And it’s always at its best when it’s at insanely high altitudes and speeds that few others can match. It’s depressing to see the jet living out its days on the ground when it’s meant to be in the air. It was replaced by orbiting satellites, which were a much more cost-efficient and safer means of spying on enemies. The SR-71 Blackbird could get so close to outer space, but it could never actually reach that pinnacle. This scene defines his character in so many ways. He talks about how ugly it is and how terrible it functions when it’s trying to get up to speed, but once it passes Mach 1 everything clicks into place and it becomes the most impressive piece of airborne machinery ever. Right after he learns this sad truth, he spends time admiring a decommissioned SR-71. But he fears he’ll never live his dreams, especially when he learns he has cancer and he’s going to die soon, no matter what he does. He’s always been the kind of guy to push the envelope and dream of flying to the moon. Tommy Lee Jones steals every scene he’s in, and the whole film winds up being mostly about him. We root for them because they’re underdogs who never got a fair shake at doing the jobs they were born to do. They’re presented as deeply flawed people with tempers. Seeing them give the young people a taste of their own medicine feels totally earned, not condescending or forced, as it easily could have. The great thing about all of this isn’t that the old guys always put the young people in their place, but that we get to see how much they struggle just to hold on for dear life through the rigorous exercise and other physical tests. As the young guys stare in disbelief at the jars, the old guys raise their bottles of Ensure in mock tribute to them. Later, after they’ve managed to survive everything NASA could throw at them, they order a round of baby food for the young astronauts. The old guys smile good-naturedly and accept the drinks. We get to watch four elderly former test pilots have to go up against young athletic astronauts in a race to see who makes it onto the space shuttle for a critically important mission.Įarly in the film, the young astronauts poke fun at the old guys by ordering a round of Ensure for them at lunch. The best part of Space Cowboys is the extended training sequence. So grab a nice bottle of Ensure and try not to pass out from the G’s as we dive in to what makes Space Cowboys a forgotten film gem. Ten years before The Expendables came out, Space Cowboys made the idea of an old-geezers team-up movie cool.Ĭlint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner came together to turn what could have been a predictable fish-out-of-water story into a very good movie that is still a lot of fun to watch.
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