Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

James Grady (novel)
Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 November 1975 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

His CIA code name is Condor. In the next seventy-two hours almost everyone he trusts will try to kill him.

Plot:

A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.

Plot Keywords:

CIA | Book | Kill | Key | Bird In Title

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Robert Redford	...	Joseph Turner / The Condor
Faye Dunaway	...	Kathy Hale
Cliff Robertson	...	J. Higgins
Max von Sydow	...	G. Joubert (as Max Von Sydow)
John Houseman	...	Mr. Wabash
Addison Powell	...	Leonard Atwood
Walter McGinn	...	Sam Barber
Tina Chen	...	Janice Chon
Michael Kane	...	S.W. Wicks
Don McHenry	...	Dr. Ferdinand Lappe
Michael B. Miller	...	Fowler (as Michael Miller)
Jess Osuna	...	The Major
Dino Narizzano	...	Harold
Helen Stenborg	...	Mrs. Edwina Russell (as Helen Stenbure)
Patrick Gorman	...	Martin

Also Known As:

3 Days of the Condor (Australia)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:AA (1975) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1976) | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

1 World Trade Center, World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

Sydney Pollack brought a lawsuit against Danish TV after screening Three Days of the Condor (1975) in pan-and-scan in 1991. The court ruled that the pan scanning conducted by Danish television was a 'mutilation' of the film and a violation of Pollack's 'Droit Moral', his legal right as an artist to maintain his reputation by protecting the integrity of his work. Nonetheless, the court ruled in favor of the defendant on a technicality.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Turner is given the report from Langley saying they found nothing to be concerned about in the book he read and reported on. Turner folds it and puts it in his right rear pocket. When he tries to remember the section chiefs name the morning after at Kathy's apartment, the morning the mailman comes, he retrieves it out of his left rear jeans pocket.

Quotes:

Higgins: It'd have to be somebody in the community.
Joe Turner: Community.
Higgins: Intelligence field.
Joe Turner: Community! Jesus, you guys are kind to yourselves. Community.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Interpreter (2005)

One of Redford's Best, a 70s Suspense Classic!

A cold, rainy day in New York City...a small, cramped office building where a friendly, diverse group of CIA administrative types do research...one employee, a young 'reader' (Robert Redford), is assigned to pick up sandwiches, and takes a short cut through back alleys to a local deli...a van pulls up in front of the building, a group of disguised, armed assassins disembark, enter...and brutally kill every person in the building, leaving just before the 'reader' returns, to face the carnage...

With this visually gripping sequence, the stage is set for one of the best suspense films of the 1970s, Sydney Pollack's classic THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. In a novel twist of the Hitchcock 'Man Who Knew Too Much' theme, Redford's 'Joseph Turner' (code name 'Condor'), whose employment consists of reading novels and publications for any reference to the CIA, develops an 'imaginary' scenario of an agency 'inside' the agency, working independently, which his boss forwards to Washington for review. Unfortunately, the scenario is true, and Turner and his co-workers must be eliminated, to keep the secret intact. By sheer luck, Turner survives the 'hit', and the bookish 'admin type' must now run for his life, utilizing survival skills he didn't know he possessed, while trying to discover the reason for his 'death sentence'...

The tension never lets up in this grim, exciting tale, as Turner discovers he can trust no one, and barely survives assassination attempts, again and again. Forced to kidnap a young woman (Faye Dunaway, more vulnerable than usual) to aid him, it takes a death attempt to convince her to believe him, but Turner refuses to allow her to continue to risk her life protecting him, so, ultimately, it becomes a 'David and Goliath' struggle between Turner and the 'outlaw' CIA and it's hired assassins.

Featuring Max von Sydow as a sophisticated 'hit man', John Houseman as a mysterious CIA senior official, and Cliff Robertson as an agent with an agenda, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR influenced a generation of similar-themed thrillers, including Mel Gibson's CONSPIRACY THEORY, and Will Smith's ENEMY OF THE STATE.

The Robert Redford film is the best of the crop, by far!