ultra hi-tech circa 1992
April 5th, 2008While working I came across this fantastic clip from Sneakers, the 1992 team-caper film with the dream cast of Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Dan Ackroyd, that guy who was the main bad guy in The Bourne Identity, and Mary McDonnell as the love interest — amazing to contrast her there (young, 80’s sexy, flirty) with her character now on Battlestar Galactica (older, wiser, still flirty).
Also, they’ve got Ben Kingsley(!) as the bad guy, who’s also some kind of computer genius with a weird accent that I think is supposed to be Brooklyn. In this amazing clip, he reveals to Redford how he started his life of crime in prison. Kingsley is pouring on as much menace as he can, and then it gets to the hi-tech bit where he sort of demos how he did what he did. Using the terrible! power! of! spreadsheets!!!
(I especially love the sound of the keyboard when he hits the keys…clak!)
I actually saw this in the movie theater (Eastport no less!) with Amanda Buttinger! Well, it’s nice to see someone finally exploit all the evil possibilities of an Excel spreadsheet–I’d suspected as much for years.
I think I saw it in the theater too! I remember being vaguely dissatisfied with it and not really being sure why…it was a trip seeing Mary McDonnell in it, I’ll tell you, I was like “Madam President!…