Gene Hackman, Mikhail Berishnikov.

Looks you think you're being a little theatrical?

Someone's got to take care of you.

Company business.

D'evidanya.

D'vidana.

D'vidane. Welcome to episode 12 of unclear and present danger, a podcast about the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade.

I'm Jamel Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section.

My name is John Gaines. I write a column for Gawker, and I'm working on a book about American

politics in the early 1990s. And today we are talking about the movie Company Business.

Company Business is a 1991 sort of comedic thriller, written and directed by Nicholas Mayer and starring Gene Hackman and Mikhail Berysnikov, along with Kurtwood Smith, who you'll recognize from That Seventy Show and Robocop.

Terry O'Quinn, who you'll recognize from Lost, he played John Locke, and Daniel Van Bargan.

It was released on September 6, 1991, and promptly flopped making $1.5 million on an $18 million budget.

Here is a quick plot synopsis.

An aging agent, it's called back by the company to run a hostage trade of a Soviet spy for an American agent.

You can find company business for streaming on HBO Max, and it's also available for rental on iTunes and Amazon Prime.

Critical reception on this movie is pretty mixed, and I think the assessments of it were more or less on target.

The movie moves very quickly.

It's like Nicholas Mayer, who directed prior to this Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan, probably the best Star Trek movie. Nicholas Mayer knows how to make a film. He knows how to keep things moving

quickly. You know, sort of make things like conversations seem exciting seem exciting and so that stuff all works but the movie is sort of

saturated with cliches and as you put it out John it sort of just kind of

falls apart at the end it's you know I really I need you to explain this movie

...