The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, Richard Jenkins, Terrance Howard, Stanley Tucci) – What a cast! And not a bad movie, too. This indie, directed by Robert Redford and starring himself, is a geriatric version of a tense thriller. It’s Red without the fun.
The movie opens up in a nice, suburban home where we see Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon), her husband and son. But something is amiss. Sharon is tense, quiet, and holding a secret. Next thing we know, she is headed for the New York border where she stops for gas and is suddenly surrounded by police. Fast forward. Solarz is arrested for her role in a murder decades earlier when she was a member of the Weather Underground, the Vietnam War protest group that was anything but non-violent. They used violence to punctuate their opposition to violence. Her arrest (she was ostensibly going to turn herself in when she was apprehended) starts a cavalcade of other movements as her former colleagues scramble for cover. One of them, attorney Jim Grant (Redford), is approached to represent Solarz. And everything springs from there.
Enterprising Albany reporter Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) sniffs out the story, does the grunt work, and follows the trail. It is through his eyes that the story is unveiled. Despite the ages of the ex-Weathermen stars (Redford 77; Julie Christie 72; Sarandon 66; Nolte 73; Jenkins 65), the pace is quick but totally non-violent, ironic as that is. They have all settled down to quiet, even noteworthy, lives. Solarz’s arrest changes their entire worlds, begging for the answer to “Can my past wrongs be righted?” Perhaps it asks even an even bigger question: “If you had to do it all over again, would you?”
Only Redford and LaBeouf get much screen time, which accounts for so many other stars’ interest in the film. They could come in for a few days’ shooting and get out while getting the opportunity to work with Redford. What a pleasure to see Oscar Winner Julie Christie in a major role again. Chris Cooper, who played Redford’s brother in The Horse Whisperer, reprises that role. He cares for Redford’s daughter while dad goes on the lam in order to exonerate himself and reunite with his former love.
In one sense, The Company You Keep is a traditional “one step ahead of the law” story. On the other hand, this is a coming-of-age film for 1960s radicals. Redford does a better job as director than actor. I was reminded of four former Redford movies while watching this one. It is most like Three Days of the Condor, an exceptional tale of a CIA book analyst running from the agency-within-the-agency. But there are elements of An Unfinished Life, the story of a kidnapped former executive stuck in the woods (the scenery in this movie is mesmerizing, too) with his captor. Lions for Lambs, Redford’s anti-war rant that garnered him the worst reviews of his career and awful box office, influences him, too. He manages not to make this political (well, not much) but more of a character study. And finally, there are elements of Sneakers, one of my favorite Redford films, which focused on a group of misfits who play private security analysts that get caught up in international intrigue.
This film hasn’t made it to Des Moines yet and might not. But if you are in a major city, it may be playing. Given the star power, this is more than worth the price. Look for it or put it on your Netflix list for a few months from now.