The Falcon and the Snowman (film)

The Falcon and the Snowman is a 1985 film about two young American men who sold a US security secrets to the Soviet Union. The film is based on real events.

Directed by John Schlesinger
Produced by John Daly
Written by Steven Zaillian

The film has obtained some notoriety as it was overridden by a hacker named Captain Midnight while being broadcast on HBO in 1986.

Plot
The Falcon and the Snowman is based on the true story of former altar boy and former Catholic seminary student Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) and fellow former altar boy turned drug dealer Daulton Lee (Sean Penn), two young men from wealthy California families who sell classified government information to the Soviet Union in the mid 1970s.

Boyce, an expert in the sport of falconry--thus, the nickname "Falcon"--gets a job at a civilian defense contractor (TRW, though it is called "RTX" in the movie) working in the so-called "Black Vault", a secure communication facility through which flows information on some of the most classified U.S. operations in the world. Boyce becomes disillusioned with the U.S. government through his new position, especially after reading a misrouted communiqué dealing with the CIA's plan to depose the Prime Minister of Australia. Frustrated at this duplicity, Boyce decides to repay his government by passing classified secrets to the Soviets. Lee, a drug addict and small-time smuggler sometimes called "the snowman" (in reference to his cocaine sales), agrees to actually contact and deal with the KGB on Boyce's behalf, motivated not by idealism, but by what he perceives as an opportunity to make money and eventually settle in his idea of paradise, Costa Rica.

As the pair become deeper entrenched in the realm of espionage, Lee's ambition to create a full-blown espionage ring coupled with his excessive drug use begin driving the two men apart, and their Soviet handler becomes increasingly reluctant to deal through Lee as the middleman because of Lee's periods of irrationality. Boyce wants out of the ring so that he can go off to college and meets with Lee's KGB handler to explain the situation. When Lee--desperate to gain the Soviets' trust again after realizing that the KGB no longer needs him as a courier now that they have direct contact with Boyce--is spotted tossing a stack of photocopies containing classified material over the fence at the Soviet embassy in Mexico, he is arrested by the Mexican police, and a U.S. Foreign Services officer accompanies him to the police station. When the police search his pockets and find film (from a Soviet spy camera Boyce used to photograph documents) and a postcard (used by the Soviets to show the haphazard Lee the location of a drop zone), they produce pictures of the same location that was on the postcard, showing officers surrounding a dead man on the street; the Foreign Services officer explains that the Mexican police are trying to connect him with the murder of a policeman, a charge Lee denies. The police drag Lee away and torture him; hours later, he finally reveals that he is a Soviet spy-the real reason the police had been ordered to pick him up. Told by the Mexican police that he will be deported, Lee is asked where he should be deported to. Lee suggests Costa Rica; the police give him a choice between the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. Lee reluctantly agrees to go back to America and is arrested as he walks across the border.

Boyce learns of Lee's arrest and, knowing that he too will soon be captured, releases his pet falcon in a field and then sits down to wait. Moments later, the U.S. Marshals and FBI agents surround and capture him.

The movie ends with both Lee and Boyce in prisoner jumpsuits and shackles, flanked on either side by officers escorting them to prison.

Cast

Timothy Hutton - Christopher Boyce

Sean Penn - Daulton Lee
Pat Hingle - Mr. Charlie Boyce
Joyce Van Patten - Mrs. Boyce
Rob Reed - Boyce Child
Rob Newell - Boyce Child
Karen West - Boyce Child

Art Camacho - Boyce Child
Annie Kozuch - Boyce Child
Richard Dysart - Dr. Lee
Priscilla Pointer - Mrs. Lee
Chris Makepeace - David Lee
Dorian Harewood - Gene
Mady Kaplan - Laurie

Macon McCalman - Larry Rogers

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