THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975)

During a peak era for Hollywood produced conspiracy thrillers, this was one of the most popular and for good reasons.  It was directed by the late, great Oscar-winner Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa, Tootsie, The Firm) and starred two of the most beautiful and enduring stars of this era.  Robert Redford (The Sting, Indecent Proposal) stars as Turner who is an mild-mannered analyst for the CIA who suddenly finds every one in his New York City research office brutally murdered while he went out of lunch....and now he's on the run to get answers, also before some one murders him.  Along the way, he encounters Kathy played by Oscar-winner Faye Dunaway (Network, Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown), an unusually observant painter whom he decides to kidnap while seeking shelter at her apartment....and of course they develop a romance....sort of.  And hot on his heels is the wily assassin Joubert played by the late, great Max Von Sydow (The Seventh Seal, Flash Gordon, Pelle the Conqueror).  What results is a tense cat-and-mouse thriller which was somewhat ahead of its time and is now about to turn Fifty! 

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon

Editor: Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR - 1975

Directed by Sydney Pollack

Starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, John Houseman, Addison Powell, Walter McGinn, Tina Chen, John Randolph Jones, Michael Kane, Jess Osuna, and Max von Sydow

Genre:  Spy Thriller (Audio clip)

Inspired by a recent podcast which ranked this among the best all-time spy thrillers, I finally had to check this one out...bear with me as I'm still catching up on a lot of '70's staples,  You have the legendary Sydney Pollack directing as he's done some notable conspiracy thrillers, namely The Firm which I still hold up as one of the most underrated thrillers of the '90's. The DP was Owen Roizman who did was cinematographer for some mildly notable films from this era including The Exorcist and The French Connection. It co-stars Faye Dunaway smack between notable stints in Chinatown and Network, along with the late, great Max Von Sydow who has co-starred in....seemingly every third great movie released between 1973 and 1987. And it stars PRIME Robert Redford who would co-star in and produce All the President's Men the following year. :o So with THIS kind of pedigree for '70's paranoia, did it disappoint? Not in the slightest...

One thing I really enjoyed was how it generally stays ground-level yet still gives us the scope of the intelligence mess that Redford's Joe Turner finds himself enmeshed in. He's basically part of a book study group employed by the CIA - they comb through fiction to find any hints of something possibly resembling a conceivable intelligence operation somewhere in the world, flag it, and report it to CIA brass in Langley, VA. One day something they report results in some unexpected visitors to their offices in New York City - those visitors are lead by the mysterious Joubert played by Von Sydow who then proceed to abruptly murder every one in study group....except Turner who was out picking up everyone's lunch at the time. Turner returns just after the bloodshed and after the assassins have left...in a panic, he grabs a hidden firearm and then runs off to contact the CIA, his codename is "Condor."

Redford plays these scenes with the necessary levels of fear but this is also an edgier, more violent character than I'm used to seeing him play - much of that is due to unexpected circumstances clearly but sneaking around, he finds Faye Dunaway's Kathy and forces her at gunpoint to take him to hide out at her apartment...and let's just say he's rougher with her than I would have expected given that this was Redford in his peak era as a leading man.  Dunaway also plays the only real innocent character in this story - she's a photographer who specializes in taking lonely pictures, as Redford's Turner is quick to point out to her once he's hiding out in her apartment. 

Honestly, there's nothing his character does to her that you wouldn't see a ruthless James Bond pull with a female contact around this same time but the movie definitely starts to take on a more brutal tone once we start to see what Turner is capable of to try to untangle this conspiracy. And I'm guessing that's by design...the world this film is presenting us is not a particularly clean one as befits the time

By this point, the conspiracy stuff starts to get juicier and it's fun to watch Redford take action with some technical know-how to start turning the tables on those trying to kill him. Most of this takes place around NYC and even inside the World Trade Center (just a year after it was opened) which adds an interesting dimension. And though there are a couple of intense setpieces along the way, the film doesn't reach its climax in any sort of conventional way....it's mainly conversation but very well-written and well-acted conversation. ;) The whole thing ends on a somewhat ambiguous yet satisfying note. If you enjoy conspiracy thrillers from this era, there's absolutely no reason you won't enjoy this 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

One of the more underrated composers from this particular era has always been Littleton, Colorado’s OWN David Gruisin who was a regular collaborator of Sydney Pollacks for decades, often delivering minimalist, jazzy scores which still left their mark including for previous episodes Tootsie and The Firm.  (Audio clip) 

His score here is mostly confined to a few select scenes and the opening and closing credits….and even though it’s not giving off a vibe of pulse-pounding suspense, it still works.  Just a breezy mix of jazz and funk, the main title theme is pretty catchy and a nice tone-setter for the film which it book-ends, this theme also happens to be called, “Condor” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Now back to Faye Dunaway’s Kathy…..she's brings a great deal of intelligence to this character but disappointingly, a very awkward romance (punctuated by a VERY awkward love scene) is developed between the two of them which was probably the weakest part of this film. I mean I get it...mid '70's Redford and Dunaway are clearly perfect human specimens so it would make sense that they would be attracted to each other. 🤫 The romance doesn't really stop the movie in its tracks but the whole thing just felt forced and somewhat undercut the agency given to Kathy as a character.  Overall her performance is actually pretty strong but it’s still NOT the BEST use of Dunaway’s talents as an actress …. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

There is ONLY one REAL fight scene in this movie but it’s a damn good one….it occurs about 70 minutes into the movie when Joe is at Kathy’s apartment.  Suddenly a mailman comes calling….only he’s not your typical mailman. (Audio clip) 

The “Mailman” is played by ‘70’s journeyman actor Hank Garrett who was in some pretty big movies around this time including Death Wish and The Amityville Horror.  Now Redford’s character notices something is off about this guy based on the shoes he’s wearing….but honestly, he just got one of those distinctive mugs you can’t forget.  Dude LOOKS pretty intimidating and then shows off the fight skills to prove it.  It’s a short fight but a genuinely thrilling knock-out drag-out deal with both men reaching out for guns at the same time when Joe finally gets the upperhand with the help of a fireplace poker – AWESOME sound design too! (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

This is the rare ‘70’s conspiracy thriller where I feel like the overall structure and the ideas which it presents actually hold up better than the direction.  I feel like where this film shines the most is at the screenplay level – the writing is super-sharp, effective at laying out characters’ motivations even with limited expositional dialogue.  And wouldn’t you know it, this was written by the SAME guy who did the screenplay just the year before for ANOTHER memorable thriller of this type, previous episode The Parallax View which came out just the year before.  What both films TRULY share a typical (for this era) BLEAK view of the world….which also happens to be conveyed perfectly by some characters on-screen.  It's all perfectly summarized by John Houseman's Mr. Wabash at one point in this exchange with Cliff Robertson's Higgins (both CIA higher-up's):

Mr. Wabash: "I go even further back than that. Ten years after The Great War, as we used to call it. Before we knew enough to number them."

Higgins: "You miss that kind of action, sir?"

Mr. Wabash: "No, I miss that kind of clarity."

There's plenty of sinister dialogue like than and gratefully, it's being spoken by actors who have the gravitas to pull it off.   But even moreso, it comes from one of the best screenwriters of the 1970’s….he not only did those two thrillers but a few other gems including The Drowning Pool and Papillion.  For crafting a now prescient tale of distrust of our government, New Rochelle, NY’s OWN Lorenzo Semple Jr. is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

I found this very entertaining, actually more engaging than The Parallax View but not quite on the level of All the President's Men or The Conversation.  Happy 50th Anniversary to one of the more influential thrillers of the 1970’s! (Audio clip) 

Streaming on Paramount Plus, kanopy, and crunchyroll

And that ends another PRECISE review!