''Little Nikita'' is a 1988

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Richard Benjamin Richard Samuel Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of well-known film productions, including ''Goodbye, Columbus'' (1969), based on the novella by Philip Roth; ''Catch-22'' (1970), fro ...

and starring

River Phoenix River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician and activist. Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He ...

and Sidney Poitier. The film marks the first collaboration between Phoenix and Poitier (the second being '' Sneakers'' in 1992).

Plot

Jeffrey Nicolas Grant (

), a brash hyperactive

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

student, lives in a

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

suburb with his parents, who own a successful

garden center A garden centre (Commonwealth English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business. It is a development from the concept of the retail plant n ...

. Keen to fly, he has applied for entry to the Air Force Academy. During a routine background check on Jeff,

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

agent Roy Parmenter (Poitier) finds evidence they may be sleeper agents for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Unable to arrest them as they have not done anything illegal, Roy continues his investigation, moves into the house across the street from the Grant family, and worms his way into their confidence. He eventually confronts Jeff with his suspicions and seeks Jeff's cooperation to learn more about his parents. Initially unbelieving, Jeff is soon forced to accept the facts and discovers that even his name is fictitious and that his real name is Nikita. Roy confides to Jeff that twenty years earlier, his partner was killed by a Soviet agent, known only as 'Scuba' (

Richard Lynch Richard Lynch (February 12, 1940 – June 19, 2012) was an American actor best known for portraying villains in films and television. His film credits included ''The Sword and the Sorcerer'', '' Invasion USA'', ''The Seven-Ups'', ''Scarecr ...

), and that he is still at large. 'Scuba' is now a rogue agent, killing

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

agents one by one, including "sleepers". Meanwhile, a Soviet spy-catcher, Konstantin Karpov ( Richard Bradford), has been sent from the Soviet embassy in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

to 'reel in' Scuba. Jeff is captured and held as a hostage at gunpoint by Karpov, as he and 'Scuba' make their way to the Mexican border on the

San Diego Trolley The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. It is known colloquially as "The Trolley". The Trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Tra ...

. Roy has also confronted them and is holding Karpov at gunpoint. At the border, the situation resolves itself; Karpov and 'Scuba' cross into Mexico, and the Grant family remain in the United States.

Cast

* Sidney Poitier as Roy Parmenter *

as Jeff Grant / Nikita *

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tr ...

as Richard Grant *

Caroline Kava Caroline Kava (born September 25, 1949) is an American actress and playwright of the 1986 Off-Broadway play, ''The Early Girl''. She portrayed a prostitute in the 1980 film '' Heaven's Gate''. In '' Year of the Dragon'' (1985), she portrayed ...

as Elizabeth Grant * Richard Bradford as Konstantin Karpov *

Loretta Devine Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress, singer and voice actor. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of '' Dreamg ...

as Verna McLaughlin *

as Scuba *

Lucy Deakins Lucy Helyn Deakins (born December 18, 1971) is an American attorney and former actress best known for starring as Milly in ''The Boy Who Could Fly'' and originating the role of Lily Walsh on ''As the World Turns''. Biography Deakins was born i ...

as Barbara Kerry In addition, the film co-starred

Jerry Hardin Jerry Hardin (born November 20, 1929) is an American actor. Hardin has appeared in film and television roles, including the character nicknamed Deep Throat in ''The X-Files''. Hardin was born in Texas and studied acting at London's Royal Academ ...

as Brewer,

Albert Fortell The seventh edition of '' Dancing Stars'' was broadcast from 9 March to 18 May 2012 on ORF1 and was presented by Mirjam Weichselbraun and Klaus Eberhartinger. Couples Scoring chart : indicate the lowest score for each week. :Green numbers ...

as Bunin, Ronald Guttnan as Spassky and

Jacob Vargas Jacob Vargas (born August 18, 1971) is a Mexican-American actor and performer. Early life Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. He attended high sc ...

as Miguel.

Production

A parade scene was filmed in downtown La Mesa and much of the

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

occurred throughout

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews and holds a "Rotten" score of 57% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Walter Goodman said that Benjamin's directing strategy in the film "seems to have been to paper over the holes in the plot with routine moves from spy shows past, in hopes of making the improbable passable." Roger Ebert awarded the film one and a half stars, suspecting that Poitier and the makers of the film had no idea of how to use a computer, and that "it turns all of the characters into chess pieces, whose relationships depend on the plot, not on human chemistry. Since the plot is absurdly illogical, you're not left with much."

Box office

It grossed $866,398 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $1.7 million in North America.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1988 films 1988 drama films 1980s spy films 1988 thriller films American spy films American thriller films Cold War spy films Films scored by Marvin Hamlisch Films directed by Richard Benjamin Columbia Pictures films Films with screenplays by Bo Goldman Films set in San Diego Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation 1980s English-language films 1980s American films Films shot in San Diego