'Sneakers'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Kyle Brandt, and Joanna Robinson crank up the studio to 98.6 degrees to rewatch Robert Redford in 'Sneakers,' alongside Sidney Poitier, Mary McDonnell, Ben Kingsley, Dan Aykroyd, and River Phoenix.
Cast
Robert Redford as Martin Bishop
Sidney Poitier as Crease
Dan Aykroyd as Mother
River Phoenix as Carl
David Strathairn as Whistler
Ben Kingsley as Cosmo
Mary McDonnell as Liz
James Earl Jones as NSA Agent
Stephen Tobolowsky as Werner Brandis
Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
Music by: James Horner
Notes
- Part of Redford Month on The Rewatchables.
- Budget of $23 million, grossed $105.2 million globally ($50 million domestic).
- Director/co-writer Phil Alden Robinson worked on the script for ~10 years, starting after War Games.
- Score by James Horner featuring Branford Marsalis on saxophone. Nick Britell (Succession composer) wrote about his obsession with the score.
- Kyle calls it 'the most underrated movie of the entire 1990s.' Joanna calls it 'a perfect movie.'
- Cosmo's speeches about data/information controlling the world are eerily prescient about Silicon Valley, AI, and the 2020s.
- Everyone followed Redford into the movie – once he signed on, no one said no. The character was originally written younger (~42), but they cast 56-year-old Redford.
- Aykroyd originally wanted to play Cosmo; they gave him the conspiracy-theorist Mother instead.
- The movie's title, poster, and tagline ('We'd tell you what this movie is about, but then we'd have to kill you') are universally considered terrible and blamed for hurting its legacy.
- The consulting mathematician Len Adleman (the 'A' in RSA encryption) helped with the script; he agreed partly so his wife could meet Robert Redford.
- River Phoenix took the role as 'an easy money job' after the intensity of My Own Private Idaho.
- Bill's 'unanswerable question': Did Robert Redford wear a wig throughout his career? He spent 40 minutes researching this.
Categories
Quote from Rog's review:
“It's a sometimes entertaining movie, but thin.”
Ebert gave it 2.5 stars. Said 'one of the weaknesses is the way it pretends to be a techno thriller, when in fact it recycles much older traditions.' Kyle responded: 'I'm not claiming it's a deep movie, but it matters that things are fun and not stupid.'
- Bill: Figuring out where Marty was taken – the cocktail party/sound reconstruction scene with Whistler. 'The way all 5 of them work together, using their individual skills.'
- Joanna: The cocktail party scene; also the Scrabble tile sequence combined with Whistler/Carl/Mother testing the black box.
- Kyle: The final heist/fortress sequence – Marty doing the slow walk across Cosmo's office at 2 inches per hour in the 98.6-degree room.
- Bill: Redford's baseball jacket (resembles The Natural jacket); computer dating as a plot point.
- Joanna: Redford's light-wash dad jeans; Mary McDonnell's feathered hair; Bay Area real estate/parking being affordable; the James Horner score.
- Kyle: Gene Siskel introducing the movie by highlighting Timothy Busfield from 'thirtysomething' over bigger stars.
- Craig: Hiding something in an answering machine; car phone as a plot point.
- Joanna: Information-age paranoia; emotionally stunted Silicon Valley men trying to run/ruin the world. Cosmo's speeches are scarily prescient.
- Bill: Republican barbs in 2025 context; Redford's old orange VW Karmann Ghia convertible; 'I will not shoot my friend / shoot my friend' bad-guy standoff moment.
- Kyle: Screenwriting hack of naming a villain 'Dick' for an easy punchline.
- CR (noted by Joanna): Nick Britell's essay praising the James Horner score as one of the great underappreciated compositions.
- Bill: Redford being 56 playing a younger role; Scrabble tiles declining in relevance; Redford and McDonnell having the exact same haircut.
- Joanna: Some of Whistler's 'TV wonder' moments (blindness as superpower); tech aspects.
- Kyle: The seduction scene in the math guy's office is too SNL-sketch silly.
- Craig: Early-90s tech depictions feel primitive compared to 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'Enemy of the State'.
- Bill: 'Bad Bad Leroy Brown' sung in Chinese at the Chinatown karaoke bar.
- Also: Aretha Franklin's 'Chain of Fools' at the party; Dylan's 'Everybody Must Get Stoned' in background.
- Kyle: The black box / MacGuffin – never fully understood how it works.
- Bill and Joanna: Ben Kingsley – 'he's in a completely different movie from everyone else. Bizarre accent. Terrible running form.' Bill created multiple awards for him: the Judd Nelson 'different movie' award, the overacting award, and a new 'Steven Seagal running double' award.
Bill: Ben Kingsley gets the overacting award – bizarre accent, over-the-top villain performance that clashes with the rest of the cast's lighter tone.
- Joanna: This is Redford's best film of the 1990s and his last great movie (acting). 'I don't think it's particularly close.'
- Kyle: Marty Bishop's slow walk across Cosmo's office is more impressive than anything Ethan Hunt ever did in 'Mission: Impossible'. 'A 56-year-old man who's been knocked unconscious 3 times in the last couple days, doing this in a room that is 98.6 degrees with shotguns coming if he goes 3 inches per second instead of two.'
- Bill: In 2025, 'Sneakers' might be Redford's most popular movie among people under 40.
- Jack Black initially passed; was bullied into doing it (different movie – for the podcast).
- Aykroyd originally wanted to play Cosmo; they gave him Mother instead.
- Bob Dylan was considered for the Springsteen-type cameo spot (wrong movie – mixing with 'High Fidelity').
- Joanna noted there are no casting what-ifs because once Redford signed on, everyone said yes immediately.
- Stephen Tobolowsky – incredible 3-year run: Thelma & Louise, 'Basic Instinct', Single White Female, 'Sneakers', 'Groundhog Day'. Kyle: 'Should rename this the Stephen Tobolowsky Best That Guy Award.' 'Is there a better three-year that guy run?'
- Also: Eddie Jones, the woman who plays Amy Benedict.
- Redford: Not this movie specifically.
- River Phoenix: 'Stand By Me' or My Own Private Idaho.
- Sidney Poitier: 1967 (In the Heat of the Night + Guess Who's Coming to Dinner).
- Walking one inch per hour to evade sensors: Yes.
- Scrabble tiles: Yes.
- Ceiling vent climbing: 'Die Hard' (John McClane) still holds.
- Name 'Cosmo' in pop culture: Still Seinfeld.
Hanks (perfect fit). But older Tom Cruise as Cosmo circa 2005 with 'Magnolia'/Vanilla Sky energy was floated.
Spielberg clearly – 'Scorsese version would have De Niro as Bishop, Pesci as Cosmo.'
Aykroyd's part (Mother) or possibly River Phoenix's part (early Hoffman doing doofy roles like 'Twister').
Bill: Willem Dafoe as Cosmo (Kyle's pick, universally liked). Jon Voight doing evil Bud Kilmer energy. William Hurt (Bill's initial thought; Joanna said too normal).
- Bill: Redford's potential wig (40-minute research tangent). The 1969 opening scene pizza order being 'wrong' (who orders pepperoni in 1969?).
- Joanna: The Sputnik reference button at the end of the opening car scene 'tries too hard.'
- Bill: The Scrabble tiles from the movie.
- Craig: The 49ers hat Redford wears.
- Joanna: The black box itself.
Look at a stranger's shoes to determine how important the interaction is.
- Bill and Joanna: War Games.
- Kyle: Patriot Games.
Debated between Redford and Poitier – no single consensus winner. Bill notes it's really an ensemble win.