The Package is an enjoyable conspiratorial cold war thriller. I was extremely excited to watch when I discovered Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones were in it as I rate them both very highly. Hackman was excellent - thoroughly believable and accomplished. I thought Tommy Lee Jones was actually pretty unremarkable in this - perhaps because the nature of his character required some discretion for dramatic purposes. I always enjoy a standout performance from someone I haven't seen much or any of before. This time around it was Dennis Franz. I thought he was excellent and brought the movie back to life when it was starting to tire. Expect some twists and turns and also expect a few almost laughable moments that weren't needed. But overall it is a decent thriller with a couple of great performances notching it up a level from bang average. One criticism would also be the pace. I felt it lag a couple of times and almost lost interest - but the pieces came together eventually and it managed to reach its dramatic conclusion.

This is a taut political thriller about the Cold War made and released just at the last moment, in 1989, after which these stories became passé. Gene Hackman plays a U.S. Army sergeant who becomes enmeshed in an international political and military conspiracy to prevent a peace treaty between the USA and the Soviet Union, and he and his wife, a U.S. Army Lieutenant-Colonel (played by Joanna Cassidy), have to run for their lives. On the one hand, they are trying to solve the conspiracy, but on the other hand they are trying to dodge all the nasty assassins who want to kill them. The film is well directed by Andrew Davis, who has directed numerous thriller and action films, such as the remake of the old TV series, the Harrison Ford version of THE FUGITIVE (1993). John Heard is icy cold as a scheming colonel who really works for the CIA. There is much attention given in this film to the CIA special ops people who are 'plants' inside the police, inside the Army, deeply throated and everywhere. Tommy Lee Jones plays the action villain, an expert sniper who doesn't care whom he kills as long as the pay is good. Dennis Franz plays Hackman's old chum from the Chicago Police who helps try to solve the conspiracy. The film is mostly set in Chicago, and the plan is to assassinate both the American president and the Russian leader who looks like Gorbachev. It is a nail-biting thriller, just the thing not to help you relax.

Gene Hackman is seasoned Green Beret sergeant Johnny Gallagher, is escorting a prisoner, Airborne Ranger Tommy Lee Jones back to the US, but he subsequently evades Hackman's custody and escapes. All is not what it seems as the plot thickens when it appears that Jones is an assassin who is out to kill the President and visiting Russian Premier who is negotiating peace talks in Chicago. John Heard is a devious general who is out to thwart the treaty. Hackman is accompanied by 'Blade Runners' Joanna Cassidy who plays his ex-wife, Dennis Franz also assists Hackman in his race against time.Directed by Andrew Davis 'The Fugitive' 'Under Siege' it is a riveting and excellently Suspense filled Conspiracy cover up fans of Gene Hackmans will enjoy this, their are references to 'The French Connection' most notably in the car chase.

Tommy Lee Jones is "The Package," a prisoner that Gene Hackman is returning to the United States from Germany in this 1989 film also starring Joanna Cassidy, Dennis Franz and John Heard. The United States and the Soviet Union are in the midst of delicate peace negotiations, but there are factions of the military who don't want to see it happen. Jones is Tommy Boyette, their hired assassin who, through an intricate plot, is supposed to kill the soviet premier. Boyette escapes via a mens room while the Hackman character, Johnny Gallagher, is returning him to the states. Gallagher starts investigating; it's not long before he's uncovered the plot.This is a very good movie with some exciting sequences and lots of tension, as Gallagher finds himself and everyone around him in tremendous danger as he figures out what's going on. He has the help of his ex-wife (Joanna Cassidy) who is in the military, and a Chicago police officer, played by Dennis Franz.The problem with this film is in its timing - it was released in August 1989 in the U.S., and in November of that year, the Berlin Wall came down, rendering the film dated -- and it had only been released in two countries by then. It's nevertheless a well-acted, well-directed film. Seen today, it holds up better as a story set in the past than it did a story set in a present that was changing dramatically.