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Space cowboys

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Space will never be the same.

When one of the satellites launched in the 1960s malfunctions, threatening the earth with disaster if it crashes, an astronaut in his sixties (Clint Eastwood) is asked to go up to fix it, as he's the only one familiar enough with the old technology.

He agrees under one condition... two of his pilot buddies from the old days (Tommy Lee Jones and James Garner) who were overlooked by the astronaut training program get to come along for this one last flight.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film science fiction adventure space shuttle NASA Cold War astronaut

Persons of interest

Clint Eastwood .... Doctor Frank Corvin, Director
Tommy Lee Jones .... Colonel William "Hawk" Hawkins
Donald Sutherland .... Jerry O'Neill
James Garner .... Tank Sullivan
James Cromwell .... Bob Gerson
Marcia Gay Harden .... Sara Holland
William Devane .... Eugene "Gene" Davis
Loren Dean .... Ethan Glance
Courtney B Vance .... Roger Hines
Rade Serbedzija .... General Vostow
Barbara Babcock .... Mrs Barbara Corvin
Blair Brown .... Doctor Carruthers
Ken Kaufman .... Screenwriter
Howard Klausner .... Screenwriter

Cinematic intelligence sources

Space cowboys official movie site
Studios and distributors:

Warner Bros * Roadshow Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Apollo XIII½ .

In an update from the 70s to the 90s and a paradigm shift from history to science fiction, Space cowboys takes an often light-hearted look at the dangers of space exploration and politics. Talk about oil and water.

The big twist (it is the new millennium, remember) is that the astronauts are mostly old coots. In a series of handy script developments the young bucks who actually know what they're doing are pushed out onto the wings of the shuttle while the depression generation shows that they're not out of the picture just yet. Sounds like a bit of Hollywood propaganda (not to mention a fair bit of "the director's an old coot so you better make him look good").

The script is occasionally hackneyed and often clichéd and the acting is no more than adequate but the FX are cool and there are plenty of gags which are easy to get. The plot twists are straightforward, the pro-NASA stance is blatant but nothing gets in the way of telling the story. But hey, no-one ever accused Hollywood of honesty so you can sit back and enjoy the ride with no fear of a harsh intrusion by reality. Have fun.