| Director | Sam Peckinpah |
|---|---|
| Budget | $6.5 million |
| Box office | $6.5 million |
CIA Director Maxwell Danforth reviews video of Agent Laurence Fassett and his wife Zuna having sex. KGB agents kill Zuna while Fassett showers. Consumed by grief and rage, yet unaware of CIA sanction for the killing, Fassett hunts the assassins in vain. To his superior, Fassett reports having uncovered "Omega," a Soviet spy network, including television producer Bernard Osterman, plastic surgeon Richard Tremayne, and stock trader Joseph Cardone. Fassett advises they turn one into a double agent to unravel the entire network.
Fassett recruits controversial television journalist John Tanner, who has been close friends with the three since they attended Berkeley together, and is already set to host them at an upcoming annual weekend gathering they call "The Osterman" after its founder. Tanner, highly critical of government abuses of power, is initially skeptical, but Fassett exposes his friends as Omega agents with videotaped meetings with a KGB agent. The Russian and Cardone argue on "targeting" Tanner as a threat; Tremayne receives assurance on leaving the country after "it" goes down; Osterman wants "radical change" with handsome payment to a Swiss bank account. Tanner eventually agrees on condition that Danforth appears on his show, Face to Face.
John, anticipating trouble, asks his wife Ali to take their son Steve out of town, but cannot tell her why, which upsets her. Their car is ambushed on the way to the airport; Ali and Steve are kidnapped. Fassett intervenes, rescuing them. The Tanners' home is wired for closed circuit video, and Fassett observes from a van, protected by armed agents near their property.
Osterman, Tremayne and Cardone arrive tense, after being spooked by CIA psyops that someone knows about "Omega". Fassett heightens tension through television video feeds focusing on illegal financial manipulation through banking in Switzerland. Ali punches Tremayne's wife Virginia for trashing John. Bernard tells John that he is getting himself into something out of his depth, and everyone retires to their rooms. Steve discovers the family dog's severed head in the refrigerator, but it is a fake. John has had enough and demands that his guests leave. John confronts Fassett and insists he arrest the suspects. Fassett orders his men to kill Osterman, but he is expert in martial arts and kills one of them barehanded.
Cardone and Tremayne and their wives escape in John's recreational vehicle. John confronts and assaults Bernard, but John is easily overpowered; Bernard demands an explanation. John tells Bernard that he knows his friends are Soviet agents. Bernard dismisses the accusation, explaining they only sheltered their money in Swiss accounts to avoid taxation, and insists they are not traitors. Via CCTV, Fassett admits Osterman and his friends are only tax evaders, then kills the Tremaynes and Cardones by remotely detonating explosives in John's RV. He sends his soldiers into the house to kill Osterman and Tanner. Fassett taunts Tanner during the attack on the house, revealing that Danforth authorized his wife's murder.
Meanwhile, Ali, having escaped the house earlier, uses her hunting bows to kill two of Fassett's men. Tanner kills a third with a pistol crossbow; however, Fassett captures Ali and Tanner, ransoming them in exchange for John exposing Danforth live on television.
Later, from his office, Danforth responds remotely to Tanner's interview questions. Tanner then introduces Fassett on the air, and Fassett, who is also being filmed remotely, exposes Danforth as a murderer. Enraged when he realizes that he has been tricked, Danforth publicly unleashes a paranoid diatribe and threatens Fassett's life.
Fassett's secret remote location is tracked through the video transmission by Tanner himself, who had pre-recorded his questions for both men with Osterman's assistance. Tanner locates and kills Fassett. The angle from which Fassett's death is captured on camera protects Tanner's anonymity, while also appearing to confirm Danforth's threats in real time. John then rescues Ali, Steve, and their dog.