based on the true story of two young americans who sold national secrets to the soviet union in the height of the cold war and falcon and the snowman wants to be both suspenseful and philosophical and and winds up falling short in both departments. it less le carré than who cares. timothy hutton stars as christopher boyce and a former seminarian who and disgusted by watergate and the middle class values around him and is probably the wrong guy to be hired by a company running spy satellites for the cia. sean penn plays his drug dealing pal and daulton lee and who makes himself boyce courier and delivering secret files to the soviet embassy in mexico city. an offbeat synth jazz score and lack of sympathy or emotional attachment for anyone and and lots of scenes of guys getting angry in rooms all combine to deaden what could have a decent moral dilemma thriller. it really penn movie despite the second billing while his character gets to talk turkey with the russians while hutton plays with his pet falcon. hutton looks like they woke him up five minutes before they called action. with penn and it a crapshoot whether you get a brilliant performance or an over the top one. here and it a bit of both and but more the latter and especially in the second half when lee switches from coke to heroin. he screeches. he snorts. he crashes russian embassy parties. he gets pummeled with telephone books. he spits at himself in a mirror and a big goober he must have been saving for a paparazzi. i do not know who my friends are anymore. he cries out. it exhausting to just watch him. penn seems to have modeled lee somewhat on dustin hoffman ratso rizzo from midnight cowboy and complete with overly nasal line readings and constant eye shifting. john schlesinger directed this film as well as midnight cowboy and but he seems to have had another hoffman film in mind and the graduate and throwing up scene after scene of boyce and lee poolside and trying to decide how to live their lives in their gilded cage. too bad no one suggested plastics. from the opening shots and news footage of american decline juxtaposed with boyce and his bird and falcon makes clear it is a message movie and though the message itself is far from clear and probably because the characters never come into focus. is boyce supposed to be an idealist. or is he just a mercenary. hutton and schlesinger do not seem to know and which makes it harder for us. meanwhile and opportunities to establish some suspense and like boyce stealing documents from the top secret black vault where he works or lee playing games with the russians and are interrupted by jump cuts to scenes of the pair with their families and friends. it the normalcy of the story that schlesinger finds interesting and but it the least interesting aspect for us. good stuff represent it interesting to see a film that works the 1970s vibe so early as this one and referencing maria muldaur and tang. dorian harewood and memorable in full metal jacket and has a nice turn as boyce paranoid colleague gene and who shows boyce how to make margaritas with a shredder but has some serious nam issues beneath his partying exterior. macon mccalman is also fine in a totally different way as the no nonsense boss who gives boyce his high security job. david suchet as the russian embassy official who deals with lee makes for a fascinating blend of menace and amiability. but falcon and the snowman stands or falls on the the question of the two title characters and and neither the actors nor schlesinger are able to mine much in the way of answers. worse and after more than two hours in their alternately feral and catatonic company and you do not really want answers. you just want those credits to roll. 
based on the true story of two young americans who sold national secrets to the soviet union in the height of the cold war and falcon and the snowman wants to be both suspenseful and philosophical and and winds up falling short in both departments. it less le carré than who cares. timothy hutton stars as christopher boyce and a former seminarian who and disgusted by watergate and the middle class values around him and is probably the wrong guy to be hired by a company running spy satellites for the cia. sean penn plays his drug dealing pal and daulton lee and who makes himself boyce courier and delivering secret files to the soviet embassy in mexico city. an offbeat synth jazz score and lack of sympathy or emotional attachment for anyone and and lots of scenes of guys getting angry in rooms all combine to deaden what could have a decent moral dilemma thriller. it really penn movie despite the second billing while his character gets to talk turkey with the russians while hutton plays with his pet falcon. hutton looks like they woke him up five minutes before they called action. with penn and it a crapshoot whether you get a brilliant performance or an over the top one. here and it a bit of both and but more the latter and especially in the second half when lee switches from coke to heroin. he screeches. he snorts. he crashes russian embassy parties. he gets pummeled with telephone books. he spits at himself in a mirror and a big goober he must have been saving for a paparazzi. i do not know who my friends are anymore. he cries out. it exhausting to just watch him. penn seems to have modeled lee somewhat on dustin hoffman ratso rizzo from midnight cowboy and complete with overly nasal line readings and constant eye shifting. john schlesinger directed this film as well as midnight cowboy and but he seems to have had another hoffman film in mind and the graduate and throwing up scene after scene of boyce and lee poolside and trying to decide how to live their lives in their gilded cage. too bad no one suggested plastics. from the opening shots and news footage of american decline juxtaposed with boyce and his bird and falcon makes clear it is a message movie and though the message itself is far from clear and probably because the characters never come into focus. is boyce supposed to be an idealist. or is he just a mercenary. hutton and schlesinger do not seem to know and which makes it harder for us. meanwhile and opportunities to establish some suspense and like boyce stealing documents from the top secret black vault where he works or lee playing games with the russians and are interrupted by jump cuts to scenes of the pair with their families and friends. it the normalcy of the story that schlesinger finds interesting and but it the least interesting aspect for us. good stuff represent it interesting to see a film that works the 1970s vibe so early as this one and referencing maria muldaur and tang. dorian harewood and memorable in full metal jacket and has a nice turn as boyce paranoid colleague gene and who shows boyce how to make margaritas with a shredder but has some serious nam issues beneath his partying exterior. macon mccalman is also fine in a totally different way as the no nonsense boss who gives boyce his high security job. david suchet as the russian embassy official who deals with lee makes for a fascinating blend of menace and amiability. but falcon and the snowman stands or falls on the the question of the two title characters and and neither the actors nor schlesinger are able to mine much in the way of answers. worse and after more than two hours in their alternately feral and catatonic company and you do not really want answers. you just want those credits to roll. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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