all those viewers who thought that Hollywood seniors can’t carry a film just as effectively as their younger colleagues. It was also step in right direction for Eastwood, whose previous films in late 1990s, made after the triumphant Unforgiven, left much to be desired. After series of bloated and overlong dramas like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Eastwood has found material that would play to his strength and provide audience with proper combination of action and humour. Eastwood also shows a lot of very un-Hollywood humility in the film – he doesn’t shy away from making fun of his and fellow cast member’s age while not trying to make film oversentimental. Eastwood is also more than willing to turn Space Cowboys into an ensemble piece and allow his character to become a second fiddle while Tommy Lee Jones and, to a lesser degree, James Garner and Donald Sutherland, take top spot. Cinephiles would also appreciate Eastwood paying a lot of homage to The Right Stuff, the best Hollywood film about astronauts ever made. On the other hand, Space Cowboys compromises a lot of previous good work in the second half of the film, when script by Ken Kaufman and Henry Klausner begin to intensively use cliches. Lighthearted tone of the first half is replaced with protagonist having to deal with some serious, but rather predictable issues. Those familiar with certain “rules” of Hollywood film would, on the other hand, easily guess what would be the ultimate fate of each of four astronauts. Some characters in the film, on the other hand, seem redundant, like the Russian general being played by tragically typecast Croatian actor Rade Šerbedžija. Eastwood, however, manages to compensate those flaws with superb direction and good soundtrack by Lennie Niehaus and the finale looks quite impressive. At the end, Space Cowboys is an entertaining film that could be recommended even to the viewers who aren’t the biggest among the Eastwood’s fans.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
