Sneakers - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Sneakers or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Sneakers

[richard]

The security guard at the beginning of the movie (after the flashback) is watching Touch of Evil (1958). In the brief scene shown on-screen, Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) says, "I just looked in that box. There was nothing there." This is a very subtle giveaway and reference to how the finale plays out on the Playtronics roof, when Bishop (Robert Redford) hands the box over to Cosmo (Sir Ben Kingsley).

[violet]

In 2012, the on-line magazine Slate published a series of articles about this movie commemorating the twentieth anniversary of its release. These included a piece by Stephen Tobolowsky (Dr. Werner Brandes), in which he said, "I can't remember having so much fun on a movie."

[chad]

Phil Alden Robinson graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York. Union College is used as the backdrop for the college scene, at the beginning of the movie.

[kristina]

The 7 major characters of the movie (Robert Redford, Sidney Portier, Ben Kingsley, Dan Ackroyd, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, and David Stathairin) are all either Oscar Winners or Oscar Nominees. Robert Redford, Sidney Portier and Ben Kingsley are Oscar recipients. The others are all nominees.

[eli]

When breaking into Cosmo's (Sir Ben Kingsley's) office, Martin (Robert Redford) uses a Ronco "Pocket Fisherman" to lower a needed high tech device.

[tom]

James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, and Mary McDonnell appeared in Matewan (1987).

[michele]

While picking through Dr. Brandes' (Stephen Tobolowsky's) trash, Mother (Dan Aykroyd) holds up a folded box of "Cap'n Crunch". In the 1970s, "Cap'n Crunch" came with a small whistle in the box. A "phone phreaker" called "Captain Crunch" (John Draper) discovered that this whistle could be used to get free phone calls (one of many components in the practice of "phone phreaking", which digital phone switching-systems has made almost totally obsolete). There is another reference to Draper during the Scrabble game (the word "CRUNCH" is visible upside down before it gets turned into SCRUNCHY). Also, Cosmo (Sir Ben Kingsley) tells Martin (Robert Redford) that, while in prison, he helped some Mafia men to make some "free telephone calls." Whistler (David Strathairn) is patterned after Joe Engressia, a blind telephone expert born with perfect pitch who was one of the original phone phreakers.

[fred]

The robot dog owned by Dr. Brandes (Stephen Tobolowsky) is named "Pooch". Probably named after Stephen Tobolowsky's infamous real dog mentioned in his podcast, "The Tobolowsky Files".

[gerald]

First credited role of Donal Logue on a theatrical film.

[camila]

Martin (Robert Redford) avoids being arrested because he's out getting a pizza. In Three Days of the Condor (1975), Joseph Turner (Robert Redford) avoids getting murdered because he's out getting sandwiches.

[alyssa]

One of the reasons River Phoenix (Carl) took the role was because he was so deep into the "psychosis" of his character in his previous movie (Mike Waters in My Own Private Idaho (1991)) that he wanted "a low stress money gig" movie, which for him was this movie.

[carla]

At the end, the character "Mary" (Amy Benedict) gives "Carl" (River Phoenix) her phone number as 415-273-9164. It is a San Francisco area code and one of the rare instances in moves and television where an actual phone number rather than a "555" number is used.

[amber]

Bernard Abbott (James Earl Jones) was named after Robert Abbott, a charismatic Technical Consultant for this movie. In addition to being about the same age and complexion as Jones, Bob designed the first time-sharing (multi-user) operating system for the Control Data Corporation CDC-6600, the predecessor of the Cray Y-MP seen in the movie. He is also often referred to as the "Father of Information Security" by seasoned veterans of the computing industry.

[kim]

The bridge they work out that Martin crossed while in the trunk of the car is the Dumbarton.

[carla]

James Earl Jones, Timothy Busfield, and Lee Garlington appeared in Phil Alden Robinson's Field of Dreams (1989).

[bernard]

Mother wears a t-shirt from the Kingston, Ontario-based band The Tragically Hip, who Dan Aykroyd loves and promotes. He had them as his musical guests on an episode of Saturday Night Live (1975) that he hosted.

[cameron]

In Three Days of the Condor (1975) starring Robert Redford, a CIA building is hit and a list of the casualties is displayed. The final two names on the list being Martin and Bishop, which is Redford's alias in this movie.