Three Days of the Condor

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Three Days of the Condor

Theatrical poster
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Produced by Executive Producer:
Dino De Laurentiis
Producer:
Stanley Schneider
Written by Story:
James Grady
Screenplay:
Lorenzo Semple Jr.
David Rayfiel
Starring Robert Redford
Faye Dunaway
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography Owen Roizman
Editing by Don Guidice
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
DeLaurentiis Productions
Release date(s) September 24, 1975
(U.S.A.)
Running time 117 minutes
Country United States
Language English
French
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Three Days of the Condor (1975) is an American motion picture produced by Stanley Schneider and directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay, by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel, was adapted from the novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady.[1]

The movie is a suspense drama set in contemporary New York City, and is considered an exposition of the moral ambiguity of the actions of the United States government following the Vietnam War and Watergate. It stars Robert Redford as an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency who inadvertently becomes involved in a deadly power struggle within the agency.

The film was nominated for the 1976 Academy Award for Film Editing. Semple and Rayfiel received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Joe Turner (Robert Redford) is a CIA employee who works in a clandestine office in New York City. He is not a field agent, and indeed bristles at Agency discipline. His job is in the OSINT field: he has to read books, newspapers, and magazines from around the world, looking for hidden meanings and new ideas. As part of his duties, Turner files a report to CIA headquarters on a low-quality thriller novel his office has been reading, pointing out strange plot elements therein, and the unusual assortment of languages in which the book has been translated (Arabic but not French, Spanish but not Russian, and Dutch).

The movie begins on the day in which Turner expects a response to his report. While he is out getting lunch, a group of armed men, led by an Alsatian assassin later identified as Joubert (Max von Sydow), executes the six people in the office. Turner returns, realizes he is in grave danger, and calls an emergency telephone number. He later goes to the home of a co-worker who stayed home sick from work and finds him dead as well.

On giving his code name, "Condor," he is put in contact with Higgins (Cliff Robertson), Deputy Director, CIA New York City. Higgins, who is at this point not involved in the conspiracy and is legitimately concerned, directs Turner to keep quiet, and they will send an agent named Wicks to "bring him in."

Wicks brings an old friend of Turner's (Sam) along to help put him at ease. But Wicks is part of the conspiracy and tries to kill Turner. Turner shoots Wicks, who just before collapsing shoots Sam; Turner escapes with his life. Realizing that he cannot trust anyone within the CIA, Turner calls in again and begins to play a cat-and-mouse game with Higgins.

Turner now sets off to solve the mystery of the killings on his own. Needing a place to hide, he forces a woman he saw in a ski shop, Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway), to take him to her apartment. He holds her prisoner while he attempts to figure out what's going on. He ties her up in her bathroom and takes her truck to go to his friend's apartment. When he gets there and makes contact with Sam's wife, she is cooking and readying for a dinner party; she tells Turner that she got a call earlier in the day - from someone unknown - that Sam would be working late. Apparently, she doesn't know what happened to her husband but told Turner that someone's been calling and hanging-up. It's at this time Turner has her immediately discontinue cooking dinner and go to Bill and Eileen's apartment upstairs. At this time, Joubert has arrived on the elevator to the floor where Sam's apartment is and sees Turner getting Sam's wife onto the elevator.

Joubert, a tall and imposing figure, enters the next elevator with Turner and has dialogue with him. When Joubert exits the elevator on the first floor, Turner knows that Joubert is probably waiting for him outside. Turner solicits the help of some teenagers who are hanging around the first-floor lobby, to use a coat-hanger to open-up his car in which he says he locked the keys. Naturally, it's a ploy to surround himself with innocent people to allow him to escape. Joubert, nearby, has a sniper rifle with a scope and sees that he cannot get a shot at Turner because of all the teenagers with him. He sees Turner get into Hale's truck and uses the scope of his rifle to see the license plate number. It's obvious, at this point, that Joubert will trace the owner of the truck through motor vehicle records.

Robert Redford, left, with Addison Powell.
Robert Redford, left, with Addison Powell.

Eventually, Hale is convinced to trust him; the gun is put away, and they make love (the scene was controversial for its sexually explicit content at the time). The next morning, Hale is getting a shower and Turner is in the kitchen, still trying to figure out what has happened. The doorbell rings and it's a postal letter carrier who says he has an insured package for Hale. Turner says she's not there and the postman says he could sign for it. Turner opens the door and when the postman is getting Turner to sign the receipt, the pen doesn't work. The postman says it's the only one he has, so Turner turns to get a pen but first notices the postman's footwear - dirty boots, not standard issue shoes. Turner grabs a hot pot of coffee from the stove, turns and throws it in the postman's face, just as the postman pulls a silenced automatic gun. The rounds miss Turner and a fight ensues. Kathy emerges from the shower, terrified to find the two men fighting, and hits the assassin once before being knocked to the ground. Turner disarms the postman and after physical exchanges, reaches his .45 pistol and shoots the postman. Turner doesn't find any identification on the body but does find a hotel room key and a piece of paper with a phone number on it: "Five Continents Imports." He calls the number and eventually finds it gets him to the CIA HQ - Wicks' office.

After going to a locksmith to help him identify where and who the key belongs to (lock manufacturers code engraved on the edge of the key), he locates the Holiday Inn and room where Joubert is located. Turner then contacts Higgins at New York Center and tells him about the postman with the automatic gun and Joubert. He then solicits Hale's help to go to the CIA office at the World Trade Center and pose as a job applicant, where she pretends to take a wrong turn into a restricted area and identifies Higgins by 'mistakenly' walking into his office. She then waits by the lobby elevators until Higgins emerges; she trails him to a lunch café, and sets him up to be abducted by Turner. Turner questions Higgins at gunpoint in the back of Kathy's truck, but Higgins has little valuable information for him.

Using a stolen telephone system repair kit, Turner makes a crank call to Joubert's hotel room, prompting Joubert to call his employer, Middle East Operations Director Leonard Atwood. Turner traces the call to Atwood, and calls Higgins to find out who Atwood is. The stunned Higgin's can't reply, since the same Atwood that Turner is implicating in this conspiracy is sitting in the very same room as Higgins.

Higgins later discovers (while checking the files on Wicks) that the postman who attacked Turner in Hale's apartment was a former US Marine Corps officer and CIA operative who collaborated with both Wicks and Joubert on a previous operation called "Lucifer 2." Knowing that Wicks has also been silenced by this point (Joubert snuck into his hospital room and unplugged his life support equipment), Higgins puts the pieces of the conspiracy together and informs his superior, who implies that the matter should be closed using outside help, if necessary.

Turner tracks down the renegade CIA director to his Virginia home and questions him at gunpoint and learns that his "section" was hit because it discovered a renegade plan to take over middle east oilfields. Joubert surprises them both, and unexpectedly kills Atwood. The contract has now changed; even though Atwood had hired him to terminate Turner, Atwood's superiors hired him to terminate Atwood. Turner is dumbfounded, realizing that Joubert and he are on the same side (for the moment). Joubert cautions Turner that he is no longer safe in New York, and advises him relocate--possibly to Europe. Turner declines, saying he would always feel homesick for the United States. When Turner asks Joubert why he kills for a living, Joubert says he never asks Why, only thinking of Where, When, and always How Much, contradicting Turner's assumption that such a life would be unbearable by implying that it's peaceful and that there are no sides to follow but rather "...the belief is in your own precision." Before they part, Joubert warns him that he is still a target and tells him how he will likely be set up for his own assassination.

Turner goes back to New York and meets Higgins on a busy street. When Higgins offers him a ride, Turner recognizes Joubert's warning and turns him down. Higgins defends the oil-fields plan and Turner castigates his inhumane worldview. Higgins tells Turner that eventually they will catch up to him. Turner says he has told the press "a story" (they are standing outside The New York Times office), but Higgins says, "How do you know they'll print it?" Turner answers, "They'll print it," and starts to walk away into the crowd. "You can take a walk, but how far if they don't print it?" Higgins says. When Turner repeats "They'll print it," he glances back for a while before continuing walking.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Critical reception

When first released, the film was reviewed positively by critic Vincent Canby, who wrote, "Yet in Sydney Pollack's Three Days of the Condor, Turner, whose code name is Condor, comes close to wreaking more havoc on the C.I.A. in three days than any number of House and Senate investigating committees have done in years...As a serious exposé of misdeeds within the C.I.A. the film is no match for stories that have appeared in your local newspaper. Indeed, one has to pay careful attention to figure out just what it is that who is doing to whom in Three Days of the Condor and, if I understood it correctly, it's never as horrifying as the real thing...The suspense of the film depends less on this kind of plausibility than on Mr. Redford's reputation (in a movie we accept the fact that he can do anything) and on the verve with which Mr. Pollack, the director, sets everything up. It also benefits from the presence of good actors, including Faye Dunaway (as the woman who befriends the fleeing Turner), Cliff Robertson, Max Von Sydow, and John Houseman..." [2]

[edit] Awards

Wins

Nominations

  • Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Film Editing, Fredric Steinkamp and Don Guidice; 1976.
  • Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Sydney Pollack; 1976.
  • Golden Globes: Golden Globe; Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama, Faye Dunaway; 1976.
  • Grammy Awards: Grammy; Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special, Dave Grusin; 1977.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Three Days of the Condor at the Internet Movie Database.
  2. ^ Canby, Vincent. The New York Times, film review, September 25, 1975. Last accessed: February 29, 2008.

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Films directed by Sydney Pollack

The Slender Thread (1965) • This Property Is Condemned (1966) • The Scalphunters (1968) • Castle Keep (1969) • They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) • Jeremiah Johnson (1972) • The Way We Were (1973) • The Yakuza (1975) • Three Days of the Condor (1975) • Bobby Deerfield (1977) • The Electric Horseman (1979) • Absence of Malice (1981) • Tootsie (1982) • Out of Africa (1985) • Havana (1990) • The Firm (1993) • Sabrina (1995) • Random Hearts (1999) • The Interpreter (2005) • Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005)
v • d • e
American films of the 1970s
1970 •1971 •1972 •1973 •1974 •1975 •1976 •1977 •1978 •1979