Space Cowboys (2000)

The programme content for my obsessive movie-watching falls into a number of categories.  The most satisfactory, which is also unfortunately the smallest proportion, is watching films in a cinema, largely in my instance reserved for previews, festival, and repertory showings, and only occasionally for recent blockbuster releases.  I watch just about everything new on both satellite and terrestrial TV which is less than I would wish (since I have usually already seen most of the so-called premieres) and too many of the balance aren't really worth anyone's time.  Then there is the DVD backlog composed of films not previously viewed with the occasional old favourite not seen in yonks also in competition for my time.  Some of the time I watch old flicks from my collection which have not been released on DVD, as I attempt to transcribe them from their often flawed taping to a new shiny disc.  Finally there is the huge DVD backlog of discs that have been purchased as replacements for films previously on video tape, which await being checked for quality and occasionally their extras.  I must admit here that although I am tempted by a huge selection of features and mumble under my breath about vanilla releases, I do in fact get easily bored checking out the padding on so many discs.  And while I do not always view all of these movies before filing them away, I do watch perhaps one in five when I feel in the mood for revisiting an old friend.  Such is the case of the above film.

It is such a good-spirited romp that while probably aimed at the older viewer, it also has much to offer any-age fan.  Four "old farts" -- Clint Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland, and Tommy Lee Jones -- who left the space programme back in the 60s when they were replaced by a chimpanzee, come together again when they are the only team likely to be able to fix a rogue Russian space station which is due to crash to earth.  Cue all the old animosity between Eastwood and NASA administrator James Cromwell and all the old rivalry between Eastwood and Jones (the youngest of the four by years).  How they prepare for their physical training as potential astronauts well past their prime (and in Sutherland's instance nearly blind) and how they are allowed to actually tackle the mission once the press gets hold of the story (much to Cromwell's disgust) is just part of the fun.  My main criticism is that the movie is probably too long and too bogged down in the minutiae of space travel during the final portion.  However, despite "losing" one of the team in a spectacular way, this is actually a feel-good film -- and not just for the geriatric set.