Sneakers

Synopsis: Martin Bishop is the head of a group of experts who specialise in testing security systems. When he is blackmailed by Government agents into stealing a top secret black box, the team find themselves embroiled in a game of danger and intrigue. After they recover the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode all existing encryption systems around the world, and that the agents who hired them didn't work for the Government after all...
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Director(s): Phil Alden Robinson
Production: Universal Pictures
  2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Rotten Tomatoes:
80%
PG-13
Year:
1992
126 min
779 Views


Transfer to 53-01138.

What'd we just do?

The Republican Party just made

a donation to the Black Panthers.

- Farm out.

- Right arm.

- Who's next?

- Let's see.

Richard Nixon's personal checking account

is in here.

This is a challenge.

Marty, we have to find somebody

truly worthy to give his money to.

How about the National Association

to Legalize Marijuana?

Perfect. How much should he give?

He's a generous man. I'd say,

all he's got. God, I'm hungry!

Marty...

...you're sure we will not

get into trouble for this?

Cosmo, trust me.

Posit:
The phone company

has too much money.

- Good one.

- Consequence?

They're corrupt. Result?

The system perpetuates itself

at the expense of the people.

- Conclusion?

- Ma Bell needs to donate some money.

We're gonna change the world.

I just wish we could get course credit

for this. Gosh!

You gotta eat. You want some food?

Loser goes.

I never lose.

Pepperoni pizza, please.

Shaken, not stirred.

- Power to the people, Cos.

- Power to the people, Marty.

One cannot trust anybody these days.

No, don't do this.

Marty! Marty!

Martin.

Martin.

It's time.

How're we doing?

Carl's in position on the fire escape.

Mother's in the cable vault.

Whistler is reading.

We're up.

What's with the lobby?

Still just the one guard.

Okay, Mother,

try the ones coming off the blue trunk.

Nope.

Try the ones coming off the white trunk.

These don't sound right.

Hold on.

We even have photos

of the guy leaving the embassy...

...through the back service entrance.

Hey, Crease, you on?

Yeah, I'm on.

Were you still in the CIA in '72?

Yeah, why?

Did you know the Deputy

Director of Planning...

...was in Managua, Nicaragua,

the day before the earthquake?

What are you saying?

The CIA caused the Managua earthquake?

I can't prove it, but...

I can't talk to that guy.

Hold on, Mother. Go back one.

Bingo!

Securing bridge clips.

Preparing to sever master alarm circuit.

Five, four...

I looked in that box just now.

There wasn't anything there.

Nice bank?

You wouldn't believe what I had to do

to get a safe deposit box.

Sh*t. We're gettin' too old for this.

- Westguard Security.

- Yeah, I got a fire at Centurion Bank.

We got the alarm. Are there any

secondary indications? Smoke or flame?

No.

Probably a false alarm. We've been

getting them in your area all night.

- See if it resets.

- Man, I don't know.

- Sure you know which one to cut?

- Yes! The alarm's always the green one.

Good, Carl.

I'm not waitin' any longer.

I'm callin' the fire...

It stopped. Sorry.

- No problem. And, son?

- Sir?

- Good work.

- Thank you, sir.

All yours, Bish.

So, how much do you want?

$80,000, $90,000, $100,000.

Okay.

May I ask why you're closing

your account with us today, sir?

I just had this weird feeling

that my money wasn't safe here anymore.

Gentlemen, your communication lines

are vulnerable.

Fire exits need to be monitored.

Your rent-a-cops are a tad undertrained.

Outside of that,

everything seems to be fine.

You'll get our full report in a few days.

But first, who's got my check?

So, people hire you

to break into their places...

...to make sure no one

can break into their places?

It's a living.

Not a very good one.

Thank you.

Is that him?

Yeah, that's him.

Who's got the report for the bank sneak?

- I'm gonna type it up later.

- You are?

We haven't paid the typist since January,

so it's me or Whistler.

- Better Whistler.

- We've got customers.

- Shoes?

- Expensive.

Look busy, guys.

- Mr. Bishop. Dick Gordon.

- Hi.

- Buddy Wallace.

- Hi.

- We've heard great things about you.

- They're all true.

Thanks, Carl.

Let's go to the conference room.

You can tell us how we can help.

- Okay.

- Thank you.

- So here...

- Before we begin...

...there's something we'd like to clear up.

Most firms of this type are staffed

with ex-law enforcement types.

But your team...

- I know, kind of different.

- Yes, you are.

Darren Roskow, also known as "Mother".

Eighteen months at Dannemora

for breaking and entering.

Yeah, he was framed. But he's got

the best hands in the business.

Carl Arbogast, age 19.

Caught breaking into the Oakland School

District computer to change his grades.

I know. We're the ones who caught him.

Irwin Emery, also known as "Whistler".

He had some little problem

with the phone company.

Sixty-two counts?

You want law enforcement?

How about Donald Crease?

Twenty-two year veteran of the CIA.

Terminated, 1987. Why was that?

I don't know. I think a personality conflict.

Who are you?

Relax, Marty.

We have to check these things.

Everybody on your team has had

some sort of problem in their past.

And then there's Martin Bishop.

He doesn't seem to have a past.

Sorry to waste your time.

I don't work for the government.

We know.

National Security Agency.

You're the guys I hear breathing

on the other end of my phone.

No, that's the FBI.

We're not chartered

for domestic surveillance.

I see. You just overthrow governments,

set up friendly dictators.

No, that's the CIA.

We protect government communications,

try to break the other fellow's codes.

We're the good guys, Marty.

I can't tell you what a relief that is, Dick.

All right, that's enough.

Let's go.

If you change your mind...

...call us at this number...

...Mr. Brice.

Help me out?

Spare a quarter? Help me out.

The government's taken away my home.

Talk to him.

Well, if it isn't Robin Hood.

I could've joined the NSA, but

they found out my parents were married.

We're all friends here, right? Easy, easy.

- Want some coffee or something?

- No.

- Buddy, is that Janek's file?

- Yeah, Janek's file.

This is a mathematician

named Dr. Gunter Janek.

Works at a think tank called

the Coolidge Institute.

Specializes in large-number theory,

prime numbers, factoring.

- Cryptography.

- Very good.

Last month, the good doctor

gets a grant, $380,000.

Way out of profile for a guy like that.

It's our job to be curious, so we traced

the money. Guess where it comes from?

- I know you're not gonna say Russia.

- Yeah.

Give me a break.

We won, they lost.

It's been in a couple of papers.

We still spy on them. They still spy on us.

We intercepted a fax last week. Here.

He's making some kind of box,

a little black box.

The project's called Setec Astronomy.

We don't know what Setec stands for.

- Security technology...

- Sensor techniques, who knows?

It may be nothing or it may be something.

And we need to know.

Your job is to find that little black box.

Let us take a look at it.

No way.

Sorry, Marty.

We don't have a lot of choice here.

- Do it yourself.

- We can't.

By law, we're not allowed

to do this kind of operation.

Then get the FBI.

Yeah, right, the FBI.

The FBI can't work for us without approval

from a congressional committee.

- We don't have the time.

- So why me?

- Frankly, because we...

- Yeah, frankly.

Marty, sit down, please.

Frankly, because it's kind of illegal.

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Phil Alden Robinson

Phil Alden Robinson (born March 1, 1950) is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include Field of Dreams, Sneakers, and The Sum of All Fears. more…

All Phil Alden Robinson scripts | Phil Alden Robinson Scripts

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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