“The Falcon and The Snowman”

This 1985 feature is based on actual events. Directed by John Schlesinger, it stars Timothy Hutton as Christopher Boyce and Sean Penn as Andrew Daulton Lee. Childhood friends and former altar boys, they grew up in one of Southern California’s wealthiest communities.

Boyce is studying to become a Catholic priest but leaves the seminary and returns home. In 1974, with the help of his father, he lands a $140-a-week job as an office boy with a defense contractor. He also reconnects with his boyhood pal Lee, now a small-time drug dealer.

Boyce quickly attracts the attention of management as an employee with a bright future. This, along with his father’s background as a retired FBI agent and a security director for another defense contractor, leads his boss to tell him “We better start making things a little more interesting around here for you or we’ll lose you.” And so, at the age of only 22, Boyce begins his odyssey into the world of espionage.

Boyce goes from running errands and delivering office mail to having some of the country’s top-secret material at his fingertips. He is receiving intel from the CIA’s worldwide spy and satellite operations. Coming on the heels of the Vietnam War, the CIA-backed coup in Chile, and a possible overthrow of Australia’s prime minister, Boyce becomes disillusioned with U.S. foreign policy. Motivated by a misguided sense of fairness, he decides to expose U.S. espionage operations.

He and Lee hatch a plan to deliver “secrets” to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. While Boyce is interested in fair play, Lee is interested in money and a chance to expand his drug operations, even suggesting Russian diplomatic couriers bring his drugs into the U.S.

Lee’s ineptness and drug addiction lead to their arrest. So sensitive is the material Boyce delivered to the Soviets, he tells FBI interrogators they do not possess the appropriate security clearance for him to discuss the matter with them. There is debate about putting him on trial for fear of the repercussions if his activities were made public.

Hutton is solid, but Penn shines, making Lee a thoroughly contemptable character. This often-overlooked thriller delves into the real world of drug dealing and espionage. Boyce, now age 71, and Lee, 73, have been released from prison, and are reportedly living on the West Coast.

To view the movie, click here.