MovieChat Forums > The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) Discussion > Best scene? (spoiler)

Best scene? (spoiler)

posted 13 years ago by Alfabeta
2 replies | jump to latest

I can't decide between two.

There's the scene where Penn is offered to choose a country and he, with his hope that he might still squirm his way out of all this, suddenly awakened by the imposed question, says Costa Rica. When that cop says "America or Russia" chill went down my spine. With that one sentence he smashed Penn's unrealistic hope to pieces and sealed his faith.
Pulled the rug right out from under him.

There's also the scene where Hutton at the hight of his paranoia tears the stuffed owl apart. Brilliant.

Oh, and the scene where Penn is getting his head smashed in with the phone book sure looked painfully real.

[–] chailey 12 years ago

My favorite scene is the one between Boyce and his Russian handler, Alex. It's been a while since I watched the film, but Boyce more or less sticks up his nose at Alex's suggestion that he go back to the U.S., go to college, get a degree in international studies and eventually aim for a government job--in other words, start on the path to being a mole. Boyce says words to the affect that he's not a spy like Alex. Alex explodes and pretty much tells Boyce that he is a spy, just not a very good one.

This film is the only one that I've seen that actually had me feeling sorry for KGB agents! They had the sheer incredulity that professionals feel when having to deal with inept amateurs.

[–] melora72 10 years ago

I haven't seen the film in years but there is one scene that had an emotional resonance that I still remember. It is when the Hutton character's father encourages him to recite a poem he used to know but he refuses to or says he doesn't remember it. Then he recites it emotionally. It was a patriotic poem and part of it was something like:

Ours is not to question why, ours it but to do or die.
Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.