Space Cowboys
Plot
The year is 1958 and four hotshot test pilots are working for the Air force testing the X2 plane and preparing for space travel. These four men are Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), William Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O’Neill (Donald Sutherland) and Tank Sullivan (James Garner). Unfortunately with the creation of NASA their hopes are crushed as the....
Plot
The year is 1958 and four hotshot test pilots are working for the Air force testing the X2 plane and preparing for space travel. These four men are Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), William Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O’Neill (Donald Sutherland) and Tank Sullivan (James Garner). Unfortunately with the creation of NASA their hopes are crushed as the program moves out of Air Force Control.
Fast-forward to the modern day and NASA has agreed to help save a Russian communications satellite that is falling out of orbit. Unfortunately for NASA the only man alive that knows the workings of this satellite is Frank Corvin. Frank sees this as his chance to get into space and only agrees to help if he and his three old colleagues can go and fix the satellite personally.
Video/Audio
The film is presented in a 2.35:1 Anamorphic format and is a nice sharp print with good colour and black levels. During the space scenes, the image copes perfectly with blackness of space and contrast with Space Shuttle, Earth etc. There’s also no hint of artefacts or blemishes.
As soon as the film starts and an X2 plane screams across the screen you know you’re in for a treat with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It certainly doesn’t end there; the mix is very active with frequent usage of all channels and plenty of rumbling bass when it’s needed.
Extras
There are not really many extras on this disk but I’ll run through what’s there. First up is a Cast & Crew page, this is a simple text page listing main cast & crew and does not contain any biography information. Up Close With The Editor is a 7 minute long interview with editor Joel Cox. It’s a shame this isn’t longer as it’s very interesting with good background on things like the CGI from ILM.
Tonight on Leno is 11-minute feature on the Jay Leno interview included in the film. This feature shows the full Leno interview, which is considerably longer than the one shown in the film. It also has some interviews with Jay Leno on the making of the clip.
The Effects is a 7-minute feature on the job that ILM did with the special effects. It mainly talks about the final quarter of the film although they do discuss the opening scene as well. Again this is a good feature but the length of it just leaves you wanting more.
Back At The Ranch is the best extra on here as it’s a 30-Minute behind the scenes feature. It’s broken into different sections and each section mainly focuses on interviews with cast, crew, NASA personnel and scriptwriters. Unlike a lot of making of features it isn’t just filled with film clips but contains plenty of good information. The final extra on the disk is a Theatrical Trailer.
Overall
The secret to enjoying this film is not to try and take it too seriously. The idea that an elderly group of men would be sent into space after just 30 days of training to rescue a Russian satellite that no one knows much about is of course ridiculous. At no point however does the film pretend to be sensible or scientifically accurate, if you can sit back and accept this then you can have a great time with it.
The film doesn’t actually spend that much time in space but mainly focuses on the relationships between the older guys and the young astronauts and NASA personnel. Lots of rivalry and showing off follow as the crew go through the training program.
As you might expect from such great actors there is a lot of chemistry between the four main lead characters. Tommy Lee Jones is particularly good and the differences between him and Clint Eastwoods character create an atmosphere of friction throughout the film. Apart from the main cast though there are also some great supporting roles including William Devane, James Cromwell and Marcia Gay Harden. One thing that clearly comes through is the fact that the whole cast were having a great time making this film and no one is just along for the ride.
Also when the crew do finally get into space the special effects and CGI are more than adequate and can compete with the best of Sci-Fi films. Couple this with the very effective soundtrack and you have a good fun Saturday night popcorn flick.
The DVD comes in a cardboard “Snapper” style case, the film is split into 36 chapters and all on screen menus are straightforward static menus. As usual with “Snapper” cases there is no form of booklet inside the case. Several subtitles are available including English, Arabic, Romanian and Bulgarian.
At no point does the disk claim to be a special edition, but there are a few extras included. Some of these are quite good but a commentary from the four guys would have been really good, maybe in a future special edition. All in all I think the disk gets a well-deserved 4 out of 5.
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