A BURGLAR, A SPY, A FUGITIVE, A DELINQUENT, A HACKER, AND A PIANO TEACHER… AND THESE ARE THE GOOD GUYS. 

A group of security experts in San Francisco, headed by Martin Bishop (Robert Redford), are forced to work for the NSA, helping them retrieve a special box from a mathematician. This movie should not work as well as it does. Overlong and thin, the story combines high-tech espionage with 1960s radicalism (symbolized by Redford’s character and his past as a student radical), but that’s far from the most interesting part. Charm and a sense of humor is what matters here. Redford contributes a lot of it, leading a colorful and very likable gang of outsiders. Another major asset: James Horner’s delicious score.

1992-U.S. 126 min. Color. Directed by Phil Alden Robinson. Screenplay: Phil Alden Robinson, Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes. Music: James Horner. Cast: Robert Redford (Martin Bishop/Martin Brice), Dan Aykroyd (Darren ”Mother” Roskow), Ben Kingsley (Cosmo), Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier… David Strathairn, Stephen Tobolowsky, James Earl Jones.

IMDb