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The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
25 January 1985 (USA)
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Tagline:
They came from the best of families...They became the two most dangerous political criminals in the world. [Australia Video] more
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. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Spy
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Walk In Spy
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Childhood Friend
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Drugs
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Heroin
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User Comments:
Rare political gem from Hollywood.
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
132 min
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
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:
Company:
Fun Stuff
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.
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Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the border crossing, "Snowman's" Mustang has the license plate "213-IMW" but on the computer terminal in the field marked "plate number" the U.S. border guard enters "NRQ410" (echoed back on the screen as "NNRRQQ441100") which is clearly the wrong plate. NRQ could stand for "NARCOTICS" as sort of an in joke by the producers.
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Quotes:
[on the Russians]
Christopher Boyce: They're just as paranoid and dangerous as we are. I don't know why I ever thought any differently.
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Christopher Boyce: They're just as paranoid and dangerous as we are. I don't know why I ever thought any differently.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Knight Rider: The Wrong Crowd (#4.5)" (1985)
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Soundtrack:
CHINA GROVE
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (38 total)
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I think some critic somewhere said this film fell short of being a great film, but was a very good one. That's accurate, you are left wanting to know more. The best performance comes from David Suchet as a sardonic and frequently supercilious Russian. The film commendably avoids trying to make us empaphise with traitors and even manages some humour in all the madness. In one blink or you'll miss it scene, Daulton infiltrates an embassy function where he speaks to a foreign diplomat. "Is this the usual garb of your countrymen?" He asks. "Yes, it's garbage" the man replies.
The film appears open minded about whether Boyce is an idealist or an opportunist who fails to realise the significance of his actions. His confession of having received payment from the Soviets and his cynical dismissing of money as 'never being very important to me' suggests a more amoral stance, but his other remarks perhaps reveal a more complex and sincere character. Boyce seems to be suggesting that any leap forward in technology must also go hand in hand with an equal quantitative one in morality. But I think it was Einstien who said that the bomb has changed everything except the way man thinks. This suggests that Boyce's weary indifference while being interviewed was due to his realisation that this moral leap was beyond man and therefore there was no hope, we are doomed to extinction. All political and religious life had been rendered meaningless to him due to the impermanence of man in the face of super-technology. This may account for his reluctance to recite the 'valley of death' speech to his father, as he knew full well that it's message was also meaningless in the context of modern warfare. No-one, not even the generals would be left standing. Boyce then, was possibly suffering a certain existential despair, as he stated America was the first country to use nuclear weapons. His concern that his betrayal meant little because we are already in jeopardy is even more pertinent today, with more and more countries either acquiring or seeking to acquire nuclear technology. It's rather like a group of toddlers playing with a grenade, passing it around. Say you were to add more grenades, would you then increase the likelihood of an accident such as the pulling out of a pin?
This rare political film asks a more broad and philosophical question, perhaps. If Boyce says he knows something about predatory behaviour (and the film is full of big fish eating little fish motifs) and left the church because he has decided that man is not divine and just another animal, where does that leave man if he cannot ultimately change his nature? The film does not leave you with an answer, merely the fear on the faces of uncomprehending parents and the unseen spectre of a mushroom cloud.