THE BULLETIN • JUNE 24 - 30, 2021
TV • PAGE 27
BY JAY BOBBIN
Redford and Dunaway’s ‘Condor’
run remains thrilling
During the Watergate era, the conspiracy thriller was one of the most popular movie genres, and “Three
Days of the Condor” was one of its best examples.
Now streaming on HBO Max, the Sydney Pollack-directed 1975 thriller has had an enduring legacy, to the
extent that it inspired “Condor” ... the series originally made for AT&T’s Audience Network and recently
picked up by EPIX. Despite some revisions to the content, the show kept the basic theme of a fugitive on the
run after assassins (led in the film by a suave Max von Sydow) commit a massacre at his office, a (supposedly)
disguised research office for the CIA.
In the original version, the man being chased by the killers who missed him is played by Robert Redford,
playing brilliant yet vulnerable as a likable know-it-all who’s savvy enough to know that a murder scheme was
lifted from the “Dick Tracy” comic strip. Out getting lunch while his co-workers are being slaughtered, he
returns to a horrific scene that sends him fleeing through New York, hoping his superiors will bring him in
and protect him.
Instead, as represented coldly and superbly by Cliff Robertson, they leave him on his own to draw fire
.... and to figure out why he and his late colleagues became targets. Needing shelter, Redford’s Joe Turner
randomly kidnaps a customer from a store he’s ducked into; luckily for him and us, she’s played by Faye
Dunaway, making for a very photogenic couple even at their most tense moments together.
Pollack keeps the action moving at a fine pace with some
show-stopping moments, such as the visit by a presumed
mailman to the Dunaway character’s home, and the ultimate
confrontation that lets Turner know whether he’s merely
been paranoid about his hunch that there’s a rogue “CIA
within the CIA.”
A terrific light-jazz score by frequent Pollack collaborator
Dave Grusin underscores the tale, which was condensed
for movie purposes to “Three Days of the Condor” from
James Grady’s novel “Six Days of the Condor.” Also notable
in a cast filled with first-rate supporting players is John
Houseman as a CIA higher-up who’s even chillier here than
Robertson. And that takes some doing.
Perhaps Redford has gotten more acclaim for other films,
but “Three Days of the Condor” surely is one of his most
entertaining. Though it’s almost 50 years old, it maintains its
Faye Dunaway in
fresh feel, no small feat for a picture that has been around for
“Three Days of the
Condor”
almost half a century. And as much as it’s a child of its time,
its questioning of leaders’ ethics remains quite relevant now.
Solution on page 18