Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner in the Clint Eastwood movie ‘Space Cowboys’

Movies based in space have a natural appeal to me, with the Clint Eastwood directed Space Cowboys (2000) being an appreciated representative. Adventure, action and thrills intersperse with a story more than forty-years in the making. Lines blurred at the beginnings of the United States space program’s involvement with the U.S. Air Force and NASA, a story that includes Skylab came into the story set more than twenty-years into the past of the current day.

(From left, Courtney B. Vance as Roger Hines, Tommy Lee Jones as Hawk Hawkins, James Garner as Tank Sullivan, Clint Eastwood as Frank Corvin, Donald Sutherland as Jerry O’Neill and Loren Dean as Ethan Glance in the Clint Eastwood movie Space Cowboys).

The decaying orbit of an old Soviet Union satellite using technology technology designed by Frank Corvin as portrayed by Clint Eastwood and Toby Stephens brings the past into the present day. It is Bob Gerson, as portrayed by James Cromwell and Billie Worley, who seemingly central roles in the distant past and the movie’s present helps introduce the necessary links that initiate the story of getting Frank, who had pined for space flight since the 1950s, into space.

(From left, Marcia Gay Harden as Sara Holland and William Devane as Gene Davis in the Clint Eastwood movie Space Cowboys).

Frank had friends from the beginning storyline who shared similar hopes of becoming astronauts. When the possibility to go to space is introduced to Frank, getting seats on a space shuttle for Hawk Hawkins as portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones and Eli Craig, Jerry O’Neil as portrayed by Donald Sutherland and John Asher, and Tank Sullivan as portrayed by James Garner and Matt McColm becomes job number one.

(From left, James Cromwell as Bob Gerson and Rade Serbedzija as General Vostov in the Clint Eastwood movie Space Cowboys).

The internal workings at NASA, along with the opportunity for publicity, mixes Frank, Hawk, Jerry and Tank into a mission to recover the satellite aboard fictional Space Shuttle Daedalus. Bob Gerson aims to spoil this chance at space for the elder statesmen with a younger set of astronauts poised to learn from Frank and his friends. Ethan Glance and Roger Hines, as portrayed by Loren Dean and Courtney B. Vance, respectively, ride to space with the elder statesmen as part of Team Daedalus.

(From left, Clint Eastwood as Frank Corvin and Barbara Babcock as Barbara Corvin in the Clint Eastwood movie Space Cowboys).

Intrigue is found on the mission in space thanks to intrigue tracing back to the KGB. Powerful ramifications are felt for the men in space as well as for people in ground control. Flight director Gene Davis along with Hawk Hawkins love interest Sara Holland, as portrayed, respectively, by William Devane and Marcia Gay Harden, gain their feet in the second half of the movie; the subterfuge of General Vostove, as portrayed by Rade Serbedzija, is paired with a surprise dance partner that knew full well, along with Ethan, the true stakes in play in space. The departing shot of the movie, accompanied by the music of Frank Sinatra, provides a surprisingly uplifting joyous note to the closing of the movie.

Writing credits for Space Cowboys rest with Ken Kaufman and Howard Klausner. I grant Space Cowboys as directed by Clint Eastwood 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman in ‘Argo’

Winning Academy Awards for best picture, best writing, and best achievement in film editing, the film Argo (2012) tells a story based on actual events depicted in a book written by a CIA operative and a 2007 Wired magazine article. The underlying events of the story traced back to a three year hostage crisis in Iran that began in 1979. Based on the fact that the end result was something I knew walking in, I found the movie better than it had to be.

(From left, Bryan Cranston as Jack O’Donnell and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo).

Argo stars director Ben Affleck as American intelligence officer Tony Mendez, Bryan Cranston as Jack O’Donnell, Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel, and John Goodman as John Chambers. Mendez, O’Donnell, Siegel and Chambers were key members of the American effort to get six members of the American embassy in Tehran in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979. The film took pains to provide the historical context of the time, along with the series of bad ideas to get six Americans to safety.

(From left, John Goodman as John Chambers and Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel in Argo).

The six Americans holed up in the Canadian embassy in Tehran were Kathy Stafford as played by Kerry Bishé, Joe Stafford as played by Scoot McNairy, Mark Lijek as played by Christopher Denham, Bob Anders as played by Tate Donovan, Lee Schatz as played by Rory Cochrane, and Cora Lijek as played by Clea DuVall. Mark and Cora Lijek were a couple.

(From left, Kerry Bishé as Kathy Stafford, Scoot McNairy as Joe Stafford, Christopher Denham as Mark Lijek, Tate Donovan as Bob Anders, Rory Cochrane as Lee Schatz, and Clea DuVall as Cora Lijek in Argo).

Argo as a film was praised for its cinematic experience, as well as the acting in particular of Alan Arkin and John Goodman as film producers that helped bring the fiction of a film within Argo called the same thing. Historical complaints of note for the film included that the Canadian embassy’s part in the rescue was larger than portrayed, that British and New Zealand embassies had turned the Americans away,  and that the actual danger for the six American captives, Mendez, and Ken Taylor (as played by Victor Garber) may have been less than portrayed.

(From left, Victor Garber as Ken Taylor and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo).

The story of the “exfiltration” of six Americans from Tehran, Iran in the midst of a political revolution in the late 1970s during the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter made for good cinema. I appreciated the movie at the time of its release, and I enjoyed it again upon watching the film just recently. My recommendation is that you watch the film. I offer the movie Argo 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, June 13, 2020