Rating: 
Summary: 4 Stars For "Condor"--One for the DVD!
Review: Wire-rimmed glasses and a slight stubble of beard isn't enough to make Robert Redford completely convincing as a bookish CIA researcher, though he gives a terrific "movie star" performance (partially the result of co screenwriter David Rayfiel being brought in to customize some of Redford's dialouge).Also, Director Sydney Pollack ("Tootsie") doesn't seem to have the feel for suspense-thriller pulp (the way someone like Peckinpah had), so "Three Days of the Condor" is a little too monotone and flat at times to be a completely successful representative of the genre. No matter. "Three Days of The Condor" had all the timing in the world going for it. Released in 1975, just on the heels of Watergate and in the midst of the Church Committee hearings on CIA excesses, "Condor" became the only box office success of Paramount Pictures "Conspiracy Trilogy" (the others being "The Conversation" and Parallax View"). It's also worth noting the cinematography (done by the great Owen Roizman) is spectacular...the rainy Manhattan streets never looked so beautifully moody....and the score by Dave Grusin avoids all the usual thriller movie stabs and sting. The transfer quality of the DVD is superb, but the special features are non existent (all that's included is the original theatrical trailer--hardly a "special feature" in today's DVD world). "Three Days of the Condor" remains essentially a stylish artifact of mid-70's paranoia, and viewed today, in light of recent events, contains some really bizarre echoes.
Rating: 
Summary: Run Condor run
Review: In this movie a readerfor the CIA, whose job is to scan literature for possible covert plots or messages, inadvertently stumbles on one and must be removed by the plotter. 'Three days of the Condor' is based on a book 'Six days of the Condor' which is really first in a series, sort of like the James Bond series. Naturally being film media the story needed cutting down to size, hence three days instead of six. Robert Redford has to squeeze James Grady's 'Six Days of the Condor ISBN: 0446360961' into the Redford mold. The book plot of drugs and Viet Nam are out. Redford's substitute plot oil and Arabs is in. Bad guys differ. Great acting, great actors and a few faux pas, such as if they knew there was a back door to the location, don't you think it would be watched? Tina Chen (Janice) can be seen again in 'Paper Man (1971)' there is a distributor out there, where you can purchase a copy of this film.
Rating:
Summary: A Quiet, Intelligent Movie
Review: Like Klute, this is one of those thinking man's movies that works because of the actors. Little violence, much drama. Robert Redford is believable here as a bookish CIA type, and Faye Dunaway is excellent as a beautiful woman we all see on the streets, but hiding behind large clothes and hats.
I liked this movie a lot. David Owens
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: This movie had me on the edge of my seat when I saw it when it first came out. You couldn't ask for more in a cast--it stars John Houseman, Cliff Robertson, Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, and Max von Sydow. This is still one of the best movies in its category and beats a lot of the others in the genre hands down, including most of Tom Clancy's. I saw the movie several years later and it still held up very well. If you like spy thrillers and haven't seen this one yet it's definitely worth renting for a lazy Saturday night.
Rating:
Summary: Exceedingly well-crafted film.
Review: I had never heard of this film before picking it up, and now I realize I had been missing out. Three Days of the Condor is an amazing piece of work which finds all of its participants -- Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, director Sydney Pollack -- in top form, in a mesmerizing, briskly paced, and smart thriller that relies on tension rather than violence to do its job. Redford is absolutely brilliant as lead character Turner, or Condor, a researcher who finds himself the unwilling participant of a dangerous spy game. Redford and Pollack smartly infuse the character with both a devilish charm and occasional viciousness that makes a great contrast to the character's outward repression, and complicates his role as reluctant hero. His dynamic with Faye Dunaway is an intriguing mix of sexual chemistry, confrontation and violation, and it makes the relationship far more interesting than most "Stockholm Syndrome" setups of this type. Max von Sydow makes for a formidable, intelligent, and creepy opponent, and Pollack's shooting and editing are just about perfect. Throughout the movie's substantial, sprawling plot, Pollack maintains a stifling sense of tension that engrosses you into continued attention. True, I found myself quite lost in the maze of character relationships and motivations, but Pollack's dramatic sense is so unfailing that I never really care. Nearly as good as All the President's Men as far as political thrillers go -- and that's saying a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Timely ... Timely !!!
Review: This film is very relevant today, as is revealed in the ending (which I won't reveal). I agree with the reviewer that, after countless viewings, I can't put my finger on why it is so mesmerizing. There is Redford's performance, probably his most nuanced and all round best on film. There is Pollack's direction, which keeps the film moving so well that you don't have time to think about some of the questionable parts of the script, which nonetheless, serves the film well. The plot, while a bit convoluted, is superior in my opinion to that of the book on which the film is based. Max van Sydow is superb as usual, as a hitman who actually finds his job relaxing, and whose hobby is painting little ceramic figurines. He does not worry about the right or wrong of the cause ... only who is paying him. John Houseman in a small part plays a menacing career bureaucrat in the CIA. And Cliff Robertson is excellent as Condor's contact. You wonder if he is Condor's friend or not. Well, watch the film. This is not one of those films that, because it is a suspense film, you might not view again after you know the ending. "Condor" is delightful upon repeated viewings, even if you know the ending and can recite many bits of dialog by heart. Again, I can't exactly say why, but has to do with the contributions of the people I enumerated in the previous paragraph. In "Condor" the whole is more that its quite considerable packet of parts. It is one of my favorite films of all time. I'll never tire of it. I don't think you will either.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Spy Thriller; Best Of Genre!
Review: I first saw this suspense/spy thriller when it was first released in the theaters sometime in the late 1970s, while living in London and working for the American government. There's nothing that compares with the paranoia associated with seeing a taut spy thriller, only to exit the theater into a cold, foggy late evening in downtown London. The picture it paints of a murderous renegade network operating within the Central Intelligence Agency is both frightening and plausible, and is delivered by Robert Redford and his production team in a tight, well-developed tale with a convincing thread of interconnecting events that spins way out of control as the protagonist tries desperately to figure out who is at the center of the plot and why he and his cohorts at a special studies institute sponsored by the Agency are targets. For me, this movie is a nonstop roller-coaster ride, with Redford trying in vain to jump off the damn thing before it crashes below! The level of paranoia as well as the multiple levels of deceit and deception depicted in the film seemed a bit outlandish at the time, but given the temper of the times, it somehow seemed much more plausible in the backwash of Watergate and all that was revealed about the machinations of the so-called "invisible government" then. The hero's ability to parse together the facts and learn and adapt as he progresses makes the movie work especially well, and one can relate to his growing frustration as he realizes there just may not be any way out alive. And between the margins of the scenes lie some intriguing questions regarding the role of secrecy in an open and supposedly democratic society that add a measure of intellectual acumen and "gravitas" to the tale. So popular was this movie at the box office that it spawned a number of other spy thrillers in its wake. The film's cast included not only Redford as the hero, but also starred Fay Dunaway, and Cliff Robertson. This movie makes for an absorbing evening of entertainment, and a surefire way to escape the humdrum of everyday life with a stunning tale of murder, mayhem, and betrayal. I highly recommend this flick. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A Post-Watergate Staple
Review: What is it about this movie that makes it so compelling? After countless viewings, I still can't put my finger on it -- but let's consider the crucial elements of "Condor." First, the paucity of dialogue -- in other words, what Redford displays and emotes rather than says -- is powerful. It seems that for the first time in his career, Redford is really challenged to act instead of being just another pretty cinematic face. If ever a man could give the impression of being both haunted and hunted, Redford's a cinch in "Condor." This is also a great New York City film. Its streets, back alleys, and buildings -- in particular, the World Trade Center -- all play supporting roles. Sidney Pollack makes good use of the then-newly finished twin towers in "Condor," and this viewer lamented their destruction after watching scenes featuring the main lobby and a top-floor office inhabited by CIA deputy director Cliff Robertson. The grainy quality of the film, matched with an often funky, sometimes melancholy soundtrack scored by Dave Grusin, also adds to the aura of "Condor." It's as if Pollack attempted to do an American sendup of a French intrigue film. Grusin's music also is not what you'd expect in a spy film, in that it has not a hint of the James Bond sound. Then again, the film is not a romantic spy thriller, so it works. In fact, Pollack and Redford successfuly convey a post-Watergate paranoia that the citizens' government is 'out there' and will stop at nothing to hunt down the truth-seeking rogue. Phone taps and plumbers (disguised, this time, as mailmen) abound. Suitably, "Three Days of the Condor" ends with a very anti-establishment message. This film deserves to be placed in the list of top twenty great American films of the modern cinematic era (however one judges that). "Condor" is good the first time around and seems to be more enjoyable with subsequent viewings. Far from being a period piece, it stands the test of time as a thriller that is also thoughtful.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT FILM, UNIMPRESIVE POLITICAL VIEWS
Review: Robert Redford made a clunker called "The Way We Were" with Barbra Streisand that desperately tried to explain, apologize for, justify, glorify and approve of being an American Communist during McCarthyism, but just plain fails. He made the 1973 classic "Three Days of the Condor" (1973), with Cliff Robertson and Faye Dunnaway. He plays a CIA reader, a kind of pre-Tom Clancy research guy, a benign fellow among other benign CIA fellows, all of whom are murdered in a fuzzily explained hit by bad CIA fellows. After escaping, Redford tries to get to the bottom of it. Since he is a genius he has the intellectual tools to outwit his chasers. This is the film's highlight, revolving around the sexual tension between Redford and the redoubtable Faye, who he "kidnaps" in order to have a place to hide out, her apartment. The movie goes off the deep when the whole conspiracy turns out to be about the CIA's covert operations in the Middle East, where the U.S. apparently is planning the invasion (that never actually occurred) to take over OPEC. The message is that The Company murders innocents, the U.S. is a warmongering empire, and tool of capitalist greed. It is Redford's answer to Guatemala, Iran and Chile, where the people killed were generally Communists. Redford would rather show the CIA killing Chinese- and African-Americans and other non-threats. STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM
Rating: 
Summary: Candor about "Condor"
Review: Released the year after Watergate, this was among the first of the "paranoid thriller" films involving conspiracies, rogue CIA agents, and whatnot. While it probably seemed groundbreaking and fresh in 1975, three decades of similarly plotted movies have dulled Condor's edge. Robert Redford plays an agent, code name "Condor," who works in a scholarly-appearing CIA front organization in New York that analyzes world literature for significant patterns (whose significance to the spook agency isn't spelled out very convincingly). While he goes to the deli to pick up lunch for his crew, a team of assassins gains entry to the office and wipes out all of his colleagues there, as well as another who is at home. Redford, realizing he was supposed to be among the victims, goes on the run and plays cat-and-mouse with various CIA officers, any of whom could be behind the killings. He chooses at random a woman photographer (Faye Dunaway) as his unwilling accomplice while hiding and trying to penetrate the evil cabal within the "Company." In one of the screen's unlikeliest romances, Dunaway finds her fear and distrust of Redford's character yielding to belief in his story and then a dangerous liaison with him. The director, Sydney Pollack, has often blended the elements of commercial cinema with intelligence and taste (e.g., Out of Africa). This is another such attempt, but not one of his better efforts. The genre has worn thin, as noted earlier, and the script staggers from cliche to cliche. I won't be giving away anything important if I tell you that the denouement is, yes, "It's all about ... oil!" I am usually unable to warm to Redford, and this was no exception. There is no "there" there, as Gertrude Stein said about Oakland. He strikes poses and lets his golden hair do his acting for him. There is also a featured (but minor) role for John Houseman as a sour, cold-eyed case officer. He lays it on thick. Still, several of the performances give Condor what distinction it has. Dunaway is better than I would have expected, quite credible and sometimes touching as a lonely introvert. Cliff Robertson, one of the underestimated actors of the '60s and early '70s (what ever happened to him?), is strong as the CIA officer assigned to "bring in" Condor. Best of all is the great Max von Sydow, who starred in many of Ingmar Bergman's films, playing a freelance assassin. Watch how a master actor makes a meal out of a feebly written part. Several scenes were shot outside and inside the World Trade Center, which was then brand new. They are chilling in a way the filmmakers could not have conceived.
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