Company Business (1991)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Nicholas Meyer

Writer (WGA):

Nicholas Meyer (written by)

Release Date:

6 September 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Rogue CIA agent Sam Boyd is called back by "the Company" to do some work. Namely a hostage trade of...

Plot Keywords:

CIA | KGB | Spy | Double Agent | Eiffel Tower Paris

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Dinosaurs (USA) (working title)
False Passports (USA) (working title)
Patriots (USA) (working title)
Russian Roulette (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Anguilla

Company:

Pathé Entertainment

Trivia:

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

Goofs:

Continuity: When they climb out of the lake after jumping from the apartment window, Grushenko's clothes are soaking wet but his hair is completely dry and in place.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ken Adam: Designing Bond (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Boys In The Back Room

Highly underrated, if somewhat uniform

Decently scripted and well acted, Company Business missed many people's radars. Take a few seconds out to remember that its setting is the time that it was filmed - while the jokes may seem dated now, they were funny at the time for a Europe waking up to the end of the iron curtain. The two leads have decent chemistry and the supporting roles are well done - it's actually nice to enjoy the film for having no unnecessary love interest to distract the story.

It will never be an awards contender by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not Gene Hackman's finest hour, it's still worth watching.