Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Something Rotten in the Company:
Sydney Pollack's paranoid thriller from the mid-1970s
Joseph Turner is late for work. But, it’s not just Dr. Lappe, his boss at the American Literary Historical Society, who notices. On the South side of East 77th Street, a man waits in a car. He’s watching Number 55, where the Society is located, checking each arrival against a photograph, before crossing out a name.
Turner (Robert Redford) is seventeen minutes late. On arriving, he asks, “Anything in the early pouch for me?” “Nothing in response to your report,” Lappe replies.
The watcher in the car continues to wait. One employee, Heidegger, has not arrived. It begins to rain. At 11:22 am, a man with an umbrella stops by the car. They decide to wait no longer.
Inside the American Literary Historical Society, Turner collects lunch orders, then, to the consternation of the guard, slips out of a back door in the basement.
From the East, on the North side of 77th Street, a mailman walks towards Number 55. A man in a bulky black rain slicker approaches from the West. The mailman rings the bell. He enters Number 55 and guns down the receptionist, Mrs. Russell. The man in the black slicker shoots the guard. The man with the umbrella, Joubert (Max von Sydow), arrives...
Turner returns with lunch to find the front door ajar. He discovers everyone inside has been shot. Mrs. Russell’s cigarette is still burning. Turner puts it out. Then, he takes the handgun from Mrs. Russell’s desk.
Turner calls headquarters. The American Literary Historical Society is a branch of the CIA. Turner is asked for his code name—it’s Condor. He is told to disappear for two hours.
Turner goes to Heidegger’s apartment. He has also been shot.
Next time he contacts the CIA, Turner’s call is rerouted to New York Center—in the World Trade Center. He talks to Higgins (Cliff Robertson) and wonders, “How come I need a code name and you don’t.” Higgins does not reply. Instead, he tells Turner to go to the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway, and enter the alley behind it from 73rd Street. There, the Agency will bring him back in.
But, things do not go as planned.
A paranoid thriller from the mid-1970s—other notable examples were The Parallax View (1974) and All the President’s Men (1976), both directed by Alan J. Pakula—Three Days of the Condor was produced by Robert Redford’s Wildwood Productions and directed by Sydney Pollack. The script, by Lorence Semple, Jr. and David Rayfiel, is based on James Grady’s novel “Six Days of the Condor.
The cast includes Faye Dunaway as a woman from Brooklyn Heights, who is kidnapped by Turner but later assists him, and John Houseman as the CIA’s Mr. Wabash, who wants Higgins to clean things up. Von Sydow makes Joubert both menacing and urbane, while Robertson’s Higgins is never quite as trustworthy as Turner would like him to be.
At first, Redford’s Turner is a man who is not sure he likes being employed by the CIA—he can’t tell his friends about his work. Later, he has even graver doubts. “Do we have plans to invade the Middle East?” he asks Higgins. “No, absolutely not. We have games,” replies Higgins, “We play games. What if? How many men? What would it take? Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a regime?”
When Turner asks, “What is it with you people?” Higgins says, “It’s simple economics. Today it’s oil, right. In ten, fifteen years, food, plutonium.”
Three Days of the Condor was made in
1975—thirty years later, it’s still oil.
—John Bloomfield (22 March, 2004)
Sydney Pollack's paranoid thriller from the mid-1970s
Joseph Turner is late for work. But, it’s not just Dr. Lappe, his boss at the American Literary Historical Society, who notices. On the South side of East 77th Street, a man waits in a car. He’s watching Number 55, where the Society is located, checking each arrival against a photograph, before crossing out a name.
Turner (Robert Redford) is seventeen minutes late. On arriving, he asks, “Anything in the early pouch for me?” “Nothing in response to your report,” Lappe replies.
The watcher in the car continues to wait. One employee, Heidegger, has not arrived. It begins to rain. At 11:22 am, a man with an umbrella stops by the car. They decide to wait no longer.
Inside the American Literary Historical Society, Turner collects lunch orders, then, to the consternation of the guard, slips out of a back door in the basement.
From the East, on the North side of 77th Street, a mailman walks towards Number 55. A man in a bulky black rain slicker approaches from the West. The mailman rings the bell. He enters Number 55 and guns down the receptionist, Mrs. Russell. The man in the black slicker shoots the guard. The man with the umbrella, Joubert (Max von Sydow), arrives...
Turner returns with lunch to find the front door ajar. He discovers everyone inside has been shot. Mrs. Russell’s cigarette is still burning. Turner puts it out. Then, he takes the handgun from Mrs. Russell’s desk.
Turner calls headquarters. The American Literary Historical Society is a branch of the CIA. Turner is asked for his code name—it’s Condor. He is told to disappear for two hours.
Turner goes to Heidegger’s apartment. He has also been shot.
Next time he contacts the CIA, Turner’s call is rerouted to New York Center—in the World Trade Center. He talks to Higgins (Cliff Robertson) and wonders, “How come I need a code name and you don’t.” Higgins does not reply. Instead, he tells Turner to go to the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway, and enter the alley behind it from 73rd Street. There, the Agency will bring him back in.
But, things do not go as planned.
A paranoid thriller from the mid-1970s—other notable examples were The Parallax View (1974) and All the President’s Men (1976), both directed by Alan J. Pakula—Three Days of the Condor was produced by Robert Redford’s Wildwood Productions and directed by Sydney Pollack. The script, by Lorence Semple, Jr. and David Rayfiel, is based on James Grady’s novel “Six Days of the Condor.
The cast includes Faye Dunaway as a woman from Brooklyn Heights, who is kidnapped by Turner but later assists him, and John Houseman as the CIA’s Mr. Wabash, who wants Higgins to clean things up. Von Sydow makes Joubert both menacing and urbane, while Robertson’s Higgins is never quite as trustworthy as Turner would like him to be.
At first, Redford’s Turner is a man who is not sure he likes being employed by the CIA—he can’t tell his friends about his work. Later, he has even graver doubts. “Do we have plans to invade the Middle East?” he asks Higgins. “No, absolutely not. We have games,” replies Higgins, “We play games. What if? How many men? What would it take? Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a regime?”
When Turner asks, “What is it with you people?” Higgins says, “It’s simple economics. Today it’s oil, right. In ten, fifteen years, food, plutonium.”
Three Days of the Condor was made in
1975—thirty years later, it’s still oil.
—John Bloomfield (22 March, 2004)
posted by John Bloomfield at 9:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home