Directed by John Schlesinger and written by Steven Zaillian, the film is a masterclass in slow-burn tension, anchored by two of the most magnetic young actors of that era: Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn. A True Story of Treason

Based on the true story of Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, the film explores how two young men from well-to-do Southern California families became unlikely Soviet spies:

Played by Timothy Hutton, Boyce is a disillusioned defense contractor employee who, after seeing the dark underbelly of CIA operations, decides to leak classified documents as an act of idealistic defiance.

Sean Penn delivers a twitchy, career-defining performance as Lee, a small-time drug dealer and addict who becomes Boyce's erratic courier to the KGB in Mexico. Why It Still Resonates