Regular Price $9.98

Starring: William Hurt,  Mary-Louise Parker,  David Strathairn,  Ron Silver,  Hilit Pace, 
Directed By: Lawrence Schiller, 
Rated: R (Restricted)
Release Date: 2002-11-10
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Format: Closed-captioned,  Color,  DVD-Video,  Full Screen,  Subtitled,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Master Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

Product Description
A respected FBI agent sells nuclear secrets to the KGB.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 7-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD

Amazon.com
Here's a different kind of spy: awkward, frosty, supremely intelligent, deeply religious. As brilliantly acted by a perfectly cast William Hurt, this is Robert Hanssen, a respected FBI man who sold information to the Soviets for 20 years. In Norman Mailer's incisive script for this TV movie, Hanssen turns to spying for his own neurotic reasons: to out-earn his domineering father, to show up the FBI bosses who continually pass him over, and maybe to dispel the boredom of the arrogant. A kinky interest in voyeurism and a platonic friendship with a stripper are also part of the mix (which brings in nudity not part of the broadcast version). The stripper is played by the touching Hilit Pace, while Mary Louise Parker is fine as Hanssen's clueless wife. Production values are TV-utilitarian, but Mailer's keen psychological probing and Hurt's unwavering chilliness make Master Spy an absorbing experience. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews for Master Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

A Fair Look at the Hanssen Case
Director Lawrence Schiller has a definite style to his films: true-life stories (like the JFK assassination and the O.J. case) with a no-nonsense re-telling of the story as he understands it. Master Spy is in that mold. Robert Phillip Hanssen is presented as an FBI official struggling to have his intellect recognized, and he succumbs to the lure of espionage for the Soviets. For Hanssen, it was partly for money; but more important, he wanted to be the cleverest spy ever. Knowing that others before him (like CIA's Aldrich Hazen Ames) had been caught when Soviet intelligence officers defected to the US or became "agents-in-place," Hanssen decided to never let them know his real identity. (He may have slipped-up and been IDed when he called the KGB from a phone booth they were watching.) He started feeding them fairly low-level stuff, but soon graduated to feeding them everything he could get his hands on. Beyond betraying many Soviets who were working for Western intelligence, he betrayed a secret FBI tunnel under the new Soviet Embassy in Washington.

The film is good in showing Hanssen's actions, but weak in showing his motivations. Another annoying point: One of the most interesting aspects of the case is how he was caught: Knowing the evidence showed there was a mole in US intelligence, the FBI (and later CIA) "leaked" to both current and former KGB/SVR officers that they were willing to pay handsomely for the identity of "Ramon," Hanssen's chosen code name. Sure enough, a post-KGB officer took the bait and turned over the entire KGB file on Ramon. The first gem it contained was a recording of the fatal phone call, and FBI officers realized in horror that it was their colleague. The file also contained a plastic trash bag Ramon had used to package FBI documents years before. Analysis turned up Hanssen's fingerprints on the bag. This whole dramatic sequence was reduced to a few sentences in this film. Hanssen's arrest was also very dramatic, but that, too has a wooden quality in this film.

William Hurt is fair but not great in his portrayal of Hanssen. The always interesting Ron Silver (himself a one-time CIA applicant) is very good as a composite of Hanssen's FBI superiors.

Not a great film, but not bad for anyone who enjoys true spy stories.Master Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

Fantastic book, great subject..... but what scumbag Hanssen is !!!
Fantastic book, fascinating subject, great author, well-written... 5 stars all the way around. My personal challenge was to find one redeeming trait for Hanssen.
He betrayed his country to the max, was the worst husband to a devoted wife and an embarrassment to the Opus Dei. Reluctantly, I am giving him the benefit (why I don't know) that he could have been a good father. I have met and read about a few scumbags in my time, but I wrack my brain to think of anybody who comes even close to beating him in that department. In ancient times, the proper punishment for this loser would be for him to be publicly stoned. And even that would be too good for him.Master Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

PITIFULLY BAD
This movie is offensive. The acting is terrible, and the movie spends an inordinate amount of time on Hanseen's alleged sexual perversion. The worst part, though, is the emphasis on the fact that Hanssen was supposedly Catholic. This movie is unabashed Catholic bashing. In particular, the movie depicts the Catholic religious movement Opus Dei as a bunch of wackos. Did Dan Brown write the screenplay for this piece of trash?Master Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

Interesting movie
Enjoyed this movie very much, especially since it was a true
story, Some parts were hard to believe, but very interesting.Master Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

Disappointment
Shallow plot, focusing more on sexual exploits than on the story.

Poorly directed and produced. Public School student could have writtena better scriptMaster Spy: Robert Hanssen Story

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