Company Business (1991) 5.4
A retired CIA agent is recruited to participate in a prisoner exchange with the Russians. Director:Nicholas MeyerWriter:Nicholas Meyer |
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Company Business (1991) 5.4
A retired CIA agent is recruited to participate in a prisoner exchange with the Russians. Director:Nicholas MeyerWriter:Nicholas Meyer |
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| 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Gene Hackman | ... |
Sam Boyd
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| Mikhail Baryshnikov | ... |
Pyotr Ivanovich Grushenko
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| Kurtwood Smith | ... |
Elliot Jaffe
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| Terry O'Quinn | ... |
Colonel Pierce Grissom
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| Daniel von Bargen | ... |
Mike Flinn
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Oleg Rudnik | ... |
Colonel Grigori Golitsin
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Géraldine Danon | ... |
Natasha Grimaud
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| Nadim Sawalha | ... |
Faisal
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| Michael Tomlinson | ... |
Dick Maxfield
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| Howard McGillin | ... |
Bruce Wilson
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Louis Eppolito | ... |
Paco Gonzalez
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Toby Eckholt | ... |
Nerdy Young Man
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Elsa O'Toole | ... |
Receptionist Maxine Gray Cosmetics
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Kate Harper | ... |
Secretary
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| Shane Rimmer | ... |
Chairman, Maxine Gray Cosmetics
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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. Written by Susan Southall <stobchatay@aol.com>
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."