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Grade: B

Verdict: The right stuff.

Details: Starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner and Donald Sutherland. Rated PG-13 for some profanity. 2 hours, 15 minutes.

See it: Local theaters and showtimes for Space Cowboys

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: Geezer chic gets a grand showcase in Clint Eastwood's shamelessly crowd-pleasing "Space Cowboys."

Eastwood, who directed as well as stars, joins Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner and Donald Sutherland as aging astronauts who were axed from the fledgling program in 1958 by an uptight bureaucrat (James Cromwell) who felt they weren't the proverbial team players. They were replaced by a chimpanzee.

Forty years later, Cromwell needs their help. A decrepit Russian satellite launched several decades earlier is malfunctioning and threatening to crash to Earth. Too big to be taken down by conventional methods, the thing has to be repaired, and the only guy still around who knows how to fix it is Eastwood. But he won't play ball unless his whole team goes along. "I can't fill up a space ship with geriatrics," Cromwell pouts.

Famous last words.

The movie good-naturedly - and unapologetically - borrows from any number of classic flicks. First, there's the round-up-the-old-gang part - a bit right out of "The Magnificent Seven." Except, instead of James Coburn whipping out the fastest knife in the West, we get Sutherland (the ladies' man in the group!) explaining that he only needs his glasses to read, to go to the movies,
to drive. . . .

The next segment - the training part - is straight out of "The Dirty Dozen." Only, these guys' "crime" is that they're over 30. Aside from the usual period of adjustment to all the newfangled technology and some strenuous workouts to prove they're physically fit enough to serve, a friendly rivalry grows between our guys and Cromwell's younger team of back-ups. For instance, in the cafeteria, the kids send over a round of Ensure; in return, Clint and company serve them a tray of baby food. The final part is the mission itself, which turns out to be a surprisingly effective nail-biting adventure. Despite all the tech-talk (you've got to connect the Grazmat to the Schizmo or the whole thing'll blow!), we basically get the point: do, or die trying.

Several quibbles with the picture. One, Garner doesn't get enough to do. Two, the fate of one of the four is telegraphed far too early. Three, William Devane, as the project's flight director, is handed some truly vapid dialogue. Four, not enough use is made of the marvelous Courtney B. Vance, who plays one of the younger astronauts.

But on the whole, "Space Cowboys" is a delight. As craftily savvy as it is well-crafted. The sheer pleasure of watching these four old pros, together playing off one another like seasoned veterans of the Senior Tour, is reason enough to see it. Better yet, there's simply nothing else out there like it this summer. And there's not likely to be.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service