I can’t imagine a better way to introduce the movie, Sneakers:
It’s hard for me to choose a favorite Sneakers character—there so many great ones. Even the movie’s secondary players are rendered in just enough detail to give them dimension: I love the pretentiousness of Janek, the mathematician who builds the decryption device; the unctuousness (want a cappuccino?) of Dick Gordon, the mustachioed Cosmo crony; and the boorishness of Dr. Werner Brandes, played to the hilt by the always excellent Stephen Tobolowsky.
But even that does not go far enough. Robert Redford plays his role superbly, rivaling and surpassing George Clooney in Oceans Eleven. Then there is the blind man who solves puzzles, River Phoenix as the shy computer genius, Sidney Poitier as a former-CIA agent, and who can forget Dan Aykroyd’s conspiracy theories?
If this interests you a little, if you like Oceans Eleven and caper films, or delight in well written, directed, and acted films then I demand you go see this movie . You won’t be disappointed. If you are, come back and yell at me, I’m that confident of success.
Sneakers is a true delight and you will be an admirer within the first quietly suspenseful minutes.
And if you’re obsession goes a bit deeper, here is Slate’s compulsive coverage of the movie’s 20th anniversary:
- 1 – How the 1992 Cyber Caper Sneakers Predicted the Information Age
- 2 – Why Sneakers Inspires Such Bizarrely Devoted Fans
- 3 – What Characters in Sneakers Have in Common with Steve Jobs
- 4 – Sneakers Paints a Surprisingly Unflattering Portrait of the 60s Counterculture
And, listen them discuss it in the Gabfest (the 2nd topic).