Eighties film The Falcon And The Snowman The Falcon is part spy thriller, part social satire but it’s largely been forgotten, says Mike Ausden. It features a rare score by Pat Metheny and writing partner Lyle Mays

 Pat Metheny and long-time collaborator Lyle Mays are reluctant film composers, having scored only a handful of feature films over the course of an otherwise prolific musical career. Uncomfortable writing to a brief, their priority has consistently been on developing their own musical vision, or (in Metheny’s own words) “creating their own universe on their own terms.” Nevertheless, on the few occasions when the duo has been prepared to suffer the endless artistic whims of directors and screenwriters their scores have been well received. The Falcon And The Snowman (1985) gave the duo their first big break in Hollywood and, alongside the soundtrack to the Scott Elliot film Map of the World (1999) is considered one of their most successful collaborations to date.
The Falcon is a criminally underseen cold war spy drama (directed by John Schlesinger), based on the true story of two young Americans who supplied Russian agents with top-secret government documents in the 1970s. The two were eventually arrested and given life sentences.
Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) and Daulton Lee (Sean Penn) are best friends, ex-altar boys and sons of well-to-do middle class parents. Lee pushes drugs for a living and is permanently on probation. Boyce has bright prospects but is unemployed and refuses to engage with the real world, spending all his time in the company of his pet falcon. When Boyce eventually lands a job in a CIA message-routing centre, he accidentally intercepts messages which suggest that the CIA is secretly influencing the affairs of foreign governments. Shocked by his government’s duplicity and already disenchanted with his country, he feels compelled to expose the wrong-doings. But rather than simply leak his findings to the press he takes the far more radical step of passing this information on to the Russians. When the Russians offer him payment for more information it is an offer he can’t resist. Meanwhile Lee, realising he could do with the extra cash to fund his rapidly worsening cocaine habit, agrees to participate in the venture and becomes Boyce’s bagman, arranging the sale of information at the Russian embassy in Mexico with surprising ease. But the operation starts to falter as Lee becomes increasing unreliable, revealing top secrets to his friends, and losing his cool with the Russians. Finally the two are caught out, but only after two years in business and massive ineptitude on the part of the FBI.