Three Days of the Condor-1975
Director Sydney Pollack
Starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway
Top 250 Films #246
Scott’s Review #1,206
Reviewed December 11, 2021
Grade: B+
Three Days of the Condor (1975) is an edge-of-your-seat thriller starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway, two big stars of the 1970s.
Sydney Pollack, best known for Out of Africa (1985) and Tootsie (1982), directs the film.
He knows how to entertain while providing a good, juicy romance.
The quick pace and frenetic editing keep the film moving, and the frequent exteriors in Manhattan and Brooklyn are great. Good-looking stars and a dangerous European bad guy played by Max von Sydow certainly help.
My only criticism is that Three Days of the Condor is quite similar and familiar to other espionage or political thrillers like All the President’s Men (1976) or Chinatown (1974) that emerged during the 1970s.
That said, it’s small potatoes compared with the compelling, action-oriented theme.
On a seemingly ordinary day, Joe Turner (Redford), a bookish CIA codebreaker, is tasked with fetching lunch for his colleagues. When he returns, he finds that they have all been murdered.
Horrified, Joe flees the scene and tries to tell his supervisors about the tragedy, but quickly learns that CIA higher-ups were involved in the murders.
With no one to trust and a determined hitman named Joubert (Max von Sydow) on his tail, Joe must somehow survive long enough to figure out why his agency wants him dead.
He kidnaps Kathy Hale (Dunaway), who he hopes will assist him in his peril.
The opening segment is the best part of Three Days of the Condor. The massacre of the entire office is shocking and bloody, and Pollack infuses the necessary elements of suspense in this key scene.
The scolding, chain-smoking receptionist who keeps a gun in her desk drawer is the first to die and no match for her assassins. As they go about the office, kicking down doors and wreaking havoc, there’s hope that someone is spared.
We also wonder about their motivation.
And the tense elevator scene involving Turner and Joubert is fabulous.
Particularly worth mentioning is the inclusion of a female Asian character, hinted at as a possible love interest of Turner’s. Tina Chen’s character, Janice, is intelligent and sexy.
Unfortunately, her flirtations with Turner never go anywhere, as she is part of the lunchtime slaughter, but some Asian representation in mainstream film during this time is a positive.
I fell in love with Kathy’s cozy and stylish Brooklyn apartment. Assumed to be near the Lower Manhattan financial district, the set is beautifully dressed. It provides depth and texture to her character, whom we barely know at first.
She has good taste and sophistication and sees something in Turner, even though he just accosted her at random.
It was a stretch to buy Robert Redford as nerdy or anything other than a platinum blonde hunk, but the actor does a satisfactory job leading the film.
I couldn’t stop comparing Redford and Brad Pitt at that age, as the two stars look similar.
The chemistry between Redford and Dunaway is palpable and key to the film. If little or none existed, it would have detracted from the believability when they become lovers; it feels natural, a satisfying culminating moment for the audience, and proper to the story.
With enough action to enthrall thriller viewers, Three Days of the Condor (1975) is slick yet believable.
Capitalizing on the paranoia the fresh Watergate scandal had created when the film was made, it still holds up well as a film decades later.
Oscar Nominations: Best Film Editing
Golden Globe Nominations: Best Actress- Drama- Faye Dunaway
