Little Nikita (1988)

An F.B.I. Agent works to uncover an All-American family as Soviet sleeper Agents, and gets caught up in friendship with their unaware son.

Director:

Richard Benjamin

Writers:

John Hill (screenplay), Bo Goldman (screenplay)

Stars:

Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Richard Jenkins

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sidney Poitier	...	Roy Parmenter
River Phoenix	...	Jeff Grant
Richard Jenkins	...	Richard Grant
Caroline Kava	...	Elizabeth Grant
Richard Bradford	...	Konstantin Karpov
Richard Lynch	...	Scuba
Loretta Devine	...	Verna McLaughlin
Lucy Deakins	...	Barbara Kerry
Jerry Hardin	...	Brewer
Albert Fortell	...	Bunin
Robert Madrid	...	Sgt. Leathers (as Robb Madrid)
Ronald Guttman	...	Spessky
Jacob Vargas	...	Miguel
Roberto Jiménez	...	Joaquin
Chez Lister	...	Tom

Storyline

Roy Parmenter is a veteran FBI agent who has spent the last 20 years trying to find the Russian agent who killed his partner whom he calls Scuba. When a couple of deep cover Russian agents are killed Parmenter thinks Scuba is the one doing it. The Russians who have received word from Scuba that if they want him to stop, they have to pay him. So they send a veteran Russian agent, Karpov to stop him. Parmenter was tasked with performing background checks on people applying for certain things requiring security clearance and when he comes across Jeffrey Grant who's applying to the Air Force Academy, he discovers that his parents' info is false. He also learns of Karpov coming into the country and suspects that he is here to stop Scuba and that Karpov went to the city where Jeffrey and his family live, so he decides to keep an eye on Jeffrey and his family.

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Plot Keywords:

san diego california | high school | sleeper agent | hostage | held at gunpoint | 

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Taglines:

He went to bed an all-American kid and woke up the son of Russian spies.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Sleepers

Filming Locations:

VA Hospital - 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,733,070

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's director (Richard Benjamin) and three of the top-billed cast (Richard Lynch, Richard Jenkins, and Richard Bradford) were all first-named "Richard".

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Goofs

Karpov says to Grant when he first meets him: "Call me 'tovarishch', which means 'friend'." Tovarishch is the Russian word for comrade, while Droog is the word for friend.

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Quotes

Jeff Grant: Don't give me that crap! You're out for yourself! The big caller, the major bust, the two-bit g-man, well shove it up you're ass! You're not my father. You're not even my friend.

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Connections

Referenced in American Masters: Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000)

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Soundtracks

You'll Know Love (When You Feel It)
Written by Mark Mangold and Al Fritsch
Produced by Mark Mangold
Performed by Sandra St. Victor

User Reviews

With the Benefit of Hindsight

It's easy to look back now at this film as a very average Cold War thriller, but that is with the benefit of hindsight. It's difficult for today's generation, those of the age that the Phoenix character plays, to appreciate that the world really was living with a possible Nuclear destruction if there had been an accident or serious misunderstanding.

The action and drama is really primarily psychological, with the heart of the film hinging on the Poitier and Phoenix performances. It's easy now to pass off the whole thing as a trivial character piece, but, then, the stakes were sky high and the Cold War themes were progressive and unusual. In our post Cold War world where Gorbachev and Reagan slowly recede into the mists of history it would be a shame to write of this movie without understanding the atmosphere it was made in.