Company Business (1991)

A retired CIA agent is recruited to participate in a prisoner exchange with the Russians.

Director:

Nicholas Meyer

Writer:

Nicholas Meyer

Stars:

Gene Hackman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Kurtwood Smith

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gene Hackman	...	Sam Boyd
Mikhail Baryshnikov	...	Pyotr Ivanovich Grushenko
Kurtwood Smith	...	Elliot Jaffe
Terry O'Quinn	...	Colonel Pierce Grissom
Daniel von Bargen	...	Mike Flinn
Oleg Rudnik	...	Colonel Grigori Golitsin
Géraldine Danon	...	Natasha Grimaud
Nadim Sawalha	...	Faisal
Michael Tomlinson	...	Dick Maxfield
Howard McGillin	...	Bruce Wilson
Louis Eppolito	...	Paco Gonzalez
Toby Eckholt	...	Nerdy Young Man
Elsa O'Toole	...	Receptionist Maxine Gray Cosmetics
Kate Harper	...	Secretary
Shane Rimmer	...	Chairman, Maxine Gray Cosmetics

Storyline

Rogue CIA agent Sam Boyd is called back by "the Company" to do some work. Namely a hostage trade of jailed Soviet spy Pyiotr Grushenko for an American agent the Soviets had taken. In the newly united Germany the trade goes bad and Grushenko and Boyd find themselves on the run from both the KGB and the CIA as they unravel an International espionage plot set at the end of the Soviet era. American and Soviet find themselves in an uneasy partnership as they hop around Europe trying to stay alive. Notes: Baryshnikov hated this movie he refused to even do publicity for it.

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Plot Keywords:

soviet | cia | prisoner exchange | germany | kgb | 

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Taglines:

You can't judge a man by the company that keeps him!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 September 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dinosaurs

Filming Locations:

Anguilla

Box Office

Gross:

$1,501,785 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pathé Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mikhail Baryshnikov hated this movie so much that he refused to do publicity for it.

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Goofs

While Jaffe (Kurtwood Smith) explains to Boyd (Gene Hackman) the location of the safe house in Berlin, reflections of boom mic and wheels of the dolly are visible in the office window.

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Quotes

[About East German car.]
Sam Boyd: Is it alarmed?
Pyiotr Grushenko: Only if you frighten it.

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Connections

Referenced in Ken Adam: Designing Bond (2000)

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Soundtracks

"The Boys In The Back Room"
Written by Friedrich Hollaender and Frank Loesser
Arragment and production Tony Bremner
Performed by Adèle Anderson

User Reviews

Enjoyable spy film

Gene Hackman is Sam Boyd, an old CIA agent who is dragged back into "Company Business" in this 1991 film also starring Mikhail Baryshnikov. Boyd has to funnel money to the Russians using a prisoner switch as an excuse, but it all goes awry when, during the exchange, he realizes the prisoner the Russians are sending over is someone he just saw at the airport. He aborts the switch immediately. He and his Russian (Baryshnikov) are directed to a safe house, but when it blows up, Hackman realizes the CIA wants both of them dead. So they go on the run with $2 million.

This film had a light, breezy atmosphere to it, and the two stars play it sort of like an "I Spy" episode. It's not an out and out comedy but it's pleasant and implausible enough. Someone thought that the "big reveal" about the young the woman helping the two in France made the thing truly ridiculous - I don't know why. Baryshnikov at the time of the filming was 43, and the young woman (Geraldine Danon) was 23. What's the problem? Great locations in Berlin and France, good acting, and some exciting scenes. Fun if you're not expecting "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold."