INTRODUCTION

Spy Game is an example of action, drama and thriller genre films. It was released in
November, 2001 and its length is 2 hours 6 minutes. It was directed by Tony Scott for
Universal Pictures and Beacon Pictures. The main casts of the film are Robert Redford, Brad
Pitt and Catherine McCormack. Robert Redford stars as Veteran CIA officer Nathan Muir and
Brad Pitt stars as CIA agent Tom Bishop. Catherine McCormack stars as Elizabeth Hadley,
girlfriend of Tom Bishop. The tagline of the film is not how you play the game. It is how the
game plays you. As plot outline, retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of Tom
Bishop and works against agency politics to free him from his Chinese captors. The movie
contains rich material for Organizational Behaviour concepts such as individual behaviour,
organizational culture and structure, motivation, groups, teamwork, leadership, power and
politics, and conflict and stress management.

SYNOPSIS OF SPY GAME

Spy Game begins with the scene that Tom Bishop enters into a Chinese prison and
tries to rescue one person from the prison. However, he is captured while he is going out the
prison. Then the scene turns to Nathan Muir, who is a high level CIA employee on the brink
of retirement. He is awaken up in the morning with a telephone from Hong Kong CIA spy
who tells that his old subordinate Tom has been arrested in China for espionage. This is the
time the Cold War is ending. This event occurs just days before the US president is to visit
China for trade walks. The newly developing relationships between China and US can be
broken up due to this capture. In addition, Tom will be shot in 24 hours unless the president
steps in China.
CIA (Central intelligence Agency) and NSC (National Security Council) arrange an
immediate task force to decide whether Tom Bishop will be rescued with an operation or he
will be left in the Chinese prison or killed in 24 hours not to damage the relationships. Nathan
Muir is the man who recruited and trained Tom. CIA wants to gather information about Tom
from Nathan at this meeting. Nathan burns the documents about Tom not to give them to CIA
but he accepts to tell his past experiences with Tom. After that point the story continues with
the flashbacks. Nathan recalls how he recruited and trained Tom and how they worked
together.
Flashbacks scene
Nathan and Tom first met in Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Nathan required a sniper to
kill a General of Vietnam Army. Tom was suitable for the task since he worked as police at
Boy Scouts before he joined the army. Nathan employed Tom for the task and informed him
about the operation. Tom reached the operation area with another soldier. However, a risky
situation occurred at the beginning of the operation and Nathan ordered them not to shoot,
meaning not to complete the operation. Tom did not obey the order and accomplished the
task. He also survived the life of his partner who was injured in the operation.
Next, Nathan recalls how he recruited him for CIA after the war and how he trained
him as a spy. The training period is told in details in the film. In the next flash back he recalls

the operation in Berlin with Tom. The operation was about finding an insider in CIA. Tom
was a small but important piece of the operation. He was responsible for crossing a German
man through the borders of the city and this would determine the insider that they suspected
since only the suspected person knew this travel. That night while Tom and the German man
were on the way Nathan warns Tom by telephone that he determined the insider and she had
given information to German police about their travel. Therefore, police was searching the
German man to kill and all the passing points had been already held by the police. Tom
should immediately have left the man. Tom argued with Nathan on the phone that if he had
left the man, the police would have killed him. Tom could not accept the death of the man
because he was used only for trapping the insider woman. However, Tom obeyed the orders
of Nathan unwillingly.
After the operation Tom and Nathan had an argument about the way that Nathan uses
in the operations. He saw the people as assets that can be used or even killed if this would be
on behalf of him, operation, or his organization, CIA. The German man was one of those
whose life had no importance related to the achievement of the task. Tom was against this
opinion and thinking they were responsible for the death of the man. Nathan warned Tom that
one day he could be in the same position with the German man if he put the operation in a
dangerous situation to survive the lives and nobody including Nathan would try to rescue
Tom. At the end of the argument, Tom seemed as accepting the ideas of Nathan.
The last flashback was in Beirut where another operation would be organized for
assassination of a man. Tom played a journalist to collect information for CIA and for
establishing a relationship with the doctor of the target man. The team had planned to
negotiate with this doctor that he would kill the target man by injecting a poison. Doctor was
working at a health camp designed by an international health organization. To become closer
to the doctor Tom brought health aid to the camp and met Elizabeth who is a voluntary
employee in the camp and very close to the doctor. After a while Tom and Elizabeth fell in
love with each other. Nathan noticed their relationship and searched the past of Elizabeth. He
found out that Elizabeth was a member of a radical organization and she was in the task of
bombing a Chinese building in London. China was searching her to arrest.
In Beirut she was working as a negotiator for Hezbollah and in return Hezbollah was
financing the camp. Nathan considered Elizabeth as a threat for the operation and he tried to

break up this relationship. Later on, he exchanged Elizabeth with an American agent prisoned
in China. In Beirut Tom gave Nathan a whisky bottle for his birthday. Nathan asked how Tom
found such a whisky bottle and Tom answered that he brought it with the operation Dinnerout. Nathan said that he would remember the name of the operation Dinner-out.
During that period, Nathan and Tom achieved to negotiate with the doctor and he
accepted to kill the target man with the poison on next Thursday. On that day things did not
go as they were planned. An attack occurred toward to the civil public in Beirut and many
people were injured. Although doctor should have gone to the target man, he was at the camp
for the injured people. Tom lifted the doctor from the camp to the operation place although it
was late. Nathan did not want to leave the operation to the chance and he decided to apply the
plan B, which was to send a car to the building the target man was at, with full of bombs and
with two suicide commandos. At the end while the doctor was successful at entering the
building and the man would be killed by poison, the suicide commandos arrives and bombs
the full building. 75 people died in the attack with the target man. Tom was shocked
psychologically due to the death of people. On the other hand Nathan found the operation
successful since the target man was dead. Tom could not accept this event and he decided to
separate their ways with Nathan.
This was the last flashback of Nathan. Tom was in the Chinese prison to rescue
Elizabeth, who had been reported by Nathan.

In The Last 24 Hours

At 7:55 am Nathan is informed that Tom is in danger by the Hong Kongs embassies.
When Nathan comes to his office, the documents about Tom Bishop are wanted by
task force. Nathan joins to the meeting.

At 8:02 am Nathan learns that Tom will be executed at 8:00 am the next day. There
are 24 hours to the execution. Nathan recalls how he met with Tom. He calls a friend
from press and he informs that Tom was captured in a Chinese prison. He aims to
rescue his friend with this way. Then he continues telling more about Tom, how he
made him a spy for CIA. Nathan wants to learn the operation name, but he is not
allowed to know any information about it. The operation name is Sideshow. He
understands that CIA searches a reason to kill Tom because the operation that Tom
made in China may cause to destroy the relationships between China and US. After
the news about Tom is broadcasted, Nathan thinks that he rescued Tom. However, it
does not work. After a while press says that the news about Tom is not true. Nathan
starts to make new plans to rescue Tom and he has very limited time. He continues
flash-backs. And also he collects information about the operation.

At 5:42 pm (00:38:18 part b) the meeting finishes and they make a decision about
Tom. He should not have been in Chinese Prison. Thus, CIA will not rescue him.
However, Nathan plans a new operation to rescue him with keeping the operation
secret from the CIA.

At 9:22 pm (00:41:35 part b) he transfers all his money to a single account. At 11:03
pm (00:43:25 part b) he prepares the details of the operation.

At 2:55 am (00:45:54 part b) He prepares the official papers for the operation. The
name of the operation will be Dinner-out. He negotiates with Chinese for an
electricity shortage 30 minutes long, in which the operation will take place.

At 7:04 am (00:48:13 part b) the meeting of task force starts again. They sign the
report about Tom Bishop. Tom will be executed at 8:00 am.

At 7:17 am (00:54:23 part b) operation Dinner-out begins with the order of Nathan.
At 7:42 am (00:56:00 part b) Nathan achieves to rescue Tom and Elizabeth and leaves
the building.