The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Robert Lindsey (book)
Steven Zaillian (writer)

Release Date:

25 January 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

They came from the best of families...They became the two most dangerous political criminals in the world. [Australia Video]

Plot:

The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Walk In Spy | Childhood Friend | Drugs | Heroin

Cast

Timothy Hutton	...	Christopher Boyce
Sean Penn	...	Daulton Lee
Pat Hingle	...	Mr. Charlie Boyce
Joyce Van Patten	...	Mrs. Boyce
Rob Reed	...	Boyce Child
Rob Newell	...	Boyce Child
Karen West	...	Boyce Child
Art Camacho	...	Boyce Child
Annie Kozuch	...	Boyce Child
Richard Dysart	...	Dr. Lee
Priscilla Pointer	...	Mrs. Lee
Chris Makepeace	...	David Lee
Dorian Harewood	...	Gene
Mady Kaplan	...	Laurie
Macon McCalman	...	Larry Rogers

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:R (Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hemdale Film

Trivia:

In 1986, this movie became associated with one of the most famous hacking incidents in television history. On the night of April 27, 1986 at about 12:30am, a Florida satellite TV dealer named John MacDougall was working late at Central Florida Teleport which up-links pay cable services to satellites. At the time, he was up-linking "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" but before he left, he pointed the dish directly upwards toward the location of HBO's Galaxy 1 satellite and for four and a half minutes, East Coast subscribers who has been watching The Falcon and the Snowman saw a message on a colored test pattern which read: GOODEVENINGHBO FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT $12.95/MONTH? NO WAY! [SHOWTIME/MOVIECHANNEL BEWARE!]. MacDougall had performed the stunt as a protest of satellite subscribers being forced to pay higher fees than regular cable subscribers. He turned himself in, was charged a $5,000 fine and placed on one year probation.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The buttons of a cipher lock pressed by Boyce make DTMF (telephone touch-tone) sounds, but in reality they only click when pressed.

Quotes:

[explaining why he didn't express his unhappiness with the CIA in a more acceptable manner]
Christopher Boyce: It wouldn't have made a difference. I freely chose my response to this absurd world. If given the opportunity, I would have been more vigorous.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Celebrity (1998)

Soundtrack:

PICK UP THE PIECES

Obscure classic from the eighties

I was too young in 1985 to appreciate a movie like this, but I watched it recently and thought it was quite an achievement. Everything about it hit the mark, without anything cheap or exploitive. The Snowman was a hilarious character for all his contradictions and brassiness.

The movie nicely recalls the cold war, when the Soviets were busy beavers trying to infiltrate governments and media institutions. The Falcon is shocked to learn the United States is using the CIA to block the Communist threat, and decides to become a traitor to his own country.

In too many films today, the writer loves one side and hates the other, so you get a dishonest film. In this film, the writer doesn't portray any of the characters as anything other than humans with their own beliefs, goals and foibles. That I find truly refreshing.

The movie is mostly accurate, from what I have read of the real event. There are a few notable exceptions where truth diverges from the movie, however. After quitting TRW, Christopher Boyce (AKA the Falcon) planned to learn Russian and earning a political major, and then returning to espionage for the Russians (the movie says the opposite). It makes you wonder how far he would have gotten, and how many other Christopher Boyce's there were during the cold war. In real life, Boyce and his lawyer tried to blame *everything* on the Andrew Lee (the Snowman), even saying Lee forced him into it. The Falcon escaped prison for an 18 month period before being recaptured. He was released from prison in 2003. Andrew Lee was paroled in 1998.