The Anderson Tapes (1971)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Lawrence Sanders (novel)
Frank Pierson (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 September 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The Crime of the Century!

Plot:

A thief (Duke Anderson) just released from ten years in jail, takes up with his old girlfriend (Ingrid) in her posh apartment...

Plot Keywords:

Surveillance | Tape | Jewel Theft | Criminal Gang | Planning

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Duke Anderson
Dyan Cannon	...	Ingrid
Martin Balsam	...	Haskins
Ralph Meeker	...	Police Captain 'Iron Balls' Delaney
Alan King	...	Pat Angelo
Christopher Walken	...	The Kid
Val Avery	...	Parelli aka Socks
Dick Anthony Williams	...	Spencer (as Dick Williams)
Garrett Morris	...	Officer Everson
Stan Gottlieb	...	Pop
Paul Benjamin	...	Jimmy
Anthony Holland	...	Psychologist
Richard B. Shull	...	Werner (as Richard B. Schull)
Conrad Bain	...	Dr. Rubicoff
Margaret Hamilton	...	Miss Kaler

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1971) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

1 East 91st Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Final feature film of Margaret Hamilton.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the surveillance man from the House Internal Security Committee picks up the large shotgun microphone, he switches it from his right hand to his left when he turns on one of the tape recorders. In the next shot, as he's still recording the message, the microphone is resting on the table and aiming a different direction.

Quotes:

Anderson: What's advertising but a legalized con game? And what the hell's marriage? Extortion, prostitution, soliciting with a government stamp on it. And what the hell's your stock market? A fixed horse race. Some business guy steals a bank, he's a big success story. Face in all the magazines. Some other guy steals the magazine and he's busted.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lumet: Film Maker (1975)

They Don't Make 'em Like This Anymore

The point is -- misguided comments to the contrary notwithstanding -- that this production together with its special effects was absolutely cutting edge in 1971. A film can never be evaluated on its technical merits without due attention to its time.

The late Lawrence Sanders was one of the best recent writers of light detective fiction. His mark on other authors like, for example, Robert Parker of the excellent "Spenser" series or Huggins and Cannell of "Rockford Files" cannot be underestimated. Using clever plot twists and a heavy dose of irony, there is a subtly comedic quality to what might otherwise be just another violent cops and robbers flick. But neither is it a gentle "Lavender Hill Mob" kind of humor. The audience wants justice to be done, but not at the expense of the good bad guy. The mobster played superbly by Alan King combines sheer brutality with hilarious self-mockery -- a real antidote to the ponderous kind of viciousness one sees in the contemporary "Godfather" pictures. Indeed, the sense of humor later seen in "The Freshman" (1990) and in the recent TV series "The Sopranos" offers many examples of this now popular genre.

Much more could be said in support of this excellent film, which in my book is a 9+ on a scale of ten.