The Falcon and the Snowman

The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.

• Director: John Schlesinger
• Genre:Drama / Thriller
• Runtime:126 minutes

Cast

Timothy Hutton : Christopher Boyce
Sean Penn : Daulton Lee
Pat Hingle : Mr. Charlie Boyce
Joyce Van Patten: Mrs. Boyce
Rob Reed : Boyce Child

The Falcon and the Snowman is based on the true story of former altar boy and former Catholic seminary student Christopher Boyce and fellow former altar boy turned drug dealer Daulton Lee, two young men from wealthy California families who sold classified government information to the Soviet Union during 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 by this duplicity, Boyce decides to repay his government by passing classified secrets to the Soviets. Lee, a drug addict and minor 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 increasingly involved with espionage, Lee’s ambition to create a major espionage business coupled with his excessive drug use began alienating the two men from each other, and their Soviet handler becomes increasingly reluctant to deal through Lee as the middleman because of Lee’s periods of irrationality. Boyce wants to end the espionage so that he can attend college and meets with Lee’s KGB handler to explain the situation. When Lee, desperate to regain the Soviets’ regard after realizing that the KGB no longer needs him as a courier now that they have direct contact with Boyce, is observed tossing a note over the fence at the Soviet embassy in Mexico, he is arrested by Mexican police, and a U.S. Foreign Services officer accompanies him to the police station. Read more

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