Three Days of the Condor

Trailer—Three Days of the Condor

The murky world of deceit and deception in the name of national security. Gets a few future forecasts right about what the US would treat the world to in the future - and maybe a few yet to come.

This had everything a political thriller should have - excellent acting by Redford and Dunaway and a well-written internally-consistent plot. Robert Redford plays a CIA agent who read books - that's all, just read books. He gets involved with a CIA plot when all of his coworkers are assassinated. I like this movie on several levels. The thing that stands out is that Redford isn't an "action hero". He stays ahead of the game - just barely - by using his intelligence. This make for a much more interesting movie than the simple-minded shoot 'em up of the current action heros.

Though this movie is 45 years old, the movie still holds up today and just shows that our governments are still fighting over the same things that they were in the mid-70s. Timeless. Beautiful transfer. Brilliant thriller and very fast paced. Catch it on Amazon Prime streaming

This film was very effective in maintaining the tension not only of the Condor's life and death mission to discover the reasons for the massacre of his colleagues but also the relationship between him and Kathy. The cast is uniformly good though Redford obviously carries the film. Von Sydow is again great as the strictly professional assassin. The entire film had an aura of authenticity that had me entirely engrossed. Recommended, 8/10.

I don't know what it is about this film that I like so much. Is it the idea of Robert Redford as the everyman, in over his head? Is it the beautiful Faye Dunaway, who is sexy and formidable? Is it Max Von Sydow from all those Bergman films holding forth on how the world is controlled by a small group of people? Then there is the constant pursuit where wits are needed or it's the end. So a previous reviewer talked about Hitchcock. This is a fast pace Hitchcock film. Like Cary Grant and Robert Donat, Robert Redford is only able to survive the overwhelming odds by getting a confederate, a woman, to help him. Redford is continually amazed at how he has left one frying pan to leap into the fire. And in the end, we are given one of those very unsettling statements that floor us. Watch this really cool film to see where all this goes.

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is one of those classic '70s thrillers that's all about paranoia and the mistrust of government entities. It has the same low key and gritty approach as other '70s greats as MARATHON MAN and SERPICO, and yet as a film it's quite unique, depicting the events in a mature, deeply political way that ignores stock action sequences in favour of surprising character twists and the like. Robert Redford is very well cast as a somewhat ignorant CIA agent who survives the brutal opening massacre sequence (an astonishing sequence) only to go on the wrong as assassins and corrupt agents close in. I could have done without the sub-plot involving Faye Dunaway's extraneous character, but I understand the value of its presence in humanising the main characters. The rest is an solid exercise in film-making, subdued and involving, surprising and engaging. Watch out for Max Von Sydow in one of his best roles.