Rating: 
Summary: The Agony and the Pain
Review: The agony of people wronged and the pain of being spit out. A true story that shows how every ordinary family has great potential and great danger. How only some are enlightened to how the world really works and how some choose to ignore it. One of my favorite films and soundtracks.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST FILMS I'VE EVER SEEN
Review: THIS FILM IS BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF CHRISTOPHER BOYCE AND DAULTON LEE,TWO FRIENDS ARRESTED FOR SELLING SECRETS TO THE RUSSIANS. THEY BOTH HAVE DIFFERENT MOTIVES FOR THIS ACT OF TREASON. THIS FILM IS VERY POWERFUL AND SAD (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE PLAYING OF PROCOL HARUM'S "WHITER SHADE OF PALE" IN ONE SCENE THAT MAKES THIS FILM EVEN SADDER). AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE.
Rating:
Summary: still looks great
Review: This has become one of my very favorite films. One reason is that this is when I began to see how really brilliant Sean Penn is, but I think it's more about how this film captures its time, and the dangers of naive idealism. The affluent surburban young men here both find ways to reject the perceived shallowness of their parents, the corruption of their government and the numbing reality of their circumscribed lives, but end up discovering even darker and more painful realities. Schlesinger makes the most of his excellent cast and gets some of the most memorable performances ever from veterans like Pat Hingle and Richard Dysart. David Suchet is fantastic in his portrayal of a cold, professional KGB operative trying to deal with Sean Penn as a rapidly unravelling drug dealer. Skip the useless scenes between Tim Hutton and a confused-looking Lori Singer and what remains is a memorable film really worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: still looks great
Review: This has become one of my very favorite films. One reason is that this is when I began to see how really brilliant Sean Penn is, but I think it's more about how this film captures its time, and the dangers of naive idealism. The affluent surburban young men here both find ways to reject the perceived shallowness of their parents, the corruption of their government and the numbing reality of their circumscribed lives, but end up discovering even darker and more painful realities. Schlesinger makes the most of his excellent cast and gets some of the most memorable performances ever from veterans like Pat Hingle and Richard Dysart. David Suchet is fantastic in his portrayal of a cold, professional KGB operative trying to deal with Sean Penn as a rapidly unravelling drug dealer. Skip the useless scenes between Tim Hutton and a confused-looking Lori Singer and what remains is a memorable film really worth owning.
Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: This is a well done film. The book (which is--astoundingly--out of print) is worth checking out for some points that were clumsily handed in this film. But over all it's a first-rate script, and the acting is all-around fine. In a book THE MANHUNTER, that author makes the strong point that Boyce spied, not for ideological reasons, but because he was a purely immoral sociopath. I think that's true. Incidentally, Christopher Boyce escaped from prison, went on a bank-robbing spree, and was recaptured. After confessing to the bank robberies, on top of his 40 year sentence for espionage, he had an additional 90 year prison sentence tacked on for the bank robberies.
Rating:
Summary: Good film
Review: This is one of those movies that made a large impression on me when I was in High School. It is like "Midnight Express" in that you are supposed to identify with a person who did something very wrong, but gets more than they barginned for in the end. Timothy Hutton is a somewhat under-rated actor. This film, in my opinion, shows that is one of the better actors of our time.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Movie
Review: This is the type of character-driven movie you can really get lost in! This movie is expertly acted and the partnership of Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton literally define "chemistry". The ONLY part of the movie that didn't ring true, for me, was the Russian connection- the gentlemen would go from screaming at Sean Penn, quite convincingly, to talking to Timothy Hutton with a not-so-convincing, barely audible low toned voice. The book had a sequal, and I was hoping the movie would too. The scenes with Tim Hutton and Pat Hing;e as father and son are especially moving. As a matter of fact, this movie is so good, you wish it wouldn't end.
Rating:
Summary: good movie
Review: this true life storey was good, timothy hutton and sean penns
portrayal of..wannabee spies , was a tale that needed to be told in modern day america, showing the powers that be...that it can still happen....sell out your country for the almighty dollar
Rating:
Summary: good movie
Review: this true life storey was good, timothy hutton and sean penns
portrayal of..wannabee spies , was a tale that needed to be told in modern day america, showing the powers that be...that it can still happen....sell out your country for the almighty dollar
Rating:
Summary: Sean Penn's career starts with this movie
Review: Timothy Hutton is strong but Sean Penn steals this movie with his first "adult" performance. Trying out a character that he would later do even better in "Carlito's Way," he showed Hollywood that he was now grown up, and now able to be typecast as the "slowly losing control of his life coke-addict" that he plays so well. (See Hurlyburly for the latest iteration) Not an uplifting movie by any stretch, but then not all great movies are.
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