i want you to hit me as hard as you can
there isn't a government on this planet that wouldn't kill us all for that thing
hey everybody this week on the best movie you never saw we're taking a
look back at sneakers a 1992 comedy heist movie starring robert redford cindy poitier
dan aykroyd ben kingsley and the late river phoenix
this movie was released in the very early days of the internet you see sneakers even predates
the sandra bullock movie the net by a whole three years and features high-tech wizardry
like floppy disks and dial-up modems things that may seem ancient to younger audiences but evoke
nostalgia for elder millennials like myself we're getting too old for this and sure enough when we
saw this movie as kids in the early 90s we were blown away by the stuff they were doing and the
gadgets that they were using this thing was like james bond in the 10-year journey from idea to
screenplay it was not until robert redford came on board to star that the project began to attract
talent in front of and behind the camera sneakers mark redford's first leading role in a studio film
since 1990's big flop havana it also hit theaters only one month before redford's oscar-winning
directorial effort a river runs through it with a cast populated by oscar nominees and winners
directed by phil alden robinson best known for helming field of dreams and the sum of all fears
sneakers would go on to become a moderate box office success grossing 105 million dollars
worldwide against the 23 million dollar budget critics were lukewarm when sneakers debuted
i've had a bad night really with many citing a pleasant sense of humor loose
tone and cheerfulness despite tension in the right moments hi how are you fine how are you
roger ebert was unimpressed and gave it two and a half stars calling the film thin it retains
a fresh reading on rotten tomato and even as recently as 2016 nbc was developing a series
adaptation of it however i'd wager that most modern film audiences at least those of us who
didn't grow up in the 80s and 90s haven't seen the film written by lawrence lasker and walter f parks
sneakers was first developed when the duo scripted the 1983 hacking classic war games shall we play a
game oh that film directed by john battam was heavily rooted in real world technology
something that would play a factor in sneakers as well computer scientist leonard aldman one of the
creators of the renowned encryption technology rsa he's the a was the mathematical consultant
on sneakers alderman joined the project to lend realism to the hacking scenes and built
slides featuring unbreakable codes adelman took the job primarily so that his wife
would get the chance to meet robert redford i mean look at him you get all the fun stuff
sneakers is a movie that is aimed at adult audiences especially with the median age of
the cast being in at around 50. that said as a kid i thought this was the greatest movie ever
aside from the presence of river phoenix the film is pretty mature and adult oriented although it's
still managed to only get about a pg-13 because there's actually not much violence in the film
phoenix himself apparently took the role purely for the paycheck as it was a light gig in contrast
to the psychological torture he experienced on his prior film 1991's my own private idaho to avoid
the film from being considered a kid-friendly movie phil alden robinson intentionally had
profanity added to keep it from earning a pg because the pg rating was seen as the kiss of
death if you love him if you love him if you love him and give him head whenever he wants give him
help this is likely the reason the movie remains so underappreciated to this day
it didn't have the young stars of war game or the action of mission impossible this was a movie
that appealed to fans of the cast rather than the material those who've watched this movie know that
it's a balance of heavy techno speak with a heist element that really makes this the nerdy version
of ocean's eleven robert redford however is the coolest he had been in years as martin bishop
whose name is a nod to names on the list featured in three days of the condor which also stars
redford and is a techno thriller he leads a small company in this movie who break into places to
show the holes in their security system a pair of men show up claiming to be with the nsa and reveal
they know about martin bishop's true identity because you see he was a hippie in the 1960s
who hacked into a government computer and is now on the run from the fbi call us at this number
mr bryce
now in exchange for keeping his secret the nsa want redford and his crew to
steal a black box that ends up being the ultimate code-breaking device
and it's worth noting that during production robinson was actually visited by representatives
from the office of naval intelligent who cited national security concerns with the black box
featured in the movie this through robinson as the movie hinges on such a device and it was not
until he met with universal studios legal counsel that he discovered it was just a prank to this day
it remains unclear who set up the elaborate joke but all signs point to either redford or co-star
dan aykroyd now the camaraderie evident behind the scenes is very visible in the finished film
every cast member looks to be having fun in the roles redford naturally is the debonair leading
man his devil may care persona is balanced by sydney poitier here playing the more button-down
straight man opposite redford's loose cannon poitier who'd previously starred with river
phoenix in the 1998 neo-noir little nikita was coming off the abysmal failure of what would be
his final directorial effort the 1990 bill cosby comedy ghost dad here he plays donald crease a
family man and the voice of reason in the group when i originally watched this movie i didn't
appreciate the comic timing that poitier brings to his performance but recently watching it made
me want so badly for more roles like this from the legendary actor seeing him deliver the line
[ __ ] mess with me i split your head harkens back to some of the sum of pointy's most famous lions
including of course they call me mr tibbs and is the most badass moment in the movie the same can
be said for both dan aykroyd and david strathearn who play darren roskoff aka mother and irwin emery
aka whistler respectively both men dive into their more neurotic characters who are written to be
comic relief yet have much more depth to them fellas janice's little black box is on his desk
between the pencil jar and the lamp uh whistler i i hate to tell you this but you're blind aykroyd a
renowned believer in the paranormal and conspiracy theories gets to play with these tall tales
including references to using technology that was part of faking the apollo moon landing this ltx
71 concealable mic is part of the same system that nasa used when they faked the apollo moon landings
now the astronauts broadcast around the world from a sound stage at norton air force base
in san bernardino california stratharin plays whistler a blind computer hacker
as something of a smart ass but one who earns the respect of his teammates portraying a blind person
hacking computers is not the most cinematic concept but close-ups on straighthand's face
and creative editing with his braille friendly computer keyboard end up delivering some pretty
well executed moments and of course there's a car chase and whistler is driving and he's
blind it's crazy what follows is redford and his teep assembling the crew including martin's ex
played by the lovely mary mcdonnell who factors into one of the film's most memorable sequences
the key to breaking into the lab requires the voice print of warner brands played by character
actor extraordinaire stephen tobolowski liz played by mcdonald goes on a date with him
and must get him to say a series of words that bishop's team can assemble
into the needed passphrase from dinner at a chinese restaurant back to an intimate encounter
him and liz interact while the team observes from a distance the scenes are intense as they
are hilarious and tablowski apparently said during the 20th anniversary retrospective
that he improvised a lot of his dialogue because phil aiden robinson the director just told him to
do anything that he could to make mary mcdonald laugh i really love the sound of your voice
really i always thought it was kind of nasal and pinched eventually the film reveals the big twist
that involves sir ben kingsley doing one of the oddest accents of his career the world isn't run
by weapons anymore or energy or money it's run by little ones and zeros little bits of data
kingsley plays cosmo the former partner of martin bishop who has turned to the dark side
thanks to being abandoned by his friend think of their dynamic as what would have happened if
somebody double-crossed bill gates or steve jobs and you have kingsley's cosmo his limited screen
time is used efficiently and sets the table for kingsley's future villain turn as trevor slattery
in the marvel cinematic universe but i guess the less said about his role in iron man 3 the better
don't hurt the face i'm an actor the mandarin see it's not real while kingsley's appearance in the
original film was a bit surprising seeing as how the oscar-winning gandhi actor was more associated
with marquis and artsy fair his inclusion in sneakers is another example of how the talent
behind the scenes took this opportunity to work with their peers and have some fun
i mean think about the fact that sneakers counts three oscar winners and five nominees in the cast
and tobolowsky mentioned that during production the actors went virtually unrecognized on set
as universal studio visitors were more focused on the sets from e.t and jaws to notice the
parade of stars in front of them having grown up appreciating the films of redford poitier
kingsley as well as of course phoenix the late great river phoenix mcdonnell and david stratharin
and even newcomer donald logue who has a nice little part in this movie this was and remains an
impressively star-studded cast it's interesting to note that as far as action goes the movie relies
much more on intense moments in vans and back offices rather than gun play or combat it may
all seem quaint considering how primitive the technology looks compared to what we have today
and steeped in old school hacking and phone freaking sneakers still manages to age pretty
well despite modern audiences going into it with internet access on the touchscreen smartphones for
those of us from the old days of dial-up modems and aol sneakers is a bit of a blast from the past
chock full of easter egg references to movies like back to the future thx 1138 the manhattan project
the conversation the hunt for october and many more sneakers is much funnier than you would think
and far more entertaining than the bland poster makes it out to be there are tons
of quotable lines throughout the movie but i guarantee you you find yourself saying
too many secrets or my voice is my passport and verify me my voice is my passport
this is a film full of dated technology that should not hold up but
thanks to an impeccable cast who are having the time of their lives it does
we're the good guys marty gee i can't tell you what a relief that is
dick thank you for watching the best movie you never saw if you like this kind of content
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