Clint Eastwood stars as Frank Corvin, once a great Air Force test pilot. He would have made a great astronaut too, had the government not chosen to send a monkey into space instead. Corvin went on to build a guidance system as part of the SkyLab project. He and his team never had the chance to go into space. Decades later, Corvin receives a call from his old nemesis Bob Gerson (James Cromwell) - the very guy who nixed his journey into space decades prior. Somehow, the guidance system ended up in a Russian communications satellite that is now plummeting toward Earth. Corvin is the only person who can go into orbit and fix the thing before it comes crashing down.

He is thrilled to get the mission, but only if he can reunite his old team to join him. Tank (James Garner) is now a Baptist minister, Jerry (Donald Sutherland) designs roller coasters, and Hawk (Tommy Lee Jones) offers thrill rides in his crop duster. All four men view this as a golden opportunity. What they don't realize is that Gerson has plans to make sure Corvin is replaced on the mission by a younger astronaut (Loren Dean).

James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones, Clint Eastwood & Donald Sutherland are the Space Cowboys

Space Cowboys has a lot of funny scenes in which the elder astronauts train for their mission. Sometimes, the find themselves woefully unprepared for the requirements they must meet; other times, they use mild trickery to deny their age (a scene in which they must read an eye chart is particularly humorous). The younger members of NASA mock them, although it's pretty clear that these guys still have the right stuff (no pun intended). There's a pleasant levity to the early scenes; the characters are so excited about the chance to enter space that they tackle their problems enthusiastically.

Then the mission comes and, as you might expect, it is not exactly as it seems. The astronauts must use not only their technical expertise but also their street smarts to save the day. While this half of the story is similar to the tale of Apollo 13, it works because we have grown to care about the people and their situation. Just as John Glenn heroically returned to space, these guys heroically go there for the first time. Even in the confines of a fictional story, there is something wildly satisfying about seeing pioneers get their chance to do something significant.

Parts of Space Cowboys are perplexing. A couple plot elements are forgotten about in the end, leaving them curiously unresolved (specifically, I refer to the whereabouts of the two other astronauts who make the journey). A love affair between Jones and a NASA scientist (Marcia Gay Harden) feels pointless as well. I don't know why these elements are introduced and left unresolved or undeveloped.

Still, watching these four guys in action is bliss. There's a wonderful 4-way chemistry between them. The story allows them to have fun while still reminding us that age does not negate talent or skill. Like the characters they play, Eastwood, Jones, Garner, and Sutherland are still at the top of their game. Just as the aging astronauts have a successful journey into space, so do the actors turn Space Cowboys into a movie that's pure fun.

( out of four)

Space Cowboys is rated PG-13 for some language. The running time is2 hours and 5 minutes.