Product Details

• Actors: Gene Hackman, Tommy Lee Jones, Joanna Cassidy, John Heard, Dennis Franz
• Directors: Andrew Davis
• Writers: John Bishop
• Producers: Andrew Davis, Arne Schmidt, Beverly J. Camhe, Charles Newirth, Dennis Haggerty
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Orion / MGM
• VHS Release Date: February 9, 1999
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 079289877X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #375,156 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good thriller, lousy DVD., October 1, 2000

By 

Daisy Ghostly (Odense, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Package (DVD)

Bravo MGM; you've managed yet again to screw up a great movie with a terrible DVD. -It's actually an ORION picture, and I'd hoped that they would've cared more about its appearance, but no such luck. Of my 100+ DVDs, this is one of the worst looking with dull colors and a fuzzy image. (Let's hope they're more careful with their upcoming Woody Allen ORION collection.) This is a rather oldfashioned straight-ahead action suspenser like they just don't make them anymore in Hollywood, but it's difficult to be thrilled about that when you know you can enjoy a much sharper version on TV. Hackman, Heard, Cassidy and Jones lead a good cast, but in order to see them clearly we desperately need a remastering of this otherwise wonderful movie. Until then, avoid like the plague.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great political espionage film, July 9, 2000

By 

Eric Finkelstein - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Package (DVD)

The Package is one of the best films about the end of the Cold War. The plot was interesting and easy to follow. The characters were impressive. I don't think that this was a weak or depressing film at all.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars it's "Fugitive" Lite!, February 11, 2002

By 

Christopher Galvin (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Package (DVD)

just saw an amazingly clean print of this on one of the national cable channels, first viewing since theatrical release. What struck me immediately were the similarities to The Fugitive, director Andrew Davis' later film, most notably the Chicago shooting locations, actors, and plot elements. There's the Hilton Towers' ballroom (locale of the medical-conference confrontation between Drs. Kimble and Sykes)! There's the bagpipe parade! There's Ron Dean (Fugitive's Detective Kelly "Now you all know in what high regard I hold this scumbag") as a cop! Regardless, The Package never really gels as a thriller--and the Cold War denouement plot is obviously dated--although Davis' directorial style (lots of medium and long shots, few closeups, harsh and gloomy light/color) always gets points for relying on the music score rather than hyperkinetic editing to build tension. But it is fun to watch Hackman and Jones together (even if they're not exactly chewing up scenes with their usual aplomb) and more fun to check out the late-80s hair (Joanna Cassidy's is piled high; Dennis Franz actually has some).