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Spys from the Suburbs....

Engrossing drama made all the more interesting because it's a true story. Although difficult to follow at times because of the choppy storyline and the ambiguous motivations of Hutton's character Boyce. (What ever happened to Hutton's career anyway)? I as well was left wanting to know more about Christopher Boyce. Why did he plan to charge 50 grand for his last trade if he was as disinterested in money as he stated to investigators during his interrogation at the end?I also agree with the viewer who wrote that Penn's character Daulton was so annoying that I too kept hoping the Russians would shoot him. And how is it exactly that in the beginning Daulton declares emphatically to Chris that selling secrets to the Russians was "just plain wrong", and when he gets busted for selling drugs he tells his defense lawyer that snitching was against his principals? Then suddenly selling his own country out seems suddenly like a good idea? The way the writers play around with the main characters motivations makes it impossible to get a grasp on why anyone is doing what they are doing.Also, Lori Singer's character as Chris's girlfriend seems to have virtually no purpose at all because she ends up in about only 3 scenes.This film could have gone from being a good movie, to a great movie if they would have added approximately 20 to 30 additional minutes to clear up some of the inconsistencies.

Entertaining melodrama

Outstanding performances by Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn fail to rescue this overwrought melodrama. Based on an actual incident, Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton), leaves the Seminary to take a high security clearance office job with the CIA, then hooks up with his drug-addled buddy Daulton (Sean Penn) to pass on spy satellite information to KGB officials in Mexico City.Schlesinger makes Boyce into a fairly likable individual whose motivation seems to be dislike of CIA covert operations around the world and hatred of his father. He is much more likely to arouse audience sympathy than Daulton who is shown as not too bright and spends much of the movie going deeper and deeper into a drug-induced hallucinatory state. We know the pair will eventually get caught but we don't know how. There is a fair amount of suspense, but somehow Schlesinger turns the film into standard Hollywood CIA-spy fare. What was Boyce really like and what really induced him to throw his life away and put his country in jeopardy? Was he politically motivated or just an immature sociopath? Schlesinger doesn't deal with the psychological complexities but prefers to present the story as straightforward narrative with a few not too convincing political speeches by Boyce thrown in at the end. I do like Timothy Hutton and found the movie to be entertaining, but his character never came alive for me. The fact that Boyce subsequently escaped from prison for two years and was recaptured after robbing banks fails to clarify what he was really about.

The spy next door

Based on a true story, the film details how two young men sold U.S. secrets to the Soviets in the mid-seventies during the height of American apathy and disillusion.

Taken from the excellent non-fiction book by Robert Lindsey, director John Schlesinger's film does a fine job of creating the feeling and temperament of the time but stumbles in a couple of important areas, though the leads, Timothy Hutton as Christopher Boyce and Sean Penn as Daulton Lee, are in terrific form.

Boyce was the "falcon" as he dabbled in falconry, Daulton the "snowman" due to his dealing cocaine, or snow.

Boyce was the oldest of a large Catholic family whose father was retired FBI. Boyce was given a job too quickly with TRW, at the time working with the CIA on secret projects. Working from the "Black Vault," Boyce eventually decided to sell the information he saw to the Soviets. His drug dealing childhood friend Lee became the courier who transported the data to the Russian Embassy in Mexico.

While the story flows well on screen, the film cannot deliver what the novel makes apparent, namely WHY Boyce became a traitor. Other minor nitpicks include a scene (that never occured in real life) of Boyce seeing his ex-girlfriend Alana before impending arrest added for schmaltz effect only, and a badly edited moment of him ripping apart a gift from his co-workers that leaves the viewer puzzled.

However, everything else is fine. The cast is superb, particularly Pat Hingle as Boyce's father. The look of the film is true to the era it occured in. Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays produced a compelling score, collaborating with David Bowie on the theme song.

This is not an action film, and the better for it. Instead The Falcon And The Snowman gives the viewer psychological insight into espionage. It does not go far enough but is a solidly enjoyable film and deserves your attention.

Drugs and politics make poor bedfellows

Excellent drama about 2 alienated, spoiled punks who go afoul of the federal government, each for his own reasons. One, a druggie, just wants to score some bucks for his next fix, but the other has a far more sinister agenda fueled in part by a resentment of his father. Good performances and a hot script makes this a winner.

Interesting Look at a Complex True Story

The book by the same name allows you to understand a bit more about the characters, but this is a well done film that does bring the story to life. Not all scenes are gripping, but the overall story is thought provoking. Christopher Boyce was either naive or cunning when he began his saga. By the time he went to prison he was simply a well-manipulated informer. The book and this film show that transformation well.


Read the follow-up book, The Flight of the Falcon about Christopher Boyce's escape from prison, and recapture. It would make an even better movie I think. Incidentally, when Daulton Lee got out of prison in 1998, Sean Penn hired him as part of his staff. Christopher Boyce was released a few years ago.

Penn was perfectly cast

I am not a fan of Sean Penn, but in contrast to my German colleague whose review appears here, I think he was perfectly cast as the neurotic, druggy character in this film. He has every nuance perfected and reminded me of several acquaintances who had similar tastes in "recreational chemistry." I saw this film but once, 10-15 years ago and this is the only part of the film that was etched indelibly on my mind. I don't say it very often, but in this case I will: Bravo, Sean Penn! As for the story line, well, it's based on fact, and as such, it is a tragedy that people would sell their country's secrets to the then enemy. Again, Penn has shown what you can do if you disagree with the administration. Use the freedoms you have, paid for in blood; don't break the law.

The Falcon and the Snowman

A drug dealer turned international spy! Heres a conspiracy you know is going to fail. I'am suprised these amatures carried it along so long.

still looks great

This has become one of my very favorite films. One reason is that this is when I began to see how really brilliant Sean Penn is, but I think it's more about how this film captures its time, and the dangers of naive idealism. The affluent surburban young men here both find ways to reject the perceived shallowness of their parents, the corruption of their government and the numbing reality of their circumscribed lives, but end up discovering even darker and more painful realities.

Schlesinger makes the most of his excellent cast and gets some of the most memorable performances ever from veterans like Pat Hingle and Richard Dysart. David Suchet is fantastic in his portrayal of a cold, professional KGB operative trying to deal with Sean Penn as a rapidly unravelling drug dealer.

Skip the useless scenes between Tim Hutton and a confused-looking Lori Singer and what remains is a memorable film really worth owning.

Powerful Movie

This is the type of character-driven movie you can really get lost in!

This movie is expertly acted and the partnership of Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton literally define "chemistry".

The ONLY part of the movie that didn't ring true, for me, was the Russian connection- the gentlemen would go from screaming at Sean Penn, quite convincingly, to talking to Timothy Hutton with a not-so-convincing, barely audible low toned voice.

The book had a sequal, and I was hoping the movie would too.

The scenes with Tim Hutton and Pat Hing;e as father and son are especially moving.

As a matter of fact, this movie is so good, you wish it wouldn't end.

One of my all-time favorites.

This movie is one of my all-time favorites. I think that Sean Penn did a great job acting. It is one of the few true stories that made it to film that I really like. It is in my top 10 films of all-time. I watch it over and over and never get tired of it. Great movie!

The Widening Gyre

SPOILERS.Two upper-middle-class pals (Hutton and Penn) become spies and sell secrets to the Russians. They become increasingly reckless and stupid and they are thrown out by the Russians and caught by United States authorities.On the surface it looks like an ordinary spy story, and it is, but it's more than that. It's also a story of middle-class American boredom and anomi, not unlike "The Graduate," "River's Edge," and a dozen other movies, including documentaries like PBS's "Family." If you grow up being used to get pretty much everything you want, what is there left to live for? When you don't NEED anything you haven't already got, what MOTIVATES you? If you have no aspirations, if you give no thought to the future, what makes you get out of bed in the morning or, in this case, sometimes in the afternoon? The movie paints in some higher calling in one of the kids but it's not completely convincing.The two friends seem to have been adrift for most of their lives. They don't seem to read anything. One claims to be a Democrat and the other a Republican but they don't seem interested in politics. Hutton has attended a seminary (a particular point is made of the fact) but has dropped out for reasons not made clear. Then Hutton is given a job in a secret organization processing mostly routine messages. He gets the job through the influence of his father, an ex-FBI man. He accidentally receives a few secret messages by error that indicate CIA interferences in Australia's internal affairs and the penny tumbles. That period in the seminary must have left him pretty otherworldly -- probably the Franciscans ran the place -- because this is an epiphany. Gee, the CIA are meddling in other countries. Hutton decides the Russians would be an improvement over the CIA and enlists Penn's help in selling the intel to which he is privy to the Russians through their embassy in Mexico City.Now Sean Penn doesn't give two rectal zephyrs about the Russians or the CIA's machinations or anything else except more money for drugs and for his drug-dealing business. (He's motivated okay -- he's already a fugitive from justice.) A moment's hesitation and he's aboard the trolley, sneaking into the Russian Embassy one way or another and convincing the Russkis that he's got secret info worth tens of thousands of dollars. He deals with the suave, businesslike, serious and not entirely unsympathetic David Suchet, in an excellent performance.Then things begin to first get complicated, and things begin to fall apart, evoking Yeats' imagery about the "widening gyre," the spiral that history forms like a great triton's shell: like the falcon wheeling about the falconer. Hutton is by far the more sympathetic of the two pals. He seems motivated by principle, having become cynical about US methods. He's thoughtful, precise, careful, conceals his identity from the Russians because he knows that once they find out who he is they will have no further need of Penn the middleman. He's handsome in an innocent way too, whereas Penn has a pale face, a cap of long hair, squinty eyes, and a mouth about three millimeters in width, looking as if designed expressly for the insertion of a bong stem.And, man, is he dumb. The Russians give him one of those spy cameras like a cigarette lighter and he goes around at one of his wild parties telling people precisely what it is and where he got it from and asking them to take his picture with it. (Hutton is aghast.) He gets even dumber if that's possible. Forbidden to approach the Russian Embassy openly he climbs a fence and joins a cocktail party without invitation, chatting casually with the guests. "Is that your traditional garb?" he asks a potentate from some African country. "Yes," says the diplomat, "It is garbage."Hutton is tearing his hair out by now and begins to send the Russians pictures of projects that never got off the ground, worthless information, throwing in a couple of Playboy nudes. The Russians first throw Penn out of a moving car to get rid of him for good. When Penn stands outside the Embassy banging on the door he is nailed by the Mexican police who strip him and start playing ping pong with his head, using a telephone book for a paddle. The policia give Penn a choice: deportation to the USSR or the USA. He chooses the latter and walks into the arms of the authorities waiting for him at the border, then presumably squeals on Hutton.The photography is professional in caliber, the script decent, although it leaves some of the events unexplained (why does Hutton send the Russians nude pics?), the score memorable, and the acting quite good on everyone's part. Penn has the juciest role. All actors want a chance to go berserk on screen.The movie is a complicated exploration of some important issues and comes close to being gripping. Why DO we put one foot in front of the other when we walk? Is it simply to keep from falling on our faces?

This Is Not America; NO

THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN (1985) *** Tim Hutton, Sean Penn, Lori Singer, Pat Hingle, Richard Dysart, David Suchet,Chris Makepeace, Jennifer Runyon. Fact based account of boyhood chums Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee (Hutton and a disconcertingly De Niro-esque Penn) who team up to sell top secret information to the Soviets in 1977 and their ultimate downfall. Absorbing and first rate thanks to director John Schlesinger.

ONE OF THE BEST FILMS I'VE EVER SEEN

THIS FILM IS BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF CHRISTOPHER BOYCE AND DAULTON LEE,TWO FRIENDS ARRESTED FOR SELLING SECRETS TO THE RUSSIANS. THEY BOTH HAVE DIFFERENT MOTIVES FOR THIS ACT OF TREASON. THIS FILM IS VERY POWERFUL AND SAD (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE PLAYING OF PROCOL HARUM'S "WHITER SHADE OF PALE" IN ONE SCENE THAT MAKES THIS FILM EVEN SADDER). AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE.

I was there. (TRW)

In the movie, "The Falcon and the Snowman", when they were showing Christopher Boyce around the complex, the satellite in the background was the actual Ryholite satellite that is now in space. TRW allowed interior shots. TRW also allowed both interior and exterior shots for one of the original Star Trek TV series. (The episode is the one where Spock goes blind when a string of satellite lights are activated to kill the aliens). Christopher escaped jail (Lompock) and was featured on America's Most Wanted. He was drinking in a bar when the show aired. He said, "Hey, that's me". Needless to say, he was captured and transfered to a maximum security jail.

Sean Penn's first great launch!

Two adolescents dare to play hard with a Top Security dossier. In their infinite immaturity, they think it is a piece of cake to get in and get out from this circle of espionage and betrayal. But this is far to be a simple game, once you cross the line forget it; you are inside and there is no way out; it's a real deep end where you will have t assume your own responsibilities of your own decisions. It is not a simple choice for make some money and then get out.


So once the first step has been done they will begin to deal with a double pressure of both sides; conspiracy and betrayal for one and major information requirements for the other.


A fascinating exploration about the final consequences of a trivial decision that will become for them a true mortal boomerang.

John Schlessinger with his firm hand made an unforgettable and high caliber tension thriller with a very young Sean Penn and the consecrated Timothy Hutton .

A Magnificent Tale of Disillusionment and Betrayal

There is something about true stories that makes them so much more interesting than fiction. I guess it is the fact that truth has always been stranger than fiction. The Falcon and the Snowman tells the true story about Christopher Boyce and his buddy Daulton Lee. Boyce (Hutton) is a former alter boy and intellectual, trying to find an occupation that can support and entertain him. His FBI father is able to pull some strings and get his idealist son a job working in the defense department. Boyce has few responsibilities and seems to be complacent drinking and goofing around with his co-workers. However, as time goes on, Boyce starts to learn top secret information that causes him to doubt the morality of his government. The idealist Boyce soon sees the illegal operations that the CIA is carrying out in above all places, Australia. Boyce eventually decides that he will leak some of the top secret info he is privy to, to the KGB. Of course, Boyce's mistake is the assumption that because the USA is doing bad things, the USSR is the good guy. Over time, Boyce and his drug-dealing buddy Lee (Penn), start to sell their top secret information to the KGB. What was once idealism, turns into capitalism and espionage. The strength of this movie is the incredible performances by Hutton and Penn. Although one of them starts off with the best intentions, they will both soon find themselves in an unending downward spiral. Great direction, music, everything. Not only a great film, but one of my all-time favorites.

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.

This movie raises more questions than it answers

Enter the world of Christopher Boyce and Andrew Dalton Lee. Both are from well-to-do families that turn right at every second, so to speak. But somehow, these two prodical sons, former alter boys and childhood friends, turn left, so to speak. Played brillantly by Timothy Hutton (Christopher Boyce) and Sean Penn (Andrew Dalton Lee) these two take you on a magic coaster ride from Southern California to Mexico as they sell secrets for almost 2 years to the former Soviet Embassy there. Do you feel a sense of empathy for these 2 misguided misfits that are portraying real life characters? Most certainly. Each seeks to please his own important and domineering paternal figure, yet neither one is successful in their attempts. Boyce, a high security clearance seminary drop out for a defense company, uses his childhood friend, the bumbling and drug addicted Snowman (Dalton), to right what he perceives to be a wrong...US involvment in the Aussie Government. All through the movie, the Falcon (Boyce) is the antithesis of evil, while somehow the Snowman, appears to be the antithesis of good. The only problem with this movie is that it raises more questions than it answers, that is, Where was Boyce's mindset for delivering secrets to the Soviets? Why would he send such a joke of a courier? It is easy to see why Lee would pursue such an endeavor. He was always in search of wealth, but most importantly, some form of fame. The beauty of this cinematic tale is that it raises so many more questions than need to be addressed. Is it possible that any god-fearing, government employed family, could actually bring a traitor into this world? Even worse, a spy for the former Soviet Union? A Communist spy? Where are Boyce and Lee now?? Have they survived prison life? Boyce escaped from a medium security prison for 2 years and is now in Levanworth. Ouch. But the question remains, how exactly was he found? Perhaps a sequal will answer the many question that this excellent portrayal of Boyce and Lee brings to the big screen.

Professional Espionage Thriller

Director John Schlesinger's tense and frantic film tells the true story of Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, two young men who sold United States government secrets to the Soviet Union in the early 1970's.Timothy Hutton plays Christopher Boyce very competently. He is a young man very disillusioned by the CIA's underhanded activities in allied Australia. Sean Penn, as the doped-up, drug running Andrew Daulton Lee, is outstanding.The competent and professional direction of Schlesinger, along with some very good acting, make "The Falcon and the Snowman" an espionage thriller not to be missed.Tuesday, February 4, 1992 - Video

The Agony and the Pain

The agony of people wronged and the pain of being spit out. A true story that shows how every ordinary family has great potential and great danger. How only some are enlightened to how the world really works and how some choose to ignore it. One of my favorite films and soundtracks.