Space Cowboys [Blu-ray]

     Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Run time: 117 minutes Rating: R      This slice of cornball Americana is so much fun you'll be tempted to stand up and salute. Director and costar Clint Eastwood manages to turn what might have been ludicrous into a jubilant tribute to age and experience, and Space Cowboys succeeds as two movies in one--a comedy about retired pilots given one last shot at glory and an Apollo 13-like thriller with all the requisite heroics. With a dream cast of Hollywood vets playing old farts described in tabloids as "The Ripe Stuff," the movie jumps from a 1958 prologue (establishing their lost bid for space travel) to 40-plus years later, when the retired Air Force aces (Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones) volunteer to rescue a falling Russian satellite that only Eastwood's character can repair. It turns out that Russky bird is a cold war leftover equipped with live nuclear warheads, and Space Cowboys revs up to a rousing climax in which our heroes prove their mettle. But first the comedy: watching these codgers struggle to pass NASA's physical tests is a total hoot, with running gags about wrinkles, dentures, and oysters for sagging libidos. (Sutherland is the scene-stealer, but they're all having a blast.) Once in space, the movie gets down to business, and the visual-effects wizards at Industrial Light and Magic provide stunning vistas from Earth's orbit; a shot looking down at the boot of Italy is particularly beautiful. A subplot involving a weasely NASA administrator (James Cromwell) is rather perfunctory, but it hardly matters. Space Cowboys earns its wings, once again demonstrating Eastwood's comfort with any genre he chooses. --Jeff Shannon

Comment:
    I'd say if you're over 40 this movie has a lot of appeal. Yes, I took my 15-year-old, and he enjoyed it too, but old age is the place we all hopefully get to, and Eastwood and his friends are entertaining in this space action story about profession and life after retirement. Yes, the plot is a bit thin, and the non-stars are 2-dimensional, but humor and attention to detail make up for it. And there's just enough drama, and fast flying, to get your hearbeat going. Careful, though, not too fast!Don't over analyze the concept, just sit back and enjoy the movie and the cast interaction.I love this movie, however the disk is HD and will not play on my system. Need to be careful about the formats.A Russian satellite is having problems with its' guidance system. The technology is dated, and the only one that has a solution to the problem is the person that designed it. That person is Clint Eastwood, and he has a hard time comprehending how they got a hold of classified information, but agrees to do what he can to help as long as they include his other buddies that were never given the chance to be in space. Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, and Donald Sutherland are his partners in crime, and the situations and antics they get into are hilarious. What a stellar cast, and the supporting cast is just as impressive with James Cromwell, Marcia Gay Harden, and William Devane. This film is very entertaining, well acted, and has many memorable moments. It is one you will enjoy time after time.I got this for my husband, a former Air Force pilot, now retired, and he loves it, has watched it once alone and again with our son. Course I will watch any movie with Tommy Lee Jones so I am happy too.