Three Days of the Condor

In 1975, director Sydney Pollack released his adaptation of Three Days of the Condor that starred Robert Redford as a CIA analyst on the run from his own government when his colleagues are murdered. Tapping into the distrust and resentment following the Watergate scandal, Hollywood had changed and these types of films still carry a strong influence today with the Bourne series, as well as Captain America: The Winter Soldier which even starred Redford. But in all honesty this film hadn't been at the top of my watchlist until the TV series Condor started to air which I started and then stopped after a few episodes, thinking that maybe it was time I gave this a go.

Set in 1970s New York, instead of Washington D.C. where the series is based, Redford works as part of a small team who read anything and everything for hidden meanings and useful information. Something goes wrong one day while Redford is briefly out of the office and a team led by Max von Sydow gun down everyone inside. What follows will sound familiar with the "trust no one" vibe as Redford tries to make sense of what is happening and why.

Redford was at the top of his game during the 1970s and is great to watch as the bookish analyst forced into an extreme situation. The film moves swiftly, receiving an Oscar nod for its editing, and looks great to watch as the CIA use old fashioned technology to track him down. Some would call this dated but its adds charm to the film in a time before drones were invented. As for the story, Pollack manages to keep the tension high and by the end I was left satisfied but this could have been shorter. Faye Dunaway is a great actor but her scenes sometimes with Redford while he's hiding from the CIA felt too long at times and deflated some of the tension.

I still enjoyed Three Days of the Condor but when people speak of the 1970s being cinema's best decade, this film wouldn't quite be at the top of the list for me. It's a good film that I would recommend if you're into the spy/espionage genre, and the ending seems more relevant now than it did then, but I'm not sure there's enough here for everyone else. As for the TV show, it seems to be slickly made and uses the cinematic Washington setting nicely but I'm not sure that has all the pieces to fill the void left by Homeland.