The Package (1989 film)

The Package
Directed by	Andrew Davis
Produced by	Beverly J. Camhe Tobie Haggerty
Written by	John Bishop
Starring	Gene Hackman Joanna Cassidy Tommy Lee Jones John Heard Dennis Franz Reni Santoni
Music by	James Newton Howard
Cinematography	Frank Tidy
Edited by	Billy Weber Don Zimmerman
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release dates	August 25, 1989
Running time	108 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million
Box office	$10,647,219

The Package is a 1989 political thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy and Tommy Lee Jones. Set during the Cold War, the film portrays an assassination conspiracy within both the U.S. and Soviet militaries. The Americans and Soviets are about to sign a disarmament treaty to completely eliminate nuclear weapons, but elements within each country's military are vehemently opposed to such a plan and determined to stop it at all costs. Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out of four, calling it "smarter than most thrillers".^[1]

Plot

Gene Hackman stars as Johnny Gallagher, a Special Forces Master Sergeant in the United States Army who is assigned to escort a prisoner, an Army deserter named Thomas Boyette (Tommy Lee Jones), from West Berlin back to the United States. When Boyette escapes, Gallagher pursues him and discovers that Boyette is actually a professional assassin hired to kill the leader of the Soviet Union (clearly resembling Mikhail Gorbachev) after a meeting in Chicago with the President of the United States. Gallagher is joined by his ex-wife Eileen (Joanna Cassidy), a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the U.S. Army, and Chicago police Lt. Milan Delich (Dennis Franz).

Cast

• Gene Hackman as U.S. Army Master Sergeant Johnny Gallagher
• Joanna Cassidy as U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Gallagher
• Tommy Lee Jones as Thomas Boyette / Walter Henke
• John Heard as U.S. Army Colonel Glen Whitacre
• Dennis Franz as Chicago Police Lieutenant Milan Delich
• Pam Grier as U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Ruth Butler
• Reni Santoni as Chicago Police lieutenant
• Ron Dean as Karl Richards
• Ike Pappas as himself
• Carlos Sanz as Johnny's Field Soldier
• Cody Glenn as Johnny's Field Soldier
• Harry Lennix as Johnny's Field Soldier
• Chelcie Ross as Gen. Hopkins
• Nathan Davis as Mikhail Gorbachev
• Anatoly Davidov as Russian Colonel
• Marco St. John as Marth

Production notes

Although the story takes place in Germany, Washington, D.C., Arlington, Virginia, and Chicago, the film was shot entirely in Chicago and at the Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten).

Reception

The Package holds a 64% "fresh" rating on rotten tomatoes based on 14 reviews.^[2]

Home video

The film was first released on VHS by Orion Home Video in 1989. It was re-released by MGM Home Entertainment in 1999, released under the MGM Movie Time series. The film was finally released on DVD on January 18, 2000.

References

1. Roger Ebert (August 25, 1989). "The Package". rogerebert.com.
2. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/package/?search=the%20package

External links

• The Package at the Internet Movie Database
• The Package at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Package at Box Office Mojo