Synopsis
The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Timothy HuttonChristopher Boyce
- Sean PennDaulton Lee
- Pat HingleMr. Charlie Boyce
- Joyce Van PattenMrs. Boyce
- Art CamachoBoyce Child
- Richard DysartDr. Lee
- Priscilla PointerMrs. Lee
- Chris MakepeaceDavid Lee
- Dorian HarewoodGene
- Macon McCalmanLarry Rogers
Recommandations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
This is a movie about spies, but it is not a thriller in any routine sense of the word. It's just the meticulously observant record of how naiveté, inexperience, misplaced idealism and greed led to one of the most peculiar cases of treason in American history. - 100
Chicago Tribune
This odd-couple angle is a terrific formula for a movie, creating at least three stories: The plight of each man, their joint effort to accomplish their goal and the changing dynamic of their relationship as the story progresses. As if that weren't enough, The Falcon and the Snowman also turns into a how-to movie with a fine sense of detail for the worlds of espionage and drugs. But towering over all of this--and even over the angry politics of the film--are two special performances by two extremely talented young actors. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
Both a spy drama and an intriguing character study. Penn invests his Snowman with fascinating eccentricity and is the more interesting of the pair, though Hutton delivers an estimable performance as the sullen young falconer. - 75
The A.V. Club
Schlesinger’s portrait of his two characters’ scheme, which comes to involve transactions with KGB handler Alex (David Suchet) and unravels courtesy of Andrew’s burgeoning heroin habit, is consistently suspenseful, thanks to swift pacing and a script that mires itself in its protagonists’ confusion and paranoia. - 70
The New York Times
A very curious though effective entertainment, a scathing social satire in the form of an outrageously clumsy spy story told with a completely straight face. - 70
Variety
All the way through The Falcon and the Snowman director John Schlesinger and an exemplary cast grapple with a true story so oddly motivated it would be easily dismissed if fictional. Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn are superb. - 50
Time Out
Hutton succumbs firstly to a thin role, and secondly to the film's lack of any strong viewpoint about its leading men. As usual Schlesinger is more than half in love with what he might be satirising. - 50
Washington Post
Everything about this movie is backwards -- where Lindsey was fascinated by the way political and cultural themes were engrafted on what was essentially just a scam, Schlesinger starts with an idea of an era, then contends that his characters were the products of it. Instead of a story, there's just a lot of footage of the falcon flying around, toting his subjective camera, and, like the audience, at the end of its tether.
