Three Days of the Condor

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Three Days of the Condor
Film poster for Three Days of the Condor
Directed by	Sydney Pollack
Produced by	Stanley Schneider
Written by	James Grady (novel Six Days of the Condor) Lorenzo Semple Jr. David Rayfiel
Starring	Robert Redford Faye Dunaway
Music by	Dave Grusin
Editing by	Don Guidice
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 24, 1975 (USA)
Running time	117 min.
Language	English French
IMDb profile

Three Days of the Condor is a United States motion picture made in 1975. It was 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.

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.

1 Plot
2 Credits
- 2.1 Production
- 2.2 Cast (partial)
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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 is disdainful of Agency discipline; his job is to read books, newspapers, and magazines from around the world looking for hidden elaborations of known CIA operations. As part of their duties, Turner, et al., file a report (to Langley 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, for example). The movie begins on the day in which Turner expects to receive a response to his report.

On this day, Turner slips out a basement entrance for lunch (due to inclement weather, the basement exit leads to a shorter route to the deli). In his absence a group of armed men, believing all personnel are in the office, led by an Alsacian assassin later identified as Joubert (Max von Sydow), gains entrance to the office and executes everyone there. Turner returns, realizes he is in grave danger, and telephones a phone number at CIA headquarters he has been given for emergencies.

When he phones in (and remembers to give his code name "Condor"), he is placed under the direction of Higgins, a top level agent (Cliff Robertson). 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 out named Wicks to "bring him in" to protection.

Wicks brings an old friend of Turner's (Sam) to help put him at ease. But, during the rendezvous, Wicks (who is part of the conspiracy) tries to shoot Turner. In the exchange, Turner shoots Wicks, who just before collapsing shoots Sam; Turner escapes with his life. Now realizing that he cannot trust anyone within the CIA, Turner calls in again and now 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 to escape pursuit and avoid places he usually goes, he enters a clothing boutique, where he later follows a woman, Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway), outside. He uses his gun to take her hostage, and makes her take him home to her apartment. He holds her prisoner while he attempts to figure out the mystery.

Eventually Hale is convinced that he deserves her cooperation; the gun is put away, and they make love (the scene was controversial for its sexually explicit content at the time). She goes on to help him briefly kidnap Higgins to get information from him.

Using his previous experience as a telephone technician, Turner is able to track down Joubert and begins to discern that a rogue presence inside CIA ("A CIA within the CIA") is conducting top secret and illicit covert operations. At one point, he comes face-to-face with Joubert again, but escapes another attempt on his life. In fact, it is often Turner's inexperience in the field that leads his pursuers to misjudge him and allows him to continue to elude them.

Turner eventually discovers that Joubert was hired by the rogue element within the CIA to eliminate all the people in the New York office because Turner's report to headquarters indicated they had stumbled on one of the rogue element's plots to invade the Middle East during an oil crisis.

He tracks down the mastermind of the covert operation in his home outside Washington, D.C. and breaks into his house to wake him up. While confronting him, however, Joubert arrives and kills the CIA mastermind, but tells Turner that he is not interested in killing him anymore, since the contract has changed. He befriends Turner, to the extent this is possible, and tries to convince Turner to become like him: a man who plays for both sides. Turner declines, saying he likes living in the United States too much.

Turner goes back to New York and meets Higgins on the street. The storyline suggests that in the intervening time, Higgins may have been recruited by the CIA conspirators. Higgins tells Turner that eventually they will catch up to him. Turner says he 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. Turner pauses and glances back. The movie ends.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Production

Producer - Stanley Schneider
Executive Producer - Dino De Laurentiis
Director - Sydney Pollack
Screenplay - James Grady (based on his novel Six Days of the Condor), Lorenzo Semple Jr, and David Rayfiel.
Music - Dave Grusin

[edit] Cast (partial)

Joseph Turner/Condor - Robert Redford
Kathy Hale - Faye Dunaway
Higgins - Cliff Robertson
Joubert - Max von Sydow
Mr. Wabash - John Houseman
Leonard Atwood - Addison Powell
Sam Barber - Walter McGinn
Janice - Tina Chen
S.W. Wicks - Michael Kane
Dr. Lappe - Don McHenry ....
Fowler - Michael B. Miller

[edit] Trivia

In the Seinfeld episode, "The Junk Mail", Newman tells Kramer not to challenge the post office with dialogue taken from Joubert's warning to Turner.

Joubert: "It will happen this way. You may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know, maybe even trust, will get out of the car. And he will smile, a becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift."

Newman: "You're in trouble, Kramer. I shouldn't even be talking to you, but I'm telling you as a friend. Here's how it's going to happen: you may be walking. Maybe on a crisp, autumn day just like today. When a mail truck will slow beside you, and a door will open, and a mailman you know, maybe even trust, will offer to give you a lift."

A sample of dialogue from Three Days of the Condor was used in the Radiohead song "Fitter Happier".

The wristwatch that Robert Redford wears in this film is a Doxa Sub600t Sharkhunter.

The Duck Tales episode Three Ducks of the Condor derives its name from the film. The FOX network's animated sitcoms King of the Hill and The Simpsons both have an episode with a title that spoofs the name of this movie - "Three Days of the Kahn-do" and "Three Gays of the Condo," respectively.

Joubert is seen painting miniature warriors in his hotel room and later speaks about the independence of life as a freelance spy. In Ronin, Sam's friend Jean-Pierre also paints miniatures, and speaks about life as a freelance spy operating without a master.