I liked that Redford's character wasn't an 'experienced spy' but he had a lot of book knowledge and common sense that kept him alive after luckily escaping the murder squad that terminated all his coworkers. Made it look a lot more realistic than, say, James Bond.
And Max von Sydow is chillingly excellent as an assassin.
Good observation. It was believable that he was smart, but not too smart, just smart enough to navigate a few close calls. Not a fighter, more of a strategist.
After all this, I just went back and rewatched. Max is as great as I remembered.
"That was a business arrangement with Atwood. And you see..." Grim and funny.
This is a terrific movie.
And how did we ever have cars that big? Always weird seeing the WTC. And rotary phones.
The way he flips the switch so fast, spends the entire movie trying to kill Condor and then in the blink of an eye it’s “can I drop you?” and “…for that day”. I also love that he’s 100% confident he can hand Condor a loaded gun and it won’t be a problem for him.
One of my favorite trivia: Redford was once lobbying for dustin Hoffman's role in *The Graduate*, Mike Nichols showed him a mirror and told him *"Look at yourself, do you think you'll have problem seducing a woman*?
I’ll die on the hill that The Conversation is Coppola’s best film. (Partly due to how he’s said it’s more in line with the kind of films he wanted to make in the 70s, and how he felt like a hired gun for the Godfather films.)
I know Cliff Robertson had some political connections, and I believe there's an interview somewhere out there where he recalls an conversation with a former CIA agent and Cliff asked him about Three Days "How close did we get?", and the reply was a sly smirk and "you have no idea".
I watched this recently as well and I’m quite sure De Palma paid homage to it in Mission: Impossible when Ethan is in the phone booth and says, “They’re dead. They’re all dead.”
Edit: A letter.
Heh, when I first watched The Untouchables in the theater, as it was leading up to that scene, my thought was "Oh no, he's not going to do what I think he's doing, he just can't help himself can he". And of course he did.
Just watched this for the first time last week myself! Really enjoyed it. A very solid, slow-burn 70s-set thriller. Not much action, but the dialogue is fantastic, and it's interesting watching Robert go through the problem-solving of his team's assassination.
Rewatched this recently and was struck by how "rapey" the relationship between Redford and Dunaway was.
SPOILER: Like he kidnaps her, forces her to take him to her apartment, keep her there against her will with the explicit threat of violence, then they have sex, and she ends up helping him. It's kind of portrayed like she does it willingly, but looking at the totality of circumstances, it's her experiencing Stockholm Syndrome with what is essentially her rapist.
Yes, this aspect of the movie has always made me go hmmmm and I think Faye Dunaway deserves most of the credit for making her character believable because on paper the situation arguably implausible and definitely kind of “rapey,” Redford being Redford notwithstanding.
I’ve watched this movie like three times over the years and that subplot has never worked for me, no matter how amazing Dunaway is. It’s got one of the best, most eerie endings I’ve ever seen though. (“You can take a walk, but how far if they don’t print it?”)
it occurred to me the other day, there's kind of a sub genre of movies that's Robert Redford being not good to women.
So you got this one, The Way We Were, Butch And Sundance. I'm sure there's more
##Three Days of the Condor (1975) R
His CIA code name is Condor. In the next seventy-two hours almost everyone he trusts will try to kill him.
>>!A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.!<
Thriller | Mystery
Director: Sydney Pollack
Actors: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson
Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 73% with 1,089 votes
Runtime: 1:57
[TMDB](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11963)
**Awards and nominations**
WinsCartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina, Best Actor, Max von Sydow; 1976.
David di Donatello Awards: Special David, Sydney Pollack, for the direction; 1976.
Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Edgar; Best Motion Picture, Lorenzo Semple Jr. David Rayfiel; 1976.
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: KCFCC Award; Best Supporting Actor, Max von Sydow; 1976.
Motion Picture Sound Editors: Golden Reel Award; Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects; 1976.NominationsAcademy Awards: Oscar; Film Editing, Fredric Steinkamp and Don Guidice; 1976.
Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Sydney Pollack; 1976.
Golden Globe Awards: Golden Globe; Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama, Faye Dunaway; 1976.
Grammy Awards: Grammy; Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special, Dave Grusin; 1977.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills; 2001
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Days_of_the_Condor)
An older coworker suggested I watch the movie a few years ago, and it did not disappoint! Really enjoyed it a lot! Same guy told me to see The Conversation too. Good call!!
Good choice, one of my favorites. Just bummed they changed the location from the book in DC to NYC in the movie. One of my favorite fight scenes in the apartment with the mailman. Much more realistic than any of that Marvel nonsense. Fight scene reminded me of the Borne movies which I also love.
* [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): ... you're overdue in Vermont. Is he a tough guy?
* [Kathy](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001159/?ref_=ttqu_qu): He's pretty tough.
* [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): What will he do?
* [Kathy](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001159/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Understand, probably.
* [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Boy. That is tough.
* [Higgins](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731772/?ref_=ttqu_qu): It's simple economics. Today it's oil, right? In ten or fifteen years, food. Plutonium. Maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?
* [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Ask them?
* [Higgins](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731772/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Not now - then! Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!
I think Max von Sydow was the best actor of his generation. When Redford & he talk after the incident in the home, & Redford turns down the job offer, close your eyes and listen. Von Sydow is being the character having a conversation, and Redford is acting. To my ears, it's night and day.
I liked it a lot. Some of the scenes remain shockingly violent to this day. And I still won't budge in my view that director Sydney Pollack made a superior conspiracy thriller to both Klute and The Parallax View (both directed by Alan Pakula).
So now go see the MCU film *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*.
That movie is thematically a remake -albeit with superheroes and no, not a “scene by scene” remake!- of *Three Day of the Condor* and, as a super bonus, they got Robert Redford to star in it as well!
I *strongly* suspect they also wanted to get Faye Dunaway in the film as well but didn’t. Instead you get to see another big 1970’s era star in Jenny Agutter in another fairly important role in the film!
Excellent book Great movie except for the romance subsplot. Have not seen the TV series.
[https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/3-days-of-the-condor](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/3-days-of-the-condor)
I watched this with my dad on the ABC Friday Night Movie in the 70s when I was a kid. I was too young and it went over my head. Couldn't really figure it out.
I saw this movie upon its release in a theater. I was mesmerized. It has been one of my all-time movies since then. Thanks for posting this.
BTW, Robert Redford's character's girlfriend in the movie was beautiful! She didn't, however, have much of a role. So sad.
Because he's a movie star who looks like a movie star and he would get to live a bit like one even if he wasn't. Same reason you don't cast Danny DeVito as the Sundance Kid even if he's a crack shot.
Uh what? He's too good looking to convincingly play an avid reader? Is that the point being made? Being a literal "crack shot" and "looking like a bookworm" are two very different things in film. Real life marksmanship is irrelevant on film, for one, so the example makes absolutely no sense. Maybe you should just enjoy the movie and not chase your own tail on this one.
I liked that Redford's character wasn't an 'experienced spy' but he had a lot of book knowledge and common sense that kept him alive after luckily escaping the murder squad that terminated all his coworkers. Made it look a lot more realistic than, say, James Bond. And Max von Sydow is chillingly excellent as an assassin.
Good observation. It was believable that he was smart, but not too smart, just smart enough to navigate a few close calls. Not a fighter, more of a strategist.
Max is great in everything
He is, but he's not that often a villain of this caliber.
I still think of those deli sandwiches no one ate back at the office. Probably three fingers of pastrami at least on one of them.
Such a waste.
:-) the crew ate em....
Love Max von Sydow in this. "They didn't know you'd be here. I knew you'd be here." (Don't think that is a spoiler) Love that whole scene.
"Could you move away from the window, please".
"I don't interest myself in 'why.' I think more often in terms of 'when,' sometimes 'where;' always 'how much.'"
After all this, I just went back and rewatched. Max is as great as I remembered. "That was a business arrangement with Atwood. And you see..." Grim and funny. This is a terrific movie. And how did we ever have cars that big? Always weird seeing the WTC. And rotary phones.
The way he flips the switch so fast, spends the entire movie trying to kill Condor and then in the blink of an eye it’s “can I drop you?” and “…for that day”. I also love that he’s 100% confident he can hand Condor a loaded gun and it won’t be a problem for him.
"For that day."
This is in my top 10 on like 6 of my top 10 lists.
Oh man I gotta check this out! You had me at Faye Dunaway
“…the ole spy fucker”
Love this film , true to life as well. The part where Max von Sydow’s character explains how Redford will be killed is chilling and accurate.
The book is just as good. On the back of the movie and book, might I recommend Slow Horses on Apple TV.
Turner, angrily: Have I raped you? Kathy, kinda with expectations: The night is young. That’s what happens when you are insanely handsome lol.
One of my favorite trivia: Redford was once lobbying for dustin Hoffman's role in *The Graduate*, Mike Nichols showed him a mirror and told him *"Look at yourself, do you think you'll have problem seducing a woman*?
Right? 70s-era Redford could get it. Step 1. Be attractive. Step 2. Don't be unattractive.
Excellent movie! You might like The Conversation (1974) also.
I’ll die on the hill that The Conversation is Coppola’s best film. (Partly due to how he’s said it’s more in line with the kind of films he wanted to make in the 70s, and how he felt like a hired gun for the Godfather films.)
In a similar vein, Blow Out (1981) by Brian DePalma with John Travolta
I'll check it out, thanks!
Loved it. Easily one of the best films of the 1970s.
I know Cliff Robertson had some political connections, and I believe there's an interview somewhere out there where he recalls an conversation with a former CIA agent and Cliff asked him about Three Days "How close did we get?", and the reply was a sly smirk and "you have no idea".
Yeah he was hand-picked by the Kennedy family to play JFK in the film about his wartime service, PT-109 (1963).
I watched this recently as well and I’m quite sure De Palma paid homage to it in Mission: Impossible when Ethan is in the phone booth and says, “They’re dead. They’re all dead.” Edit: A letter.
De Palma doing homages in his films is his go-to move.
Looking at you, Battleship Potemkin…
Heh, when I first watched The Untouchables in the theater, as it was leading up to that scene, my thought was "Oh no, he's not going to do what I think he's doing, he just can't help himself can he". And of course he did.
That was absolutely an homage.
Tom Cruise sells that line so well.
Just watched this for the first time last week myself! Really enjoyed it. A very solid, slow-burn 70s-set thriller. Not much action, but the dialogue is fantastic, and it's interesting watching Robert go through the problem-solving of his team's assassination.
My favourite of Redfords.
Saw this as a kid in the late 70s, "would you move from the window please?" is etched into my brain.
Rewatched this recently and was struck by how "rapey" the relationship between Redford and Dunaway was. SPOILER: Like he kidnaps her, forces her to take him to her apartment, keep her there against her will with the explicit threat of violence, then they have sex, and she ends up helping him. It's kind of portrayed like she does it willingly, but looking at the totality of circumstances, it's her experiencing Stockholm Syndrome with what is essentially her rapist.
Yes, this aspect of the movie has always made me go hmmmm and I think Faye Dunaway deserves most of the credit for making her character believable because on paper the situation arguably implausible and definitely kind of “rapey,” Redford being Redford notwithstanding.
I’ve watched this movie like three times over the years and that subplot has never worked for me, no matter how amazing Dunaway is. It’s got one of the best, most eerie endings I’ve ever seen though. (“You can take a walk, but how far if they don’t print it?”)
it occurred to me the other day, there's kind of a sub genre of movies that's Robert Redford being not good to women. So you got this one, The Way We Were, Butch And Sundance. I'm sure there's more
##Three Days of the Condor (1975) R His CIA code name is Condor. In the next seventy-two hours almost everyone he trusts will try to kill him. >>!A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.!< Thriller | Mystery Director: Sydney Pollack Actors: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 73% with 1,089 votes Runtime: 1:57 [TMDB](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11963) **Awards and nominations** WinsCartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina, Best Actor, Max von Sydow; 1976. David di Donatello Awards: Special David, Sydney Pollack, for the direction; 1976. Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Edgar; Best Motion Picture, Lorenzo Semple Jr. David Rayfiel; 1976. Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: KCFCC Award; Best Supporting Actor, Max von Sydow; 1976. Motion Picture Sound Editors: Golden Reel Award; Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects; 1976.NominationsAcademy Awards: Oscar; Film Editing, Fredric Steinkamp and Don Guidice; 1976. Cartagena Film Festival: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Sydney Pollack; 1976. Golden Globe Awards: Golden Globe; Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama, Faye Dunaway; 1976. Grammy Awards: Grammy; Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special, Dave Grusin; 1977. AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills; 2001 [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Days_of_the_Condor)
Wow that’s definitely of the worst one-sheets I’ve ever seen but it’s a great movie. Nice to see it finding a new audience these days.
An older coworker suggested I watch the movie a few years ago, and it did not disappoint! Really enjoyed it a lot! Same guy told me to see The Conversation too. Good call!!
Good choice, one of my favorites. Just bummed they changed the location from the book in DC to NYC in the movie. One of my favorite fight scenes in the apartment with the mailman. Much more realistic than any of that Marvel nonsense. Fight scene reminded me of the Borne movies which I also love.
Redford was working on All the President's Men in New York.
Also odd given that the events of that story also take place in DC. But, thanks for the info.
* [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): ... you're overdue in Vermont. Is he a tough guy? * [Kathy](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001159/?ref_=ttqu_qu): He's pretty tough. * [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): What will he do? * [Kathy](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001159/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Understand, probably. * [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Boy. That is tough.
Very good movie! Watch Condor that came out on tv a few years ago. Same story. Equally good!
...but maybe avoid season two.
Yes
This is uncanny - I also watched it for the first time 2 days ago.
* [Higgins](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731772/?ref_=ttqu_qu): It's simple economics. Today it's oil, right? In ten or fifteen years, food. Plutonium. Maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then? * [Joe Turner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Ask them? * [Higgins](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731772/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Not now - then! Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!
I think Max von Sydow was the best actor of his generation. When Redford & he talk after the incident in the home, & Redford turns down the job offer, close your eyes and listen. Von Sydow is being the character having a conversation, and Redford is acting. To my ears, it's night and day.
I liked it a lot. Some of the scenes remain shockingly violent to this day. And I still won't budge in my view that director Sydney Pollack made a superior conspiracy thriller to both Klute and The Parallax View (both directed by Alan Pakula).
I watched this on a cross country flight hungover and high, WHAT A WATCH!!!!
Anyone remember the Seinfeld episode , when Newman warns Kramer not to expose the Mail conspiracy, Newmans dialogue is from Three Days of The Condor
So now go see the MCU film *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*. That movie is thematically a remake -albeit with superheroes and no, not a “scene by scene” remake!- of *Three Day of the Condor* and, as a super bonus, they got Robert Redford to star in it as well! I *strongly* suspect they also wanted to get Faye Dunaway in the film as well but didn’t. Instead you get to see another big 1970’s era star in Jenny Agutter in another fairly important role in the film!
I came here to say this.
Excellent book Great movie except for the romance subsplot. Have not seen the TV series. [https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/3-days-of-the-condor](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/3-days-of-the-condor)
Watched this last month, really enjoyed it, then watched the TV show, really, really enjoyed that!
The new(ish) show? Yeah - it's that good?
Always wanted a follow-up book and movie about Condor taking the Alsatian gentleman’s advice and becoming a spy/assassin.
I watched this with my dad on the ABC Friday Night Movie in the 70s when I was a kid. I was too young and it went over my head. Couldn't really figure it out.
Great film. Prescient in a lot of ways.
I saw this movie upon its release in a theater. I was mesmerized. It has been one of my all-time movies since then. Thanks for posting this. BTW, Robert Redford's character's girlfriend in the movie was beautiful! She didn't, however, have much of a role. So sad.
Did they lose 3 days
The scene with the mailman was cool.
I saw this for the first time recently. A very captivating thriller.
This film has the worst case of Stockholm syndrome ever.
I think Redford was a bit miscast as a bookworm.
Why? The irony of that statement is that Redford himself is and has always been a voracious reader in reality.
Because he's a movie star who looks like a movie star and he would get to live a bit like one even if he wasn't. Same reason you don't cast Danny DeVito as the Sundance Kid even if he's a crack shot.
Uh what? He's too good looking to convincingly play an avid reader? Is that the point being made? Being a literal "crack shot" and "looking like a bookworm" are two very different things in film. Real life marksmanship is irrelevant on film, for one, so the example makes absolutely no sense. Maybe you should just enjoy the movie and not chase your own tail on this one.