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Three Days of the Condor Customer Reviews (4 - 6 of 44 Reviews)

an especially prescient film
This film has long been one of my Top Ten favorites for the quality of the acting and the screenplay, and for the importance of the theme: that a secret network could operate within the intelligence community beneath the radar of legitimate agency oversight.

The film seems especially prescient now, given that the fictional network's goal was planning a U.S. invasion of the Mideast. Voila, 30 years later, the U.S. has invaded the Mideast. When the Redford character finally confronts the rogue C.I.A. leader of the plan, he connects the dots and says, "This whole damn thing is about oil, isn't it?" Exactly.

Let's be clear about why the U.S. Armed Forces are in Iraq, rather than, say, Ecuador or Nepal: it's the strategic importance of the region's oil. Yes, the plan is to transform Iraq into a democratic nation, which will lead the entire region in that direction. But the U.S. isn't committing its treasure and citizenry to all troubled regions of the globe equally; we are in Iraq because it is the strategic linchpin of the region. Without access to the Mideast oil reserves, the world economy would be shaken to its foundations.

There are many troubled, undemocratic regions in the world--for example, much of Africa; yet we fight now to establish democracy in only one troubled region, the Mideast. Coincidence? No. Simple self-interest. As the Cliff Robertson character says at the film's conclusion: "When the people are cold and their engines stop running, they're not going to ask us why; they'll just want us to go get it."

Realizing that he is an embarrassment to the C.I.A. (the inevitable role of any whistleblower, even a reluctant one), at the film's end Redford gives the entire story to the New York Times. The Robertson character, a C.I.A. station chief who was caught off-guard by the hidden conspiracy, says, "But will they print it?" Redford is taken aback at the implication--that the government could pressure the media to suppress the story--and then he avers, less confidently, "They'll print it."

This is the core of democracy: that a free press keeps a government answerable to its people. Without a free and skeptical press, all the elections in the world mean nothing.



Pollack And Redford Deal With Paranoia And Murder, With Great Support From Max von Sydow
The first 15 minutes of this movie is one of the great film set-ups about murderous, paranoid governmental machinations. Joe Turner (Robert Redford) is a bookish researcher for a CIA front called The American Literary Historical Society It's a rainy New York day. We see Joe, a good guy, maybe a little naive, chat about his job of reading all sorts of material and having it fed into CIA computers to look for code opportunities. We meet the elderly, acerbic but good-natured woman at the front desk and the middle-aged guard in the hall. We see the obvious affection between Joe and the young woman who works on the second floor with the computers. Since it's raining, Joe volunteers to get lunch. He takes their orders, runs out the back way in the rain and through a couple of alleys to a lunch diner. When he comes back 20 minutes later, everyone has been gunned down. We see it happen. We see a tall, middle-aged man with an umbrella pause in the rain by a car. We see a postman carrying a large mail bag walking down the street. We see a fellow wearing a rain-slicked poncho turn a corner. We see Joe's associates methodically and quickly killed. "Would you move from the window, please?" asks the tall man when he enters the computer room. The young woman is puzzled for a moment but then sees the gun the second man is pointing at her. "I won't scream," she says. "I know," he tells her, with just a little sadness. He turns away while she's shot.

Joe Turner, distraught and afraid, calls CIA headquarters to report what happened and to ask for help. Now code-named Condor, he quickly finds himself being hunted. He realizes that it may be the CIA itself that wants him dead, or it might be some sort of rogue operation within the CIA. Either way, it appears more people want him out of the way than alive and safe. He kidnaps a young woman (Faye Dunaway) who eventually agrees to help him. He finds out who the assassin is, a man called Joubert (Max von Sydow). He learns not to trust the CIA manager, Higgins (Cliff Robertson), who supposedly is trying to help him. Joe Turner realizes that even the so-called good guys aren't to be believed. "Boy, what is it with you people?" he says to Higgins. "You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?"

Before long, Joe Turner has had to change from a bookish academic to a resourceful action figure. Eventually Joe Turner figures out most of what has happened. When he encounters Joubert face-to-face in the elegant home of a senior CIA executive, he figures out the rest. Joe Turner was right to be paranoid. The conclusion is hopeful but not assured.

I think the movie works so well for two reasons. The first is the sheer Hollywood professionalism of the film. Director Sydney Pollack knows his way about a movie; he knows how to keep things moving, how to build character; how to develop tension and atmosphere...in other words, how to hook us and keep us hooked. Robert Redford is one of the quintessential Hollywood star actors. He's good at acting, and he carries real star power. Through some magic of personality and charisma, his transition from smart, easy-going researcher to resourceful action lead is believable, in part because even as an action lead Redford's Joe Turner doesn't pretend to be anything other than still puzzled. Faye Dunaway is another star performer who, in this role, punches above her character's weight. The only times the movie slows down is during the scenes between Redford and Dunaway. Her part is really little more than a contrivance. It's a credit to both that we can get past this without too much impatience.

The second reason the movie works so well is, I think, because of Max von Sydow. He plays Joubert, the assassin for hire, with a surprising amount of near nobility. Joubert is a completely practical killer, but one who thinks and, occasionally, permits himself a bit of introspection and empathy for some of his victims. "Well, the fact is," he says at one point to Joe, "what I do is not a bad occupation. Someone is always willing to pay." "I would find it... tiring," Turner says. "Oh, no...it's quite restful," Joubert tells him. "It's almost peaceful. No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause. There's only yourself. The belief is in your own precision." Von Sydow is so subtle and accomplished an actor that he can convey a range of emotion with just a slight inflection of voice or the slightest change in expression. In a way, von Sydow's Joubert has come to respect Joe Turner, and even gives him some sincere advice. At the end of the movie he offers a ride to Turner. "I'd like to go back to New York," Turner says. "You have not much future there," Joubert tells him. He pauses for a moment, thinking about what he is about to say. "It will happen this way. You may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know, maybe even trust, will get out of the car. And he will smile, a becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift." Pollack and Redford give Three Days of the Condor a great deal of energy and interest. I think von Sydow gives it a surprising amount of depth and quality.

The DVD is bare bones. The transfer looks very good.

pollack and redford craft a fine thriller that like most post watergate movies sees the goverment as a giant that could kill
after watergate the country felt that the goverment had become this lomming preasence in our lives and that when it wanted to it could reach out and distroy you if it wanted to. in this air of miss trust many thrillers came out built around that theory.
as our movie begins redford(very good as the everyman in the story) is a "reader" for the c.i.a. which means he reads books to see if any secrets or plots that might affect the agence aren't being put out. one day he goes to lunch and when he gets back he finds everyone in his office dead. scared he calls in and the c.i.a. says they will bring him "in" and protect him. they even send a friend to get him. when they meet the friend is killed and "condor"(redfords code name) is left on his own to try and find out what is going on.
the movie does a great job of making you feel the pressure and overwelming feeling that a giant has you and is about to crush you. if you like thrillers,or just like good movies this is one for you.

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