Spy Game
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Tony Scott |
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| Story by | Michael Frost Beckner |
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| Music by | Harry Gregson-Williams |
| Cinematography | Dan Mindel |
| Edited by | Christian Wagner |
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126 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $115 million |
| Box office | $143 million |
Spy Game is a 2001 American spy film directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. The film grossed $62 million in the United States and $143 million worldwide and received mostly positive reviews from film critics.
In 1991, the governments of the U.S. and China are on the verge of a major trade agreement, with the President due to visit China to seal the deal. The CIA learns that its asset Tom Bishop has been captured trying to free a Briton, Elizabeth Hadley, from a People's Liberation Army prison in Suzhou near Shanghai. Bishop is being questioned under torture and will be executed in 24 hours unless the U.S. government claims him. If the CIA claims Bishop as an agent, they risk jeopardizing the trade agreement. Exacerbating Bishop's situation is the fact that he was operating without permission from the Agency.
Attempting to deal quickly with the situation, CIA executives call in Nathan Muir, an aging mid-level case officer on his last day before retirement and the man who recruited Bishop. Although they tell Muir they simply need him to act as a "stop gap" to fill in some holes in their background files, the officials are hoping he will give them the pretext they need to justify letting Bishop die. The CIA executives are unaware that Muir had been tipped off about Bishop's capture prior to arriving at CIA headquarters by fellow CIA veteran Harry Duncan, for whom Bishop had been working an operation in Hong Kong. Muir first attempts to save Bishop by leaking the story to CNN through a contact in Hong Kong, believing that public pressure would force the CIA to rescue Bishop. The tactic only stalls them, however, and is stymied when a phone call to the FCC from CIA Deputy Director Charles Harker results in CNN retracting the story.
During the debriefing, Muir describes how he recruited Bishop for an operation when Bishop was a Scout Sniper during the Vietnam War. Muir also discusses their 1976 tour of duty in Berlin, where Bishop was tasked with procuring East German assets, as well as Bishop's spy work in Beirut in 1985 during the War of the Camps, the latter being the last time the two saw each other. During the mission in Lebanon, Bishop met Hadley, and the two began developing romantic feelings. However, it is revealed that Hadley was involved in a bombing of the Chinese embassy in Britain, causing her to flee the country. Fearing that Bishop's feelings for Hadley might compromise his cover and the mission, Muir tips off the Chinese to Hadley's location in return for freeing an arrested U.S. diplomat. Chinese agents kidnap Hadley, and Bishop cuts all ties to Muir when he discovers his involvement. After learning Hadley was the target of Bishop's rescue attempt, Muir finally realizes that he has greatly underestimated Bishop's feelings for her.
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Wikipedia