Just to make sure I didn't miss anything...They never really tell you what is Paul Newman's character's real mission and why he must get the formula, right?
shareThat was his private mission as a scientist who looked for chance to continue his own similar research for USA gov. He must get the formula because that was missing part of work which delayed and cancelled all research. Right?
shareMcGuffin
They mention the mission in bits and pieces.
From what I gathered, both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were working on some sort of device that would act as an anti-missile missile, or some sort of shield. Sort of like the 'Star Wars' program of the 1980s that the U.S. pursued. The idea would be that the device would enable the owner country to shoot down/destroy any incoming nuclear missiles that might be launched at it. The reason why this would be so important is, if only one superpower had it, they could threaten the other superpower (and any other country) with nukes, and no one would be able to retaliate with nukes, because this new device would neutralize them. So Newman's character wants to get at the East German scientist and pick his brain, because rumor has it, that scientist has figured it out. And at the end of the film that seems to be the case, as Newman is shown studying the formula-covered blackboard until the last possible second before ditching the scientist and the police.