Three Days of the Condor

Year: 1975

Director: Sidney Pollack

There are movies that I think should be taught in film school, and this is one of them. DirectorSidneyPollack is not known for thrillers, but this is one of the best ones ever made.

Robert Redford, who when this movie was made was at the peak of his ludicrous handsomeness, plays a bookworm. He and his fellow dweebs run an unassuming office for the CIA in Manhattan. It’s their job to do nothing less than read every single thing that’s published, in any language, anywhere in the world. Anything. They’re looking for hidden threats to national security.

One fine day it’s Redford’s turn to go to the deli and bring back lunch for everyone. While he’s gone, a pair of assassins (led by the great Max Von Sydow) arrive and cold-bloodedly exterminate every person in the office with a silenced machine gun.

Redford walks in with his sandwiches, sees the carnage, and immediately calls in to CIA headquarters for help.

The rest of the movie chronicles Redford’s character trying to survive long enough to be safely “brought in.” Along the way he falls in with a beautiful young photographer (Faye Dunaway) who believes his story and helps him, though she “doesn’t think he’s going to live very long.”

The movie has an amazing feel for New York City, and there’s lots of location work.

Redford excels at playing pragmatic, smart characters, and it’s wonderful to watch him attempt to stay one step ahead of Sydow’s assassin.

And speaking of Sydow. This character of his, this cool, businesslike European assassin, has got to be one of the greatest characters ever in a movie. He’s so scary, and – like the Redford character – practical and smart.

Oscar winner Cliff Robertson is also excellent as the Machiavellian CIA agent in charge of Redford.

Special mention must also be made of the delicious screenplay by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. There’s a particularly insightful exchange between John Houseman, who plays an older agent, discussing with a younger agent how long he’s been around:

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: I miss that kind of clarity.

Semple had written some terrific movies before this, movies like Papillion, The Super Cops and The Parallax View. For some puzzling reason, he never really wrote anything of note afterwards. Watching this movie makes you wish he’d written more at this high level. It also makes you wish Pollack had directed more thrillers. He did direct two more, The Firm and The Interpreter, and they weren’t bad, but they weren’t anything as good as this.

Three Days of the Condor is a ride you really want to take. From its horrifying opening to its stunning (and almost flabbergasting) conclusion, you’ll be on the edge of your seat.

[Thirty Hubs In Thirty Days Challenge #1]