This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

terrible... so disappointed.

A Major Disappointment

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Johnny Gallagher (Gene Hackman) is a sergeant guarding the peace negotiation in Germany with his men. They get attacked by a well organized group. Col. Glen Whitacre (John Heard) blames him for the failure as well as the failed hostage rescue in Iran. He suspects a group is aiming to assassin the President. Gallagher is ordered to take a prisoner (the package) disorderly sergeant Walter Henke (Tommy Lee Jones) back to the States. Henke escapes from the men's room at the airport with the help of several accomplices. Gallagher discovers that the man isn't actually Walter Henke. He enlists his ex-wife Eileen (Joanna Cassidy)'s help. Henke's wife is killed by an assassin and Gallagher is detained. Eileen discovers the package's true identity is Thomas Boyette. There is a conspiracy from both militaries to stop the treaty. Gallagher and Eileen enlists his old friend Chicago Police Lieutenant Milan Delich (Dennis Franz)'s help.The basic scheme doesn't make too much sense. It seems to be way too complicated and it would be simpler to leave Gallagher out of it. If they want Henke as the patsy, then they need to kill Gallagher at the airport or use one of their own men to transport Boyette. It's obvious the scheme is fashioned after the premise of Hackman and TLJ is hatched by the writer. By letting Gallagher go at the airport, he's obviously going to look and find out that the prisoner isn't actually Henke. The story needs a few more passes to iron out these problems. If one turns off the brain, this thriller goes on auto pilot and does a good job with that. Hackman is always capable in these kinds of tense thrillers. As a historical oddity, the movie was released at around the same time that the people were circumventing the Berlin Wall signaling the end of the Cold War. The movie is overtaken by history just as it was released.

As the cold war starts to thaw the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union are on the brink of signing an historic treaty that will lead to the scrapping of their nuclear arsenals… not everybody wants this to happen though; certain members of the military on both sides are determined to scupper the treaty. To this end Sgt. Gallagher is tasked with escorting prisoner Walter Henke from West Berlin to the US; to him it is a routine if somewhat tedious task but it soon becomes clear that it is anything but routine. His prisoner is helped to escape at the airport and when Gallagher goes to see the man's wife he learns that he wasn't Walter Henke! He goes to see his ex-wife, an army colonel, to see if she can help him get to the bottom of it; she and her assistant manage to find out that the man's real name is Thomas Boyette and he has a military record linking him to a series of war zones. Gallagher soon finds himself framed for the murder of Henke's wife so must go on the run with his ex. They follow the trail to Chicago where they meet up with policeman Lt. Milan Delich, an old friend of Gallagher's. As they get closer to Boyette they get in increasing danger as the conspirators are determined to stop them preventing Boyette from carrying out his mission.This is a solid cold war thriller made when relationships between east and west were improving but nobody suspected that the Soviet Union would shortly cease to exist. Gene Hackman does a good job as Sgt. Gallagher and Tommy Lee Jones is fine as Boyette. The story is a bit far-fetched but if you can suspend your disbelief it is fairly gripping. There is a sense of paranoia as Gallagher has very few people he can trust and many of those who aren't actually bad think he is! There isn't a huge amount of over the top action but what there is, is fairly exciting and fairly believable. If you enjoy thrillers that have some mystery but aren't too convoluted you should enjoy this.

Gene Hackman is seasoned Green Beret sergeant Johnny Gallagher, is escorting a prisoner, Airborne Ranger Tommy Lee Jones back to the US, but he subsequently evades Hackman's custody and escapes. All is not what it seems as the plot thickens when it appears that Jones is an assassin who is out to kill the President and visiting Russian Premier who is negotiating peace talks in Chicago. John Heard is a devious general who is out to thwart the treaty. Hackman is accompanied by 'Blade Runners' Joanna Cassidy who plays his ex-wife, Dennis Franz also assists Hackman in his race against time.Directed by Andrew Davis 'The Fugitive' 'Under Siege' it is a riveting and excellently Suspense filled Conspiracy cover up fans of Gene Hackmans will enjoy this, their are references to 'The French Connection' most notably in the car chase.

I ran into The Package on TV the other night and was pleasantly entertained. I'm quite surprised not to have heard about this movie since it has a star-studded cast and a renowned director. Maybe the reason for being relatively unknown is the film's genre, the political thriller. Anyways, The Package is a solid film with a good pace and a story that probably was more relevant back in the day but still enjoyable today. As for the actors, Gene Hackman stands out of course, he's always been good at portraying military characters. It's amazing to see his ability to bring intensity on the screen, especially when it comes to face-to-face confrontations. His scenes with John Heard are good examples of this and he will bring this to another level with Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide. It was also interesting to see Tommy Lee Jones in a bad guy role earlier in his career. For fans of Hackman and Jones The Package is a must see, for others it's a safe bet for worthy entertainment.