Saturday, August 24, 2013

Sneakers (1992)

Director: Phil Alden Robinson                       Writers: Phil Alden Robinson & Lawrence Lasker
Film Score: James Horner                            Cinematography: John Lindley
Starring: Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, Sidney Poitier and David Straithairn

If I had to choose one word to describe this film it would be confident. The script is confident, the direction is very confident, and the acting is extremely confident. The film moves like a precision watch, without a misstep, without hesitancy, and while never achieving anything remotely like transcendence, is so utterly entertaining in nearly every way that one could argue it doesn’t need to be brilliant. Sneakers stars Robert Redford, who had acted in only one other film before this since Legal Eagles in 1986, as a former computer hacker from the sixties who fled to Canada to avoid going to prison. When he reemerged in the United States years later, it was under an assumed name and he now runs a consulting firm that analyzes security for banks and other high-risk businesses to assess their vulnerability to theft.

The film opens with Redford as a young man, played by Gary Hershberger, and Ben Kingsley’s character, played by Jo Marr, in 1969. They are on the college administration building computers transferring funds from conservative establishment figures and giving the money to liberal causes. But when Hershberger goes out for pizza, Marr is arrested. Flash forward to a present day bank heist in progress. On Redford’s team is the brilliant David Straithairn as a blind computer hacker, Sidney Poitier as an ex-CIA man, Dan Ackroyd as an electronics wiz, and River Phoenix as the point man on the entry. But the next day the audience learns it was just a consulting job for the bank. Later, Timothy Busfield and Eddie Jones from the NSA coerce Redford and his crew into stealing a black box that can break any code. The incentive is that Redford will be cleared of any charges for his past crimes. If not, he goes to jail, where Kingsley died. But stealing the box is only the beginning of a wild ride. I could tell you more but, as the tag line to the film says . . . then I’d have to kill you.

Redford has always been an odd choice for comedic films, in my eyes, but he did have his successes in romantic comedies, Barefoot in the Park and the aforementioned Legal Eagles come to mind. He’s very good here, even without the romance. Mary McDonnell plays the love interest, such as it is, Redford’s erstwhile girlfriend who agrees to help him clear his record. This is also what I would consider David Straithairn’s breakout film, before consolidating his popularity in The Firm and L.A. Confidential. Sidney Poitier displays the kind of considerable talent at comedic timing that I first noticed in Shoot to Kill. Ackroyd is a good comedic straight man, as always, and River Phoenix is effective in one of his last roles. Kingsley doesn’t turn up until the second half of the film, but he is captivating. There are also some good smaller roles, most notably by the wonderful Stephen Tobolowsky as well as George Hearn and James Earl Jones in a cameo.

In the end, this is an incredibly satisfying caper film. It has some great twists, and the getaway scene at the end is laugh-out-loud funny. Writer/director Phil Alden Robinson is probably best known for Field of Dreams and the Tom Clancy film The Sum of All Fears, but he also penned a very effective screenplay for the Steve Martin, Lilly Tomlin romantic comedy All of Me, and was assisted on this script by two writers who had worked on War Games. Finally, the incredibly prolific James Horner provides a workmanlike, if unmemorable, score for the film. This film came along right at the time when cinema was shaking off its eighties sensibilities, and is that much better for it. Sneakers won the mystery writers’ Edgar Alan Poe award for best picture, but is just as enjoyable for its comedic elements as well and comes highly recommended.

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