Sneakers – Review

It’s December, 1969 and a snowy night. From a US Treasury Department terminal, a gloved hand confirms a generous from the Republican Party to the Black Panthers. Two young college aged burglars Marty and Cosmo are making mischief, donating money and causing political chaos. Too bad they can’t get course credit for it! Marty goes for a pepperoni pizza, but his cold car won’t start and he then notes the police closing in on the building Cosmo is still in.

Well, there goes that plan. Cosmo is swooped up by the authorities as Marty runs off, fleeing a guaranteed criminal charge. Years later, Martin Bishop (Redford) has a new identity and is in a surveillance van, along with Crease (Poitier) and Whistler (Strathairn). They watch security guard rotations at the target building while Mother (Akroyd) slashes into the alarm wiring.

Next, Bishop, Crease and Carl (Phoenix) bust into the bank, looking to hack the computer and successfully move around some money. Bishop gets into the systems looking for all sorts of ways to steal funds. Buuut… he is actually there on behalf of the bank. Martin’s crew is hired in order to look for security vulnerabilities and deficiencies.

Bishop’s crew is made up of people with fuzzy at best records and past problems. When the National Security Agency comes calling, they offer a chance to protect communications and break adversarial codes. They have a job which may be something, or it may be nothing, but they need to know. The NSA is not equipped for this type of operation, but Martin’s crew is. It’s kind of… illegal, but also pays $175,000 and a cleaned-up record.

Will Bishop take the NSA up on the offer, and if so, what is the job at hand? Sneakers is a fairly good plot setup with some comedic elements and a great ensemble of actors. It runs a tad long, but has enough intrigue to keep the story running for most of its time, and the excellent cast boosts the experience.

Just start with a very light surveillance. Maybe try level 3.