SPACE COWBOYS

If anything, "Space Cowboys" is a welcome throwback to the type of film that once celebrated the bonds of male camaraderie, shared experiences, and common goals. Think of the movies of Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, or John Ford. Their men could be cowboys taming the West, soldiers fighting over the affections of a woman behind the lines, or roughnecks on a South Sea Island in movies like "Rio Bravo" (1959), "What Price Glory" (1929 silent or 1952 version - take your pick) or "Donovan’s Reef" (1963). The best of them have a sense of adventure and an organic sense of humor central to their characters. Director, Clint Eastwood, carries on the tradition of these masters in one of his best films in years with "Space Cowboys."

Clint Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland, and Tommy Lee Jones make up the Daedalus Group, retired test pilots once destined to be the first men in space until a monkey replaced them. Some forty odd years later, a Russian satellite threatens to fall to earth and the only one who has a handle on its outdated technology is Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood). He uses his unique position to blackmail NASA into recruiting his geriatric crew for the rescue mission. The first two thirds of "Space Cowboys" is a rollicking riff on old age and lifelong grudges, with jokes about sagging muscles, sexual prowess, and expired friends. The old guys are put through a crash regimen of diet and exercise that not only renews their youthful vigor but inspires new ways to ‘get over.’ While their modern counterparts do things by the book, the Daedalus crew of old do their thing the only way they know how - by the seat of their pants. They treat everything from flight simulators to the threatening satellite as if they were their own personal toys to be explored and exploded.

The veteran cast of "Space Cowboys" go through their paces with the effortlessness of a moonwalk, exploiting some of the established traits of their on-screen personas - the easy charm of James Garner - the crankiness of Tommy Lee Jones - and the distrust of authority of Clint Eastwood. Donald Sutherland goes against the grain and almost steals the movie as a Viagra driven bon vivant. His Jerry O’Neill is downright uproarious! This foursome hilariously play off each other’s strengths so well up to takeoff, it’s a shame they had to get down to the serious business of saving the world and one-upping the new guys played by Loren Dean and Courtney Vance. They do this with a modest amount of special effects, which just goes to show why Clint Eastwood continues to surprise and delight his fans from one movie to the next. His movies are long on the old fashion virtues of story telling and character development and short on the crowd baiting short term results of special effects. "Space Cowboys" is, thankfully, no exception.

Copyright 2000

"Three Godfathers" (1949) John Wayne, Pedro Armandariz, and Harry Carey Jr. are three outlaws who risk their lives to save a baby found in the desert. This is an unabashedly sentimental favorite is often overlooked because it came out the same year as the perennial "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." A grittier version was made in 1936, but for sheer sentimentality and a hard core buddy movie, this is hard to beat.

"What Price Glory" (1952) This was made once before as a silent by Raoul Walsh but this is hard to resist just for the shenanigans of James Cagney and Dan Dailey who fight reprise the roles of Captain Flagg and Sgt Quirk who are rivals behind the lines and inseparable in battle. This was a minor hit and overshadowed by Ford’s classic "The Quiet Man" that came out the same year.

Hawks reworked the same plot three times about a rambunctious sheriff twice and an ex-Union officer once and a bunch of sidekicks who take on the bad guys. Take your pick from "Rio Bravo" (1959), "El Dorado" (1967), or "Rio Lobo" (1970) - all with John Wayne in all three and Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum in interchangeable roles - as drunkards reborn - in the first two.

"What Price Glory" (1929) The first version of the hit play by Laurence Stallings and Maxwell Anderson celebrates the bonds that hold the infamous Captain Flagg and Captain Quirk together despite their rivalry for the same woman. Although it’s a silent, it’s a real treat to see Victor McLaglen in his prime six years before he immortalized the role of Gypo Nolan in John Ford’s "The Informer."

"Battle Cry" (1955) This was one of the big moneymakers of 1955 based on the best seller by Leon Uris. Epic account of a group of Marines in World War II, the things that made them different at home and the things that brought them together in war.

Hathaway made about five films with John Wayne between 1941 and 1969. Three of them possess the same humor and professionalism one might think of after seeing "Space Cowboys." The adventure comedy "North to Alaska" (1960) pits Wayne against Stewart Granger for the affections of Capucine (not unlike Flagg and Quirk in "What Price Glory") during the Alsakan Gold Rush; "Circus World"(1964) makes him a Big Top Rodeo Boss with the entertainers as his family; and "The Sons of Katie Elder" (1965) put him at the head of a family who bury their differences to avenge the death of their mother. The humor comes from the generation gap between the older brothers and the youngest sibling. The generation gap was a big issue in the mid sixties, and this one played it up in the guise of a western.