Three Days of the Condor (1975)

It starts off with that cheesy 1970s style porn music that everyone loves, and it kind of sets the stage for a light weight comedy of some sort. Even in the opening scenes, Robert Redford seems to be playing the role for laughs. But don't be fooled, I think director Sydney Pollack is keeping the tone light because the rest of the movie is so serious. So really, the credits don't properly set the stage for the movie, which is technically a flaw, but Three Days of the Condor is a really good movie, so I'll let it slide.

Redford plays Joseph Turner (codename: The Condor), a man who works at a top secret government agency. His job is to read books. Every book, really, and look for lines that could be construed as codes for potential plans, plots, connecting the dots, etc. He takes a quick trip to a deli around the corner to grab some lunch, and while he is gone a couple of armed men dressed as U.S. Postal Workers infiltrate the agency he works at, and they shoot everyone (including a girl Redford is fond of). By the time Redford gets back to the agency, the violence has ended and the men have left, but he soon realizes everyone is dead. He rushes to a pay phone to make a phone call, and he is given very specific instructions. It isn't before long that more shit starts to go down, and before he knows it he can't trust anyone, because everyone he knows is trying to kill him. His only refuge is to take an innocent civilian hostage (Faye Dunaway) and hide out in her apartment, trying to make sense of what the hell is going on.

The plot just thickens from there. It's a conspiracy movie, and I normally don't care for those types of movies but I found this one to be really good. It's interesting how it kind of foreshadows some issues that we are dealing with nowadays. The World Trade Center and killing people over oil is a big part of the conspiracy, so it's somewhat chilling to see that much of the movie features the exterior of the towers and several interiors were shot in the buildings as well. If I were a whack job conspiracy theorist I'd say "That's too much of a coincidence, I bet Bush saw this movie on TV on 9/10 and devised his master plan!" As funny as that may be, and as much as I like to dismiss such nonsense, if any of the actual conspiracy theorists spent three real days like Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor I wouldn't argue with them.

Redford in the 70s (or any time, really) is hard to dislike. He always seems watchable and I rarely find myself bored watching his movies. Three Days of the Condor is just another in a long line of classic 70s Redford performances. While he may not have much in the way of range in character, he certainly knows how to get the audience on his side. Faye Dunaway is likable here as well, although I found their relationship to be a bit too fast moving for the movie, but it doesn't kill it or anything. I also THOROUGHLY enjoyed Max Von Sydow as a cold blooded assassin. He's almost like an Anton Chigurh for the 70s, without the 70s hair.

A great ending. And I think if anything is to be considered relevant from this movie today without being too whack-jobby, it's probably the ending. I like how Redford is sure that he's got these guys by the balls, but then the guy says one thing that makes Redford doubt his whole plan. And we don't know for sure that Redford doubts it because he doesn't say anything, but we can see it on his face. Who do you trust when the government has a hand in everything?