Three Days of the Condor
Watched a movie that i hadn't seen in many, many years last night. I loved it when i first saw it, was not as convinced this time. Tant pis. Enjoy!
Three Days of the Condor
One of a selection of 70s thrillers made when Watergate paranoia was cruising near its peak, here we have CIA researcher and book worm (apparently his job is to read books and look for messages in there for the CIA – not a bad way to earn a living really) Robert Redford who comes across something that leads to a hit team knocking out the rest of his team and a couple of friends. Along the way he gets rather improbably to screw Faye Dunaway (and by improbably I mean that the way it happens, also: she looks very pretty in this), and gets deep with hit man Max von Sydow.
I cannot say that I fully understood what was going on for the whole film. In part this may have been because I was falling asleep during parts of it (weary as I was as a result of my new arduous exercise regimen), but also because the story is somewhat improbably strung together. I am a big fan of paranoid thriller movies of this ilk, but there were a few too many holes in this one.
First of all, there was absolutely no explanation why Dunaway’s character fell into bed with Redford’s. To give background: having fled a shoot-out with supposed CIA friends, he runs into a clothes store, where he overhears Dunaway saying something to the person at the counter, only to then follow her out of the store, stick a gun in her face and get her to drive him to her house. There he explains his mildly incredible situation, ties her up, threatens her with the gun, gets her to lie to her fiancée, before falling into bed together. Hmmm. I suppose it could just be looks (he is pretty dashing, and she is certainly cute), but then again it could also be the result of her artistic temperament (she is a photographer – half arsed efforts of the sort you see dangling above toilets in the houses of aging yuppies). Once they have screwed he deposits her on a street corner and she suddenly drops out of the film. I either missed something crucial, or this was an example of really bad script writing.
Frankly that is the only major problem that I had with the film (though I never fully understood why the hit took place in the first place). But it really bothered me (and of course I may have snoozed through others). Also: the ending was mildly unsatisfying, but I can get over that (we just watch Redford disappear in the distance). The acting was all good, and it is interesting to see the Twin Towers playing such a prominent role in the film. One can only assume that they had just been built and were being showcased by the movie, as they do appear regularly, and are used as the CIA headquarters in New York (this is in fact true, the Twin Towers were full of government offices, as no-one else could afford the rent or wanted to go there and so the government was obliged to essentially subsidize them).
Survey says: worth watching if you are looking for a 70s thriller. Not the best ever made (see Capricorn One for a good one starring OJ, and I am currently tracking down a copy of the Parallax View which I will review at a later date, so start to get excited now), but nevertheless, a respectable and fun effort. However, the love business really bugged me so I would downgrade this to one that I would wait until you get a chance to catch it on TV.
Three Days of the Condor
One of a selection of 70s thrillers made when Watergate paranoia was cruising near its peak, here we have CIA researcher and book worm (apparently his job is to read books and look for messages in there for the CIA – not a bad way to earn a living really) Robert Redford who comes across something that leads to a hit team knocking out the rest of his team and a couple of friends. Along the way he gets rather improbably to screw Faye Dunaway (and by improbably I mean that the way it happens, also: she looks very pretty in this), and gets deep with hit man Max von Sydow.
I cannot say that I fully understood what was going on for the whole film. In part this may have been because I was falling asleep during parts of it (weary as I was as a result of my new arduous exercise regimen), but also because the story is somewhat improbably strung together. I am a big fan of paranoid thriller movies of this ilk, but there were a few too many holes in this one.
First of all, there was absolutely no explanation why Dunaway’s character fell into bed with Redford’s. To give background: having fled a shoot-out with supposed CIA friends, he runs into a clothes store, where he overhears Dunaway saying something to the person at the counter, only to then follow her out of the store, stick a gun in her face and get her to drive him to her house. There he explains his mildly incredible situation, ties her up, threatens her with the gun, gets her to lie to her fiancée, before falling into bed together. Hmmm. I suppose it could just be looks (he is pretty dashing, and she is certainly cute), but then again it could also be the result of her artistic temperament (she is a photographer – half arsed efforts of the sort you see dangling above toilets in the houses of aging yuppies). Once they have screwed he deposits her on a street corner and she suddenly drops out of the film. I either missed something crucial, or this was an example of really bad script writing.
Frankly that is the only major problem that I had with the film (though I never fully understood why the hit took place in the first place). But it really bothered me (and of course I may have snoozed through others). Also: the ending was mildly unsatisfying, but I can get over that (we just watch Redford disappear in the distance). The acting was all good, and it is interesting to see the Twin Towers playing such a prominent role in the film. One can only assume that they had just been built and were being showcased by the movie, as they do appear regularly, and are used as the CIA headquarters in New York (this is in fact true, the Twin Towers were full of government offices, as no-one else could afford the rent or wanted to go there and so the government was obliged to essentially subsidize them).
Survey says: worth watching if you are looking for a 70s thriller. Not the best ever made (see Capricorn One for a good one starring OJ, and I am currently tracking down a copy of the Parallax View which I will review at a later date, so start to get excited now), but nevertheless, a respectable and fun effort. However, the love business really bugged me so I would downgrade this to one that I would wait until you get a chance to catch it on TV.
posted by Raff @ 11:05 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:31 PM,
satay said…
I have never seen Faye Dunnaway look so gorgeous, not even in Chinatown! It is evident she had significant surgery done over the years.
Granted that her character is weak, she at least acknowledges herself to be a "spy f**ker" - I believe her purpose in this movie is self-explanatory.
The movie could definitey have been better with more clarity and depth. What I really want to know is the plot of that Dutch book from Venezuela Turner was talking about - how does that evolve into a strategy to invade the Middle East??
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