Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A lot of fun.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Some over-the-hill ex-astronauts are called on for assistance. Though they are only wanted to help train Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood) wants more than that. He's gathered "the old gang"--both literally and figuratively--and he wants them all to have one last hurrah.It is a movie with humor, drama and suspense. It's a swipe at all those who would believe that once you reach a certain age then you're done. It's a victory to all those who are considered "old" yet still have the mind and the body to be productive. Sure, they're not what they used to be but that's not to say they're used up.

Maybe not the best movie directed by Clint Eastwood and maybe not the best space movie but certainly enjoyable enough to watch. The scenario is not highly believable but then again it's just a movie. I seriously doubt that those elderly men would pass any of those NASA tests, but Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner are apparently cut out of another wood then us. I thought all actors did their job like they should. There are no Oscar performances here but it doesn't really matter. It's a nice adventure movie where you don't have to think too much. The story is simple and I wasn't expecting much more out of it. Old guys sent to space to save the world. Mission accomplished...

What movie with Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones. James Garner, James Cromwell, Donald Sutherland, and Marcia Gay Harden wouldn't be worth a look. This one has it all, but mostly laughs. This Clint Eastwood produced and directed movie is great simply because the cast doesn't appear to take it seriously. They are just having fun. And special effects? They are better here than other movies like Armageddon and Deep Impact. If you like movies where people are considered outdated or replaceable and prove the experts wrong, then this is the one. I watch it and keep getting reminded about all those COBOL experts who were back making the big bucks just prior to the millennium change.

I should say upfront that I don't especially like Clint Eastwood that well, either as actor, or as a director, for various reasons I won't go into here.That said, Space Cowboys isn't a bad film despite some problems in logic, or plausibility. Basically, Eastwood(Frank Corvin) is called upon to help keep a falling Russian "communications satellite", ICON, from plunging to earth. Having been part of Project Daedalus in the late 1950s, test pilots who were to have been the first U.S. astronauts until policy was changed, and NASA officially formed, Corvin insists on his old teammates being brought into the mission as the price for his help.ICON turns out to be in reality an orbiting nuclear missile platform left-over from the Cold War, and after near-disaster in orbit, "Hawk" Hawkins who has just learned he has terminal cancer, manages to fly the missile platform all the way to the Moon disposing of the missiles into deep space, apparently, on the way, as the last scene shows his body on the lunar surface amongst the ICON debris.There is also some doubt about whether Eastwood and Co. can return or not as their shuttle was damaged in orbit, but they do, of course. This film was produced before the shuttle Cloumbia disaster, so we now know they would not have been able to return safely with that much surface damage in all probability.Ther are some other problems, as I'm not entirely sure there was enough rocket thrust on ICON( and the extra oxygen tanks as well? If I understood Hawks answer right) to break out of earth orbit. It is a movie, of course, and we're willing to make some allowances for the sake of the pathos this action by Hawk gives the movie.I'm not sure if Daedalus itself actually existed, but I believe it is correct that the test pilots of the various rocket planes, and such of the late 1950s were, indeed, meant to be our first astronauts until the policy change.In any case, James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland all seem to have enjoyed doing this film a great deal, and there have been far worse such made.