Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Directed by: Sydney Pollack | 117 minutes | thriller | Actors: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow, John Houseman, Addison Powell, Walter McGinn, Tina Chen, Michael Kane, Don McHenry, Michael B. Miller, Helen Stenborg, Jess Osuna, Dino Narizzano, Patrick Gorman, Hansford Rowe

Sydney Pollack’s ‘Three Days of the Condor’, known for ‘Tootsie’ (1982) and more recently ‘The Interpreter’ (2005), is an excellent thriller. Great actors, a good story with a setting in the New York of the mid-seventies and two hours of suspense.

The movie is well put together. Joey Condor Turner, played by Robert Redford, is confronted with brutal violence, panics and flees. A cat-and-mouse game develops between faceless, cold-hearted assassins and CIA researcher Turner.

Also strong is the atmosphere of paranoia that director Pollack manages to maintain. He uses long shots without sound to make Condor mistake even a woman with a child for the enemy. Turner has to run for his life after the assassination attempts. He begins to doubt everyone, including himself. Who else can Condor trust? The only one Turner trusts is the beautiful Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway), who eventually backs him up.

Robert Redford excels as the intelligent, slightly naive Condor. Credibly he portrays the role of Joey Turner, who tries to stay out of the clutches of powerful men. Condor is his code name. The condor is an endangered species, but it also has good eyesight, is sharp and has guts. Redford embodies all of these characteristics and engages in an uncertain battle with an unseen enemy. Faye Dunaway as Kathy is unwittingly dragged into Turner’s spy adventure. At first she resists vehemently, but she soon falls for Condor’s charms.

Special attention to a starring role by Max von Sydow as the freelance killer, Joubert. Extremely capable, the originally Swedish actor plays an unscrupulous, professional mercenary. Without straining a muscle, he switches people off and does not sleep for a second. He is not interested in who or what it is. A strange relationship develops between murderer Joubert and target Turner. The hitman gains respect for the way in which his victim tries to avoid his fate.

Loneliness characterizes the protagonists in ‘Three Days of the Condor’. The murderer Joubert is a loner because of his profession. Kathy is also lonely. She is in a relationship, but lives anonymously in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York. It doesn’t take her much effort to put her own life aside for the hunted Turner. And Turner? He has lost all his colleagues and afterwards feels the isolation he is in. Danger threatens everywhere and he becomes suspicious of everyone around him.

The only downside to ‘Three Days of the Condor’ is the limited musical support of the film. There is little music, which makes the film seem empty. However, it also produces a raw film in which the silences reinforce the loneliness of the characters and the looming danger.

Three Days of the Condor was released in 1975, a year after the Watergate affair that killed then-President Nixon. One of Condor’s bosses regularly comes into view by helicopter. Nixon left the White House in Washington by helicopter. The film is steeped in mistrust of the government and abuse of power in higher circles. For example, the story is set in New York and the Twin Towers, which were three years old in 1975, are portrayed by director Pollack as a center of power, untouchable for ordinary citizens.

The movie ‘Three Days of the Condor’ is an example in the thriller genre. The acting is excellent, the story is well put together and Sydney Pollack provides constant threat and tension. The viewer is captivated for two hours. CIA investigator Joey Condor Turner faces off against anonymous rulers. Will Condor win? The final shot of the film leaves the question unanswered.