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:

Director Nicholas Meyer was reputedly so annoyed at the studio's interference with this film's East vs West plot, that he recycled it on his next film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Mikhail and Gene are walking through the forest, they walk toward the camera which moves backwards in sync with them. At one point, the camera crew bumps some branches of a fir tree, which are seen to snap into the frame before the actors reach the tree.

Quotes:

Pyotir Grushenko: Whose ass you Americans going to kick now?
Sam Boyd: Well, always got Fidel.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

The Boys In The Back Room

Believable, rough-around-the-edges spy film.

The only reason I didn't instantly dismiss this film was because it was written and directed by Nicholas Meyer (who wrote and directed the only good Star Trek films). Gene Hackman as the lead actor lent it credibility as well, although I recall him doing B-grade films during this period, eg. Narrow Margin. The "all star" cast of supporting actors came as a pleasant surprise.

What I liked bout the film is that the story seemed "real", the characters were inspired by the real world rather than the world of movie-writing. Hackman's character ekes out a living doing petty Industrial Espionage (and not very successfully from the look of it). The bad guys aren't two-dimensional, they're doing what they believe is best. Neither side stays one step ahead, they simply wing it.

The European setting gives the film a little extra character eg. seeing one of those Trabants (with their horrible 2-stroke engine) in action. The film is rough around the edges however, with some shots given significance for no reason, and some important plot elements that if you blink, you'll miss. If I had watched this in the cinema I would have been confused by the whole thing.

I think David Mamet could take a few lessons from this film (his characters in "Heist" seem to possess a telepathic level of anticipation). Company Business is nowhere near as polished as Meyer's Star Trek films but it is enjoyable if you're willing to rewind when it stops making sense.