Three Days Of The Condor (1975)

(On TV, April 2002) There have been, um, a lot of conspiracy films released over the past twenty-five years, but even today, the granddaddy of them all, Three Days Of The Condor, still manages to packs some punch. For one thing, it plays everything very straight, as if no one up to that point had ever seen a conspiracy thriller (which they often hadn’t, to think of it). For another, it features Robert Redford as a bookish, but fiercely smart protagonist, who reacts in a way that viewers can only cheer for. Good plot twists follow, mixed with clever manoeuvres from both sides. Though unshakably set in the mid-seventies, this film survives admirably well as a period piece. It concludes on a meanly effective monologue that still resonates a quarter of a century later.

(Second viewing, On Cable TV, July 2020) A second, belated look at Three Days Of The Condor shows that I still like it quite a bit.  I like the basic premise of a hapless analyst managing to stay alive despite a conspiracy gunning for him, and I can’t help but detect a certain self-awareness about its own paranoia.  On the heroes’ side, 1970s-vintage Robert Redford is easily charismatic, and Tina Chen disappears far too soon from the film.  But on the heavy side – wow: Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow and John Houseman?  Not bad.  And yet, it’s not perfect: The romantic subplot is definitely odd and unconvincing.  Still, this is pretty good – and while the film is paranoid, it’s not entire bleak.  This being said, be careful not to confuse this with comic adventure Condorman.