VIDEO THE MAGNIFICENT FOUR CLINT EASTWOOD AND HIS GANG GO FOR A REALLY ROUGH RIDE IN `SPACE COWBOYS'.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Clint Eastwood has made many good movies, a few very good ones and one great one (``Unforgiven''). His latest, ``Space Cowboys'' - out this week on video and DVD - creaks into the first category.

It's the story of some aging astronauts who are called on to save the world because they are the only ones who know how to repair an equally aging Soviet satellite that is threatening to fail and disrupt a vital communications link.

Starring Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner and Donald Sutherland as the once-and-future aviation hotshots who were cheated out of their chance to fly in space and now have their chance at redemption, ``Space Cowboys'' is good-hearted and good fun.

That the plot stretches credulity (it turns out the satellite is equipped with live nuclear warheads), that the subplots (one involving James Cromwell as underhanded NASA administrator, another a long-standing feud between the Eastwood and Jones character) stretches it further are beside the point. This is a stand-up-and-cheer-the-old-guys comedy-thriller.

And Eastwood knows how to do it in style. There are plenty of jokes (mostly age ones) - ``The Ripe Stuff'' one tabloid reads - and despite the pretense in the plot, Eastwood turns up the tension, aided by some terrific special effects from Industrial Light and Magic. But underneath it all Clint holds a real affection for these guys - space-age cowboys. (The word in the title references Eastwood's other films, many of them westerns about men who go their own way and live by their own codes.)

And these space cowboys aren't any different. Like the original seven astronauts as described in Tom Wolfe's ``The Right Stuff,'' Eastwood's crew members are shown originally to have been test pilots, men used to putting their lives on the line and eager to push the envelope. By placing his characters in a high-tech, by-the-numbers world in ``Space Cowboys,'' Eastwood creates a nostalgia for that kind of spirit and grit without being nostalgic or particularly sentimental. It's a fine line to walk, but Clint walks it expertly. You didn't expect tears, did you? After all, this guy was Dirty Harry.

INTO THE MYSTIC: One recent odd coincidence was the release of Robert Redford's ``The Legend of Bagger Vance'' on DVD and video and the special edition of Barry Levinson's 1984 film ``The Natural,'' starring Redford, on DVD. Both films are sports sagas adapted from novels with mythic overtones.

``Bagger,'' from Steven Pressfield's book, has vague references to the sacred Hindu text the Bhagavad-Gita, which tells of a prince who loses his nerve on the eve of a battle. Lord Krishna, in the form of his charioteer, teaches the prince the nature of God and of himself so he can attain a spiritual liberation and continue the battle.

Rather than a charioteer, we have a caddy, Bagger Vance (Will Smith), who arrives mysteriously to help burned-out World War I veteran and former golf champion Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) find his swing in a match against the reigning links champions Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill).

But the film turns out to be not so much a spiritual journey as a pleasant walk in the country. Smith is dynamic, but the rest of the cast and story are static.

In ``The Natural,'' based on Bernard Malamud's novel, Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a baseball player, who is also on a journey to enlightenment. As a young phenom, Hobbs was destined to star in the big leagues, but along the way he was derailed by an encounter with a mysterious woman who shoots him, nearly killing him. He then, as far as anyone is concern, disappears from the face of the Earth. Years later, in the 1930s (he's almost too old for baseball), Hobbs surfaces to play for the New York Knights, a basement-dwelling team.

The name of the team is a none-too-subtle giveaway. Hobbs is a knight- errant who carries a bat named ``Wonder Boy'' (his lance), and along the way must overcome temptations and obstacles before finding redemption.

Though Levinson and screenwriter Roger Towne lightened Malamud's novel, they also brought it magically alive. The film is filled with wonderful performances - the late Richard Farnsworth as a baseball coach seems to epitomize the folksiness of this fable. And it also sports a magnificent Randy Newman score. All in all, a winner.

``Space Cowboys'' (Warners) is priced for rental on VHS ($110.99) and $26.98 on DVD, which includes four behind-the-scenes documentaries. ``The Natural'' (Columbia) is $24.95 on DVD and includes the documentary ``The Heart of the Natural'' featuring Cal Ripken Jr. ``The Legend of Bagger Vance'' (DreamWorks) is priced for rental on VHS ($107.99) and is $24.95 on DVD, which includes HBO's making-of documentary ``Robert Redford: Storyteller.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Clint Eastwood commands a rugged group of grizzled astronauts in ``Space Cowboys,'' now out on video and DVD.