Sneakers (film)
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Sneakers is a 1992 film directed by Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams) and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, and David Strathairn.
Overview
The movie is about a team of security sneakers who are tricked into finding a mysterious box that can break into any encrypted computer system in the United States.
Leonard Adleman, a computer scientist noted for his contributions to public-key cryptography (see RSA), was credited as a consultant on the film; he wrote and designed the visual aids for a lecture given by one of the characters.
The team is a diverse group of renegades, consisting of Martin Bishop (Redford), the leader and an expert hacker; Donald Crease (Poitier), a former CIA employee; Mother (Aykroyd), a paranoid expert with gadgets; Carl Arbogast (Phoenix), a young genius; and Erwin 'Whistler' Emory (Strathairn), a blind man with superb hearing. They also enlist the help of Bishop's old girlfriend, Liz (McDonnell), who teaches gifted children and wants no more to do with the team's "little club".
Several internal conflicts exist, such as between Mother and Crease about the truth of conspiracy theories concerning the CIA, and the jousting between Bishop and Liz. However, they work together seamlessly, and the team dynamic in addition to its technological aspect is a part of the appeal of this movie.
Plot
In the 1960s, Martin Brice and his roommate Cosmo had hacked into several top secret databases, but only Cosmo was caught and arrested. Twenty years later, Martin "Bishop" has been on the run for the greater part of his life. He heads up an eccentric group of hackers which is hired to break into companies to evaluate their security measures. Two men claiming to be from the National Security Agency (NSA) show up at his offices one day and, bringing up his past, strong-arm Bishop into bringing them a mathematician's secret black box, a box that is said to have its research funded by Russia. The NSA men tell Martin that the box, developed by mathematician Gunter Janek, is part of a project funded by the Russian government called 'Setec Astronomy,' but the team is unaware of its purpose or function. If Martin refuses, his alias will be revealed to the FBI, which has been searching for him for twenty years.
The team works together to steal the cunningly disguised box from Janek's office, and later, while celebrating and planning what to do with their money, they discover the box's significance. Whistler, Carl, and Mother fiddle with the circuitry and discover that one of the chips in the circuit is different from the others: it is a codebreaker ("No, it's THE codebreaker," Martin tells them). The chip can break any code, and Whistler demonstrates this by accessing several facilities such as Air Traffic Control and the power grid. Meanwhile, Martin, Liz, Crease, and his wife play Scrabble. Martin realizes that 'Setec Astronomy' does not actually mean anything and discovers it is an anagram for 'Too Many Secrets.' Crease panics over the power of what they possess and locks the area down, sending his family home and keeping the team in the office — including Liz, who is revealed to have known Martin's secret the whole time; his true identity was not known even to his colleagues. Crease rallies the others to the appropriate level of caution, telling the group, "There's not a government on the planet that wouldn't kill us all for that thing." The group tries to settle the matter as planned, but Crease and Martin call off the exchange when they discover that Janek, the box's creator, was killed the day before. Crease confronts them: "The NSA doesn't kill people, Martin — who were those guys?"
The team then discovers that Janek's grant was actually from the NSA in the first place and they have been the victim of an elaborate hoax. Martin attempts to get information from a Russian friend but is instead accosted and watches as he is framed for the Russian's murder. He is transported in the trunk of a car to an unknown location and there discovers that the mastermind behind the team's deceptive assignment is actually his old friend Cosmo (Kingsley). Cosmo frames Martin for the murder and then abandons him. Martin goes to Liz, re-assembles the team, and they attempt to end their nightmare by going to the authorities. Calling in clandestinely, they find their information is not worth enough: they must have the box to hold any leverage when dealing with the government, and so they decide to track down and steal back the box.
In a memorable scene, Martin and Whistler work to figure out the location of Cosmo's headquarters. Since Martin was in the trunk of the car for the trip and never saw the actual building, Whistler figures out where the base is based only on what Martin heard. They deduce the location based on the spaces between the seams on the concrete, ambient sounds, and the sound of railway tracks under the tires. Martin seems stumped by the last noise he heard; "It sounded like we drove through a cocktail party," he tells the others. Whistler tells the group that the location must be near a reservoir, and it is revealed that what Martin actually heard was chattering geese.
Cosmo's headquarters are veiled by a toy company, and the team once again exercises its skills in technological and social engineering. Unplanned circumstances interrupt their initial plan, but Martin manages to successfully steal the box, with the intent of brokering a deal for safety with the real NSA, only to be confronted at the last moment of escape on the roof by Cosmo. The two discuss what is really going on, an old rivalry stemming from their competitiveness. Martin ultimately hands over the box at gunpoint to Cosmo and leaves as Cosmo finds he cannot kill his friend after all. With Martin gone, Cosmo opens the box and discovers he is the victim of the simplest of pranks: the box is identical in form but completely empty.
When the group returns to their office, they find the NSA is there, armed and ready to assume ownership of Janek's work. The team knows, however, that the NSA is acting outside of its authority and very likely wants to use the box for spying on other branches of the government. They lightly blackmail the director into brokering a deal so that the group gets everything they would have bought with the payment from the original job in exchange for the box and their silence on the matter. Martin's record is cleared, Crease gets tickets for a tour around Europe (and Tahiti) with his wife, Mother gets a Winnebago (with a big kitchen and waterbed), Carl gets the phone number of a cute girl (who at that time is covering the group with an MP5), and Whistler asks for peace on earth and goodwill to all men. "We're the United States Government. We don't DO that sort of thing!" Mr. Abbott (James Earl Jones in a surprise cameo) tells them, but Martin insists that "You'll just have to try," and Abbott relents. Liz says she doesn't want anything, she is fine as she is. Finally, Martin hands over the box to Abbott and says:
- Martin: You know, it doesn't work. It never did.
- Abbott: But that's not important is it? What's important is that this never happened. This box doesn't exist.
- Martin: I never saw it before.
- Abbott: Remember that.
As the film closes a TV screen shows the news and an announcer tells us that while organizations such as the Republican Party have been forced to declare themselves bankrupt, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the United Negro College Fund have announced record earnings due to large, anonymous donations.
Trivia
- In the novelization of the film, the final encounter with the NSA happens on a bridge over a river; the Sneakers make the deal mentioned above, and then Martin reveals that he still has the chip before throwing it into the river and watching it sink.
- Much of the movie concentrates on the details of breaking into secured locations, in ways sometimes reminiscent of the TV series.
- In breaking into Cosmo's facility, the team must bypass a voice recognition device that uses the phrase "My voice is my passport, verify me." This phrase has been widely quoted on the Internet.
Cast
- Robert Redford as Martin Bishop/Martin Brice
- Ben Kingsley as Adult Cosmo
- Sidney Poitier as Donald Crease
- David Strathairn as Erwin 'Whistler' Emory
- Dan Aykroyd as Darryl 'Mother' Roskow
- River Phoenix as Carl Arbogast
- Stephen Tobolowsky as Werner Brandes
- Bodhi Elfman as Centurion S&L Night Guard
- Timothy Busfield as Dick Gordon
- Eddie Jones as Buddy Wallace
- Mary McDonnell as Liz
- Donal Logue as Dr. Gunter Janek
- James Earl Jones as Bernard Abbott (of the NSA)
External links
- [David Strathairn Online: Sneakers]
- [Leonard Adleman's recollections of Sneakers]
- [chapter on Sneakers from Condensed Cyberpunk Cinema Classics (1981-2001)]
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