Synopsis
They came from the best of families. And they committed the worst of crimes.
The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.
1985 Directed by John Schlesinger
The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.
Timothy Hutton Sean Penn Pat Hingle Joyce Van Patten Art Camacho Richard Dysart Priscilla Pointer Chris Makepeace Dorian Harewood Macon McCalman Jerry Hardin Nicholas Pryor Mady Kaplan Rob Reed Betty Lou Henson Stanley Grover Bob Arbogast David Suchet Boris Leskin Anatoli Davydov Lori Singer Jennifer Runyon Daniel McDonald Marvin J. McIntyre Sam Ingraffia Tom Nolan James Hardie Burke Byrnes Michael Ironside Show All…
El juego del halcón, Le Falcon et le bonhomme de neige, Il gioco del falco, Der Falke und der Schneemann, Falken och snömannen, Sólyom és a nepper, Falken og Snemanden, Сокіл і сніговик, Dravec a feťák, Агенты Сокол и Снеговик, Le Jeu du faucon, Sokół i koka, Сокола и Снежния човек, A Traição do Falcão, 叛国少年, فالکون و آدم برفی, הבז ואיש השלג
By 1985 Timothy Hutton already had an Oscar, some would say undeservedly so, but we'll come back to that. I liked Ordinary People, and I liked his performance too, but was his turn better than Joe Pesci's in Raging Bull? Was it fuck, and the triple whammy of Hutton and Redford edging out Pesci and Marty, and then stealing the Best Picture statuette too, well that put me off Hutton for a considerable time afterwards. I held a grudge, and I blamed Hutton, mostly for the fact that he did next to nothing after that win to warrant all that praise and expectation that came after Ordinary People. Ask anyone to name half a dozen great films that Hutton starred…
There was a time
A storm that blew so pure
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea
For this is not America
This is not America
This is not
David Bowie's somber Reagan-era movie theme fits perfect in John Schlesingers political thriller - which is also a narrative of Reagan's America. Two young spies, pictured as ragged heroes: one a drug dealer and one a typical all-American. Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn are Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee; the first a monastery dropout whose father worked security for the FBI (Pat Hingle) and the second a drug dealer, both are born with silver spoons in their mouths, what in both cases provides them…
"You're a patriot?"
"And proud of it."
Perhaps a prophetic indication of the Edward Snowden affair that was to come, The Falcon and the Snowman is a surprisingly thoughtful portrait of two dumb kids who got in way over their heads. John Schlesinger of Midnight Cowboy fame does a lot of fun things with his direction. Timothy Hutton plays a great sympathetic straight man, and Sean Penn is a memorable tragic foil. This kind of feels like the movie he'd be having flashbacks about now, ala Licorice Pizza!
The themes of disillusionment with a government that only seeks domination juxtaposed with a desire for wealth is what really takes the center stage in this biopic. Instead of a rote recitation…
A drug dealer and military contractor worker become spies for the USSR in this (impossibly) true story that doesn't feel true as you watch it but if it were fictional it wouldn't feel believable.
Timothy Hutton is an All American Goober. Sean Penn is all twitchy with a porn stache selling drugs. They're young men with no real aim in life.
Naturally they sell US secrets to the Russians, presumably for Vodka and other Russian things.
The machinations of how they do what they do are fascinating, but you never really know the ins and outs of why both characters would do it.
The movie's over 2 long hours, but you're left feeling like director John Schlesinger cut out crucial scenes that would have developed the characters better.
The title does sound like a superhero movie or code names for 80s drugs.
I was perusing the list of what's on Criterion Channel this month, and I remembered that I was watching this on hotel HBO, during a school trip to Washington, when the Captain Midnight HBO piracy incident occurred and interrupted it.
So I actually remember the date I first saw this flick, more than a third of a century later.
Can you tell I really don't want to go to work today?
John Schlesinger’s true story of a disenchanted army contractor worker and his drug pusher childhood pal who became walk-in scouts for the Soviet Union.
Adapted from the book ‘The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage’ by Robert Lindsey, which was published six years earlier, the story concerns Christopher (Timothy Hutton), a disillusioned defence worker, and Andrew (Sean Penn), a drug addict and trafficker, who start to vend confidences about US safety to the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn both give good performances in their respective parts as the employee, and the unlikeable character with a bad habit doing their work for the Soviet Union.
Elsewhere, Richard Dysart as Dr. Lee,…
The Falcon and the Snowman is based off the real-life exploits of Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) and Andrew Daulton Lee (Sean Penn), two Americans trying to turn a profit off selling government secrets to the Russian embassy. The Coens really must've taken notes for Burn After Reading.
Jokes aside, such a strange story is enough to sustain interest, especially when bolstered by undeniably compelling performances (Penn is compulsively watchable as a reckless, drug-addled loser), yet the film itself is pretty unexceptional. This is a fairly well-shot, well-directed movie (director John Schlesigner netted an Oscar for Midnight Cowboy), and there's enough strong narrative elements to not leave a bad taste, but ever watching it again seems unlikely.
More than anything, it's…
Slower than I thought it would be, but with solid performances from Timothy Hutton (in his sexy heyday) and Sean Penn (with a terrible moustache). Was nice to see Lori Singer, too bad she didn’t really have anything to do in the movie.