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The Falcon And The Snowman Details

1984 DVD Certificate 15.gif
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 383 members

Based on an actual incident, THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN is a tale of espionage about two upper-middle class kids who, in 1977, became spies for the Soviet Union. Disillusioned with the American government, a drop-out seminary student, Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton), begins stealing classified information from his workplace. .. Read more

Starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Pat Hingle, Michael Ironside
Director John Schlesinger
Genres Drama

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The Falcon And The Snowman

Based on an actual incident, THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN is a tale of espionage about two upper-middle class kids who, in 1977, became spies for the Soviet Union. Disillusioned with the American government, a drop-out seminary student, Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton), begins stealing classified information from his workplace. With the help of his boyhood friend, strung-out cocaine addict Daulton Lee (Sean Penn), Boyce begins selling government secrets to the Soviets, with disastrous results.

Starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Pat Hingle, Michael Ironside, Chris Makepeace, Jennifer Runyon, Lori Singer, Joyce Van Patten
Director John Schlesinger
Studio MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 12 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 15.gif
Genres Drama
Language English
Dubbed French, German, Italian, Spanish
Hearing-impaired English, German
Subtitles Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
Released DVD: 08 Jan 2001
Production year: 1984
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of The Falcon And The Snowman

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    A convoluted spy thriller, with Timothy Hutton as a college dropout who obtains US secrets and, with his drug-addicted buddy Sean Penn, passes them on to the Soviet embassy in Mexico. Purportedly based on fact, the movie is about the motives for treason and the loss of moral purpose in America, underlined by some heavy-handed flashbacks to Vietnam, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King and even John Lennon. Directed with customary visual flair by John Schlesinger, from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian, who later wrote the film script for Schindler's List, it's undeniably gripping, if a little long and unfocused.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Seminary drop-out Hutton fetches up in a job deep in the heart of the CIA telex circuit; sick with his country, he... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of The Falcon And The Snowman

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  • 3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    No WMD? No wonder.

    Although it is fair to say that as a movie this is not such a great moment, the story is gripping and the acting is good. And it is surprising to see Sean Penn so young and... not much to look at as a man -- but his acting is top-notch. This is the story of a young American (Tim Hutton, great as always) who went on to work for the CIA and was appalled to discover the dirty jobs they were involved. So, he starts to give away Top Secret information to the Russians... and things start to get tough. Learning that this is a true story, it is no wonder that no one ever did find WMD in Iraq... Perhaps the only annoying thing about this movie is Penn?s character -- he is so stupid that you want to strangle him before it is too late...

      • A customer from London
      • Posted 02 Aug 2004 22:21

  • Most recent members' review of The Falcon And The Snowman

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  • 2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    The moral is, don't become a spy

    There is a lot of detail here about how a young man can get drawn into the web of espionage on idealistic grounds and then has to suffer as the whole dirty game unfolds. Some of the points that the film was trying to make were not clear to me and not all the scenes came across as truthful. Others of you may find it entirely convincing depending on your point of view. Overall the filming was of a high quality with Schlesinger adopting interesting cutting which gave the action a considerable edge. The acting from Penn and Hutton was pretty damn good (they looked so young!)and it was good to see our own David Suchet providing strong support as a KGB handler. This film seems to have been rather neglected for rental, so I am happy to thoroughly recommend it, especially to fans of Sean Penn or Timothy Hutton. This is fine work from early in their acting careers.

      • Zamy from London
      • Posted 02 Mar 2005 11:06

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Rating breakdown

383 Member ratings
  • 100
27
  • 90
20
  • 80
48
  • 70
64
  • 60
92
  • 50
51
  • 40
31
  • 30
22
  • 20
19
  • 10
9

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