The Falcon And The Snowman (1985)

The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) Boyhood friends decide to take control of their lives by selling both national security secrets and cocaine.  Based on a true story.

Directed by John Schlesinger                                       Starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn

Why I Liked It – Hutton and Penn give stellar performances

So is this a buddy film, a spy thriller, a crime movie, or the story of two young men who go bad?  The is that it’s a bit of all of that.  Based on the real-life story of Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee, the movie follows a low-level military contractor and his drug dealer buddy trying to make some money.  Boyce (Hutton) comes a well off family who want him to get a good job and settle down.  He’s not interested in the concept, but his FBI father arranges a favor and Boyce goes to work handling intelligence communications.  His experience sours him on the U.S. government and he decides to turn the info over to the Soviet Union.  Boyce uses Lee (Penn) as a go-between to protect his identity, only to have his friend screw it all up.

The two leads are great in this movie, but I have trouble warming to it.  Part of it is because you can’t ever really root for the leads.  Neither of them is nice people, both of them are involved in some seedy activities, and they’re not very good at any of it. The script is the work of a first-time scriptwriter and it feels awkward to me.  Visually, the movie seems faded as well.  I’ve watched it several times and liked it well enough.  Each time I came away feeling like it should have been more.

In real life, both Boyce and Lee were convicted of espionage and spent decades in jail.  They have both been paroled and live quiet, private lives.

Rating – *** Worth A Look