Space Cowboys

Septuagenarian Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this formulaic but entertaining adventure. In the 1950s, four crackerjack Air Force test pilots (Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner) are replaced in the country’s nascent space program by a chimp; they never orbit in space. Forty years later, NASA is worried about a malfunctioning satellite and is forced to reactivate the Geritol Gang to repair its obsolete Cold War gadgetry. The myth-making here demands a challenging suspension of disbelief, but Hollywood’s living legends are fun to watch and get excellent ground support from James Cromwell and William Devane.