Three Days of the Condor

Rating:
Summary: Three Days Not Long Enough
Review: Condor reads spy novels for a living, picking out the neat twists and checking that no spooks have spilled the beans on sensitive government information. He doesn't seem too bothered by the fact that he works for the CIA, until he gets back from buying lunch one day and finds everybody dead.

From that moment things get hectic, first he is hunted and then he becomes the hunter as he figures out how to use his skills and knowledge against a shadowy coalition of G men and assassins, and tries to discover why they want him dead. The story rattles along and drags you with it, and whilst the movie is better paced, the book is still well worth the trip.

Rating:
Summary: Boy, was I ever dissapointed
Review: Let me first state that I purchased this book because I have been a fan of the movie for twenty-eight years. I felt it was about time to read the book on which the movie is based. Expecting, as is usually the case, more character development, more well defined motivation, intrigue, suspense and a plot, I was disappointed to discover that none of these exist in the book. The characters are flat, and behave as no one would in a real life-or-death situation. Coincidence is used extensively to tie the disjointed story line together. A novelization of the screenplay would be finer literature. This is the first time that I can say with all conviction that the movie is better than the book.

Rating:
Summary: Run Condor run
Review: Original title ""Six Days of the Condor"

Condor is the code name for an employee of the CIA. His mission is to read, read everything he can to see if there are any subversive codes being posted in innocuous looking literature.

He discovers that the number of packages shipped to his location do not match the bill of lading. He brings this to the attention of his superiors.

One day he leaves by an un-recorded unauthorized back door for lunch. On returning he finds everyone dead.

Who did this and who can he trust? To survive he must use his wits and what he has learned from his reading.

A movie "Three days of the Condor" is based on this book, which is really first in a series of books, 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" into the Redford mold. The book plot of drugs and Viet Nam are out. Redford's substitute plot of 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? In the movie Tina Chen (Janice) can be seen again in "Paper Man (1971)".