Three Days Of The Condor (Blu-ray)
Filed Under: Blu-ray, Reviews | Article Tags : Blu-ray review
By: The Dweeb
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although the film takes place in 1975, sitting here watching this classic Redford film it is eerily relevant to the happenings of what is going on today. The technology is laughably outdated, but the topics concerning this CIA thriller are bone chillingly similar to what the United States has been dealing with as of late. Granted, there are much better modern day films dealing with spies and such, but this was a different time, another era. The Viet Nam war was very fresh, and the Cold War was just starting to peak, and yet there is no mention of the Soviets or Communists at all. Its actually an interesting plot twist that I have not seen before (sorry, I won’t spoil it.) Its a gritty film set almost entirely in New York, which is easy to do. Looking at this and at other films set in the same time period its obvious New York was not the nicest looking place around, almost fitting as it provides the proper foliage of an urban jungle where people on the run can easily be lost.
Sydney Pollack’s Three Days Of The Condor is another chase film, where another unwilling participant, in this case CIA analyst Joe Turner (Robert Redford) finds himself in the middle of a grisly murder scene at his field office and now he’s on the run from his assassins and must figure out what the heck is going on. Who can you trust? Not even his own agency as he soon finds out. The story goes through some twists and turns, there’s a pointless subplot of a romance with his kidnap victim (Faye Dunaway), this is a Redford movie so it had to be shoehorned in somehow, and its all wrapped up by the end of the film. Or is it? We never do find out what happens to Condor, that’s his code name, and if his story ever makes it out to the media. Pollack does a great job of confusing the viewer as to which CIA agent lies on which side of the fence, the allegiances are constantly changing like the tide. It makes for an odd confrontation with Joubert the contract killer (Max Von Sydow) at the end of the movie. Its certainly not a predictable movie in any case.
One thing is for certain, this is a Redford vehicle. The character he plays, like almost any other is standard Redford fare. I can’t sit through this movie and think I’m watching Joe Turner, its Robert Redford pretending to be Joe Turner. Joe Turner is supposed to be this bookish, nerdy analyst, the equivalent of the modern day IT guy possibly, there’s no way he can pull that off. Its like being convinced Brad Pitt has a doctorate in Nuclear Physics. Okay, so the acting chops aren’t that up to snuff. I still like almost any film I see in him. There’s something about his delivery of the character, so cool calm and collected even in the most stressful situations, and quite savvy with the ladies, even ones he’s managed to kidnap. Has this guy ever raised his voice?
The Blu-ray edition for this film is okay, I wouldn’t call this package anything special. I do note that the film transfer is very good, a very high quality clean up job that makes it look like it was filmed just yesterday. Hard to believe this film is over 30 years old, but the remaster is pristine. Unfortunately since this is a catalog release, there is not much new material to include with this Blu-ray, the only other feature is the trailer. Sadly Sydney Pollack is not with us any longer to provide his insights into the film, but at least they could have rounded up some of the others to talk about it? Isn’t this a classic film or am I wrong?
Although I did enjoy the film for what it was, it may not be worth it on film quality alone in Hi def, there needs to be something else on there to make it compelling enough for an upgrade.
Reviewer’s Opinion: BORROW IT!!
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