# Falcon and the snowman remake ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576 "2013-06-09T19:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/1 "2013-06-09T19:35:02Z")
So with the prism story spread across a bunch of different threads on the dope, i see in the news, that the guy has come forward, admitting to the leaks. So reading what parts of his resume that was made public, the first thing that popped into my mind was the falcon and the snowman. No evidence yet, of a coke dealing buddy, but thats never stopped hollywood. So can we expect an updated version of the movie. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/2 "2013-06-09T20:08:06Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > So with the prism story spread across a bunch of different threads on the dope, i see in the news, that the guy has come forward, admitting to the leaks. > > So reading what parts of his resume that was made public… I have no idea what any of this means. What are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/3 "2013-06-09T20:26:41Z")
Im kinda confused about where you reside and your access to mass media, the fact that you mention that you don’t know what it means, and that you have an internet connection to post to the dope, simply cries out for clarification on what level of education you need for the story. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/4 "2013-06-09T21:14:34Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > So with the prism story spread across a bunch of different threads on the dope, i see in the news, that the guy has come forward, admitting to the leaks. So reading what parts of his resume that was made public,… Ok. What’s “the prism story”? What guy? Come forward how? Admitting to what leaks? What resume? Made public how? None of it means anything to me. A link would be nice. The only thing I do know is what **The Falcon and the Snowman** is. I saw the movie in the theater. Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton were great. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/5 "2013-06-09T21:21:05Z")
I suspect the reference to PRISM and the leak is for [this story](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance), which is an interview with the man who handed over documents about the NSA’s data collection program to The Guardian. I’m not sure what it has to do with the movie, though. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/6 "2013-06-09T21:43:28Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Ok. > > What’s “the prism story”? > What guy? > Come forward how? > Admitting to what leaks? > What resume? > Made public how? > > None of it means anything to me. A link would be nice. > > The only thing I do know is what **The Falcon and the Snowman** is. I saw the movie in the theater. Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton were great. Prism is the code name for a comprehensive electronic intelligence gathering operation,which has so far implicated the national security agency, as the prime director of the program. Due to the scope of the program, it involves quite a few other agencies, including extra national foreign peer agencies, of the UK, Canada, Australia, and a number of other countries to a lesser degree. Other than the US national security agency, no other parties have been directly Implicated, but the above is my assessment based on previous co-operation between those parties, as well as the intel sharing agreement between the internal American intel gathering agencies after 911. The operation was leaked to an English news paper, the Guardian, who has been the lead aggregator of the story, and has reached up into the current administration in the white house. Several high profile tech companies, that have a world wide reach have also been implicated, among them, google, microsoft , facebook, who are vehemently denying that they gave access to their servers, for espionage purposes. The leaker has now come forward, as Edward Snowden, at his own behest. For his own safety, he says he now resides in Hong Kong, after bolting with no notice, from his job in Hawaii. In my opinion the story has similarities to the movie, not identical, but similar enough. Boyce worked for TRW, and became disillusioned, while reading the intelligence documents that he was processing, and sold them to the soviet union, using the snowman as the contact with the kgb. By contrast, Snowden leaked the documents to the newspaper much for the same reasons, and like Boyce, he appears to have done so for idealistic reasons, but so far, he does not appear to have done it for any monetary gain. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/7 "2013-06-09T21:58:05Z")
Not to go all Great Debates on things, but because this happened under Obama’s watch Hollywood isn’t going to touch it, unless they can find a way to try and exonerate him somehow. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is… ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/8 "2013-06-09T22:02:50Z")
Ok, thanks for your synopsis. It’s my fault for asking for a clarification, but I’m sorry I did. It all sounds very boring, yet another fairly normal thing that all administrations do, some more than others, that the right wing is fine with when it’s their guy doing it, but when it’s a Democrat in charge, especially a popular black Democrat, it suddenly becomes a **"Scandal Of Epic Proportions!!"** Thanks for reminding me of **Falcon and the Snowman** though. That was a pretty good movie. Not boring. Well acted. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/9 "2013-06-09T22:52:55Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Ok, thanks for your synopsis. It’s my fault for asking for a clarification, but I’m sorry I did. It all sounds very boring, yet another fairly normal thing that all administrations do, some more than others, that the right wing is fine with when it’s their guy doing it, but when it’s a Democrat in charge, especially a popular black Democrat, it suddenly becomes a **“Scandal Of Epic Proportions!!”** > > Thanks for reminding me of **Falcon and the Snowman** though. That was a pretty good movie. Not boring. Well acted. If it makes you feel any better, the program’s genesis dates back to the Lincoln administration and the telegraph network, its what governments do. Just cursory reading of the initial political fallout, has the potus’s main detractors being on the dem side, while getting support or at least sympathy from the pubs. We are detracting from the cafe forum however, the events of what became the movie, the falcon and the snowman happened over the Kennedy/ LBJ admins, and yet the movie did not come out till the mid seventies, so i think regardless of the current administration, we have some time yet, to script it. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/10 "2013-06-09T22:58:44Z")
Oops clarification Movie came out in 85 Events happened over Nixon/ Ford and maybe Carter admin, with program starting in its then current lifespan, in the LBJ admin Declan ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/11 "2013-06-09T23:05:36Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > … the movie did not come out till the mid seventies … Robert Lindsey’s book (_The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage_) didn’t come out 'til 79 and the film was made in 1985. Since there didn’t appear to be any interest in making the sequel 1983 book (_The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America’s Most Wanted Spy_) into a film I doubt there’s much chance of a remake. Maybe Christopher Boyce’s own 2013 book [_The Falcon and The Snowman: American Sons_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Boyce#New_book_The_Falcon_and_The_Snowman:_American_Sons) might get some interest? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/12 "2013-06-09T23:13:26Z")
The events of _The Falcon and the Snowman_ happened in 1974 through 1977. The book (by Robert Lindsey) was published in 1979. The movie came out in 1985. That’s a fairly typical timeline for a news story to make it as a book and then as a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/13 "2013-06-09T23:17:04Z")
crowmanyclouds, it appears to me that Declan isn’t actually asking for a remake of _The Falcon and the Snowman_. It appears to me that he’s asking for a movie about the present news story, which (at least to Declan) appears to be similar to the events of _The Falcon and the Snowman_. Is that what you’re asking for, Declan? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/14 "2013-06-09T23:24:00Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > crowmanyclouds, it appears to me that Declan isn’t actually asking for a remake of _The Falcon and the Snowman_. It appears to me that he’s asking for a movie about the present news story, which (at least to Declan) appears to be similar to the events of _The Falcon and the Snowman_. Is that what you’re asking for, Declan? Thats correct, the original movie stands on its own, a new one would be current events based. Declan ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falcon-and-the-snowman-remake/660576/15 "2013-06-10T00:00:42Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Ok, thanks for your synopsis. It’s my fault for asking for a clarification, but I’m sorry I did. It all sounds very boring, yet another fairly normal thing that all administrations do, some more than others, that the right wing is fine with when it’s their guy doing it, but when it’s a Democrat in charge, especially a popular black Democrat, it suddenly becomes a **“Scandal Of Epic Proportions!!”** :rolleyes: There is almost too much ignorance in your posts in this thread to fight. Its the liberals and libertarians that are the most upset by this program. And just what the hell does race have to do with anything? Using it as an excuse to attack people you disagree with is racist.