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Three Days of the Condor Customer Reviews (13 - 15 of 44 Reviews)

Riveting political thriller
In "Three Days of the Condor" Robert Redford plays Joseph Turner a CIA analyst who spends his days reading books trying to spot possible operations that the CIA who tries reads books trying to spot covert operations. When the rest of his unit is assassinated, Turner code named Condor goes on the run. He's not sure if the CIA is trying to kill him or some other organization. To escape he kidnaps Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway)a woman who is renting skis for a vacation. Somehow Turner has to discover why his group was killed whether or not he can trust the deputy director (Cliff Robinson)of the CIA to bring him in and avoid the assassin (Max von Sydow)hired to eliminate the last member of the unit.

A riveting thriller with geat direction by film veteran Sidney Pollack ("Tootsie", "The Interpreter"), "Condor" has lost none of its power more than twenty years on. Although Paramount is stingy with extras (they usually are)giving us only the film and the theatrical trailer. The film looks pretty nice but could do with a commentary track from Pollack and a look back at this classic movie.



Man on the Run
The strength of 3 Days of the Condor is in the role of CIA agent Condor, Joe Turner played by Robert Redford, a book reader for the CIA who finds the organisation he works for suddenly whipped out by a ruthless bunch of assassins led by the German Joubert, Max Von Sydow, in a famous sequence that is almost prophetic of the office rampages we hear about today in the news. Quickly phoning HQ, Condor is ordered to rendezvous with a pickup only to be speedily thrown into a game of cat and mouse with shadow agencies and his own competing against one another. Although there are some surprises in store, plot twists and the memorable tense elevator scene (did you drop these gloves sir?), 3 Days of the Condor is sadly let down by a lack of depth in the plot and some unconventional breaks in the pace, such as the overlong kidnapping background love story with Kathy, Faye Dunaway, and the Scooby-doo explanation ending that never really seems to answer much, leaving the viewer with a sort of half-satisfied explanation for the high body count shadow operations being witnessed. Although playing itself somewhat well to the tune of cold war atmosphere, this `man on the run' leaves many loose ends open and much to the imagination. This is mostly due to the very interesting confrontation between Turner and Joubert that is downplayed by the final scene where Condor confronts his boss.

With a high television replay count 3 Days of the Condor has shown itself to be a very popular movie and Redford does his bit well, bringing out the bookworm's military manoeuvres now and again, this is a 70s conspiracy thriller highlight, although there are now better and deeper movies that revolve around the same theme. The Bourne Identity/Supremacy is really where the game is at now. 3 Days of the Condor, although being on the run for a good run, takes a backseat to the new pace.

Shades of Valerie Plame and Brewster-Jennings
Joe Turner (Robert Redford) works at the American Literary Society of America (ALS House)...actually a CIA front located in Manhattan where research of an interesting kind is conducted. Turner and colleagues read everything that's published in the world, looking for new ideas, leaks, codes or indications of on-going domestic/foreign intelligence operations. Shortly after Turner sends a report off to Langley, HQ concerning a novel that did not sell well but nevertheless was translated into an odd assortment of foreign languages anyway, the young CIA officer's life is turned upside down. Turner returns with lunch for the ALS House and finds everyone dead! Who committed the crime? I won't say, but the Karl Rove/Valerie Plame/Brewster-Jennings scandel isn't far off the mark. Probably the best and, sad to say, more realistic espionage movies ever made.

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