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:

Little Nikita

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$866,398, 20 March 1988

Gross USA:

$1,733,070

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,733,070

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sidney Poitier once added a compliment for his then young co-star: "I feel River Phoenix is one of our finest young actors and destined to leave an indelible imprint on American films."

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Goofs

In an early scene, Parmenter and Grant meet in an office on Air Force Academy grounds. There is a State flag and a United States flag behind Parmenter's desk. The US flag is on the right, it should be on the left.

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Quotes

Roy Parmenter: Do you have a file on Jeffrey Grant?
Verna McLaughlin: What kind of file?
Roy Parmenter: Grades... extra-curricular activities. Going back, say, a couple of years.
Verna McLaughlin: Why would I show you Jeffrey Grant's file?
Roy Parmenter: I'm FBI.
Verna McLaughlin: You could be NFL for all I care.
Roy Parmenter: Please?

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Little Nikita/Vice Versa/D.O.A./Off Limits/Stand and Deliver (1988)

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Soundtracks

'til The Next Time
Written, Produced and Performed by Charlie Mitchell

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.