On late nite TV on a B channel where it deserved to be. No recognizable plot. while the premise is two opposing spies involved in a joint prisoner trade who get double crossed, it is not an action movie, it is barely a buddie movie, and it is certainly not a suspense movie. The double cross is explained weakly. Some of the scene set ups were just stupid. It just repeated the same shtick over and over - spy buddies move from one location to another, bad spies chase them, spy buddies escape in a not really exciting way--- next scene.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Company Business
Added 2/22/2009
A good film with twists and turns ala CIA style. If you like the actors, then you will not be disappointed with this film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A So-So Spy Movie
Added 10/30/2008
While I'm a big fan of spy thrillers, Hackman, and Baryshnikov, there was something missing in this one -- either a weak screenplay, lackluster direction or both. The result is a movie with only a moderate amount of real suspense.
Both male leads (Hackman & Baryshnikov) and Geraldine Danon do creditable work in this mediocre spy thriller. I only recommend it if you have nothing else you'd really want to see or if you are avid Gene Hackman and/or Mikhail Baryshnikov fans. It's not one of their best either.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Business as usual
Added 2/13/2008
Here's a game for really long car journeys - see how many alternative titles you can remember for this one. At one time or another known as Dinosaurs, Patriots, False Passports and Russian Roulette - and there are a lot more where they came from - with Elliott Gould and Marsha Mason announced in supporting roles (neither is anywhere to be seen in the finished film), Company Business appears to have been re-edited, reshot and retitled more times than anything this side of Heaven's Gate before finally getting a brief US release to disastrous business.
The scars and indecision don't show too badly; this looks like it was always this naff. Hackman and Baryshnikov are amiable in underwritten roles as the obsolete spys set up by their respective employees when a spy swap goes wrong, but Nicholas Meyer is better at directing architecture than people (the first half-hour features some of Ken Adams best production design of the 90s) and just can't think of an ending. Watchable in a TV-movie sort of way, but nothing more.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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An old-school "cold war" spy-classics with humour and style!
Added 7/17/2007
I find this film amazing for some reasons. First of all these are the characters played by Hackman and Baryshnikov. A cynical retired CIA-agent and an arrogant KGB-agent. Rather trite stereotypes. But they are played as perfect and naturally as it is possible! I think, both actors were born to play this couple. Also very good are the performers of minor characters like the Arabian weapons dealer or the CIA-people. Second reason are the dialogues between the main characters. The third thing that makes the movie outstanding is the shown atmosphere of Berlin and Europe right after the Cold War end. I lived there at that time and it is for me like a nostalgic home video :-). The script is a bit silly, but it is a tradition for "USSR vs. USA" spy films. I think it is a classic old-school "cold war" movie with two brilliant main heroes.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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On late nite TV on a B channel where it deserved to be. No recognizable plot. while the premise is two opposing spies involved in a joint prisoner trade who get double crossed, it is not an action movie, it is barely a buddie movie, and it is certainly not a suspense movie. The double cross is explained weakly. Some of the scene set ups were just stupid. It just repeated the same shtick over and over - spy buddies move from one location to another, bad spies chase them, spy buddies escape in a not really exciting way--- next scene.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Company Business
Added 2/22/2009
A good film with twists and turns ala CIA style. If you like the actors, then you will not be disappointed with this film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A So-So Spy Movie
Added 10/30/2008
While I'm a big fan of spy thrillers, Hackman, and Baryshnikov, there was something missing in this one -- either a weak screenplay, lackluster direction or both. The result is a movie with only a moderate amount of real suspense.
Both male leads (Hackman & Baryshnikov) and Geraldine Danon do creditable work in this mediocre spy thriller. I only recommend it if you have nothing else you'd really want to see or if you are avid Gene Hackman and/or Mikhail Baryshnikov fans. It's not one of their best either.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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