THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR: Blu-ray (Paramount, 1975) Paramount Home Video
Gritty political thrillers were all the rage in the 1970’s. Most involved unearthing some sort of ingrained rogue element in the federal government, operating in the shadows to ensure abject chaos reigned under a heavy cloak of faux respect for the time-honored institutions, otherwise suspected of some seedy corruption, but, at least on the surface, dedicated to preserving their Teflon-coated image in service of truth, justice and the ‘American way’. Lest we forget, this was the decade to give us such scathingly apocalyptic viewpoints regarding our political leaders as The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Odessa File (1974), Marathon Man, and, All The President’s Men (both in 1976), The Boys From Brazil (1978), and Winter Kills (1979). Neatly sandwiched within this pantheon is director, Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor (1975) - based on James Grady’s Six Days of the Condor, published the year before. Given the puppet show afflicting American politics today, as what we are living through can only be described as ‘faux reality’, marred by some horrendous obfuscations and omissions from on high, I am not altogether convinced the Hollywood of yore did not hit its mark with their valued dissections in search of ‘the truth’ (a relative term, regardless of the generation seeking it).
In reassessing Pollack’s dark
masterpiece, it behooves us to reconsider two things: first, the movie bears
little earthly resemblance to its source material, not the least for shoring ‘three’
days off the harrowing 'cat and mouse' depicted in Grady’s runaway best
seller, but also, the movie – unlike the novel – was not altogether
well-received. For Grady, Six Days of the Condor became a
delayed cottage industry followed by three sequels: Shadow of the Condor
(1978), then, Next Day of the Condor and Last Days of the Condor (both
written and published in 2015). The original novel’s plot follows CIA employee,
Ronald Malcolm who, not unlike his filmic alter ego, Joe Turner (played by
Robert Redford), works in a clandestine operation. The novel is set in D.C.,
not New York. Ronald/Joe analyze mystery and spy novels for the government. Sneaking
out the backway to buy lunch for the staffers, Ronald/Joe returns only a few
moments later to discover all of his coworkers have been assassinated. Realizing
he too is in grave danger, Ronald/Joe contacts CIA headquarters.
Using his code name ‘Condor',
Ronald/Joe is informed by his superior, Weatherby (in the novel), Higgins (in
the movie, played by Cliff Robertson) he will be brought in from the cold for
his own protection. Alas, Ronald/Joe quickly discovers the same rogue element
responsible for the hit on the office is now after him. In the novel, Ronald manages
to elude both the rogue CIA and its legit apparatus, eager to either capture or
kill him. Desperate and in need of a safe place to collect his thoughts, Ronald
kidnaps paralegal, Wendy Ross (a.k.a. Kathy Hale, played by Faye Dunaway in the
movie) to assist. Wendy/Kathy is reluctant, at first, but eventually agrees to
help Ronald/Joe. The two become lovers and Wendy, in a pivotal chapter in the
book, is shot, but survives her ordeal. The book’s plot eventually unearths
Ronald’s section was actually a front for an illegal drug-smuggling operation
out of Laos. Inadvertently, one of the supervisors was set to expose the truth,
necessitating the entire section’s elimination.
Evidently, Grady’s plot was a
little too tame and straight forward for screenwriters, Lorenzo Semple
Jr. and David Rayfiel. For although the initial parallels between the novel and
the movie already described, remained cornerstones of the movie, almost from
the outset, Pollack and his team become invested in telling an entirely
different story – arguably, more prescient to the times in which the picture
was made. Herein, Joe Turner is employed by the American Literary Historical
Society in Manhattan – actually, an arm of the CIA. The company examines books,
newspapers, and magazines from around the world, comparing them to actual
government operations or to glean new ideas. Discovering an oddity in a
thriller that, despite weak sales, has been translated into many languages
around the world, Joe’s query is dismissed outright by his superior, Dr. Lappe
(Don McHenry), who even hints Joe should seek employment elsewhere. Joe returns
from his daily lunch run to find his co-workers, including Lappe, Joe’s
girlfriend, Janice Chong (Tina Chen), Fowler (Michael Miller), Harold (Dino
Narizzano), and Mrs. Russell (Helen Stenborg) have all been brutally assassinated.
Unlike Joe, the audience is privy to the culprits responsible for this carnage;
a rather Teutonic professional assassin named Joubert (Max Von Sydow) and his
thug muscle, disguised as a mailman (Hank Garrett).
Horrified, but still possessing the
wherewithal to take the gun Russell kept in the top drawer of her desk, Joe
uses a public telephone several blocks away to alert Higgins at the CIA
headquarters at the World Trade Center. Higgins tells Joe he will be brought in
safely by S.W. Wicks (Michael Kane) – an operative he has never met and does
not trust. To quell Joe’s concerns, Higgins suggests Wicks will bring along a
familiar face, Joe’s good friend, Sam Barber (Walter McGinn). It all seems on
the level. Except that once summoned into the back alley for their clandestine rendezvous,
Joe realizes he has been set up. Wicks attempts to shoot Joe. He has no choice
but to murder Sam who is not part of the operation. Joe manages to wound Wicks
with Russell’s gun before escaping. Taken to hospital, Wicks fingers Joe as Sam’s
murderer while a fake story is planted on the nightly news. With nowhere to
turn, Joe encounters Kathy Hale inside a ski shop. Kathy is preparing for a Connecticut
getaway with her fiancée (whom we never meet), and is about to get in her Jeep
when Joe ambushes her at gunpoint, forcing Kathy to drive him back to her
apartment. Powerless to convince Kathy of the legitimacy in his fated tale, Joe
binds and gags her inside the bathroom while he hurries to Sam’s apartment to forewarn
his widow, Mae (Carlin Glynn) she is in grave danger.
Unable to bring himself to tell her
the truth about her husband’s murder, Joe is nevertheless successful at getting
Mae to leave her apartment. Joe, however, comes face to face with Joubert, who
has pre-estimated Joe’s next move and now, follows him into a crowded elevator.
Sensing he is in danger, Joe manages to convince a group of revelers in the
lobby he needs their help to break into his locked car, suggesting his keys are
inside. Actually, he is using the crowd as a shield so Joubert cannot get off a
clear shot and kill him. Returning to Kathy’s apartment, Joe again tries to convince
her he is telling the truth. She resists, but steadily begins to believe, if
nothing else, Joe believes what he is saying, and, in fact, means her no harm.
Feigning to her boyfriend over the phone, her delay in their vacation plans is
predicated on an unexpected breaking down, Kathy and Joe become lovers. The next
morning, while Kathy is in the shower, Joe is ambushed inside her apartment by
the mailman who attempts to assassinate him. Mercifully, Joe kills his attacker
instead. Convinced Joe has been telling her the truth, Kathy invests in helping
him.
Faking a job interview with the
CIA, Kathy encounters Higgins. Since he does not know her, and Joe does not
know him, Kathy fingers Higgins for Joe who kidnaps Higgins at gunpoint to get
to the bottom of things. Higgins confides Joubert is a freelance assassin,
undertaking special assignments for the CIA. Freed by Joe to go about his
business, Higgins now unearths the dead mailman worked for Joubert. Both men
are on Wicks’ secret CIA payroll. Realizing how he has jeopardized Kathy’s safety,
Joe escorts her to the train depot to rejoin her fiancée in Connecticut. Utilizing
his U.S. Army Signal Corps training, Joe taps Joubert’s phone. He also
discovers Leonard Atwood (Addison Powell), CIA Deputy Director of Operations, actually
Joubert’s paymaster. Breaking into Atwood’s home at midnight, Turner confronts him
at gunpoint, realizing how his innocuous book report to the CIA was a tip-off
about Atwood’s rogue operation to seize Middle Eastern oil fields. Before Joe
can unearth anymore details, Joubert arrives. He orders Joe to drop his pistol.
Believing he is about to die Joe is startled when Joubert shoots Atwood instead. It seems the CIA has turned on one of its
own, as Atwood was about to become a public embarrassment. Their contract on
Atwood cancelled the one Atwood took out on Joe. A rather benevolent Joubert,
showing no further malice, now offers to drive Joe back into town, forewarning there
truly is no safe place for him. The CIA will eventually take out another hit, possibly
with Joubert.
Returning to Manhattan, Turner rendezvous
with Higgins near Times Square to disclose all he knows, believing this will
buy him some time to remain ‘out there’ without fear of reprisals. Higgins considers
Joe’s naïve view of the situation, reasoning when America hits its looming
economic crisis, Americans will not care from where their salvation comes. In
reply, Turner reveals he has given his full disclosure to The New York Times. Higgins,
at first slightly bewildered, surmises the news outlet will not print Joe’s ‘fanciful’
tale. He further promises Joe that from this moment forward, he will never
again know a moment’s peace. The movie concludes with a freeze-frame of Joe
attempting to get lost in a crowd of Christmas revelers, while nervously
looking over his shoulder.
Three Days of
the Condor is an exquisitely crafted, low-key thriller. Partly for artistic
reasons, but also for budgetary ones (the picture only cost $7.8 million to
make), Pollack resists the urge to punctuate his story with a flourish of
clever camerawork or even a bombast of underscore. In fact, much of the movie
is void of David Grusin’s otherwise bouncy music cues, creating an even more
unsettling vacuum of fear and danger lurking around every corner. Redford and
Dunaway have genuine romantic chemistry with Dunaway playing her early scenes
in abject fear for Kathy’s life, but gradually, giving way to a playful badinage
whose deep-seeded passion is prematurely thwarted when Redford’s Joe elects to
send Kathy away by train. Max Von Sydow is an admirable villain – his own stately
deportment and sage-like façade as Joubert, creates a sustained menace, even in
scenes in which the character does not appear. Joubert’s modus operandi is
never transparent. But it is always omnipotent. Owen Roizman’s stylish
cinematography captures the frigid and bleak winter landscape, using a lot of
wet pavement in shots to convey the damp, dark vulnerability advancing on Joe
and Kathy.
When Three Days of the Condor
debuted, critics were not entirely impressed. Even when, ostensibly, a positive
review was forthcoming, as in the New York Times’ Vincent Canby, who gave it
kudos for acting and directing, he was also quick to denote, the movie was ‘no
match for stories in your local newspapers.’ Variety called it a B-movie
with an A budget. Critic, John Simon devoted considerably more glib venom to
the cause, citing that the revisions made to the novel only succeeded in
complicating a straight forward story, proving ‘enchantment’ to the ‘disenchanted’
and concluding with smug superiority “…we must be grateful to the CIA. It
does what our schools no longer do—engage some people to read books.” If
the critics were generally dismissive, audiences were not. The movie was a
sizable hit, taking in $41,509,797 at the box office. Sydney Pollack launched
into his own defensive campaign, suggesting while his own liberal slant
coincided with that of his star, Redford, neither had endeavored to do a ‘hatchet
job’ on the CIA, but rather, tell a good and honest story about some of the
cloak and dagger that goes on under the radar of everyday operations. Viewed
today, the results speak for themselves. Three Days of the Condor is a
compelling thriller, meticulously detailed and stylishly executed. After all
these years, it holds up spectacularly well. Actually, in light of everything
that has happened since – and for better or worse – regrettably, more so.
Paramount Home Video has reissued Three
Days of the Condor on Blu-ray. This one’s been out since 2009, folks. There’s
nothing new to see here. In some ways, that’s a good thing, especially after
having viewed the ‘region free’ StudioCanal 4K that leans quite heavily towards
a teal/green bias. The argument here is Paramount’s Blu-ray either from 2009 or
this reissue, sports a 1080p transfer that is crisp, clean and expertly
mastered with solid color saturation but, alas, considerably boosted contrast,
still cribbing from an older master designed to appeal to TV audiences rather
than embrace a more film-like video presentation.
To clarify for those desiring to
dip for the 4K UHD release instead, Three Days of the Condor via StudioCanal
adds more resolved texture and grain (both pluses), with overall image
sharpness marginally improved. Alas, it’s the teal/green bias I cannot abide,
with the grey cement of the cityscape appearing robin egg blue and Joe’s blue
jeans now more lurid teal than denim. Blacks adopt a green cast in their
spectral highlights. Reds, that are blood red on Paramount’s 1080p Blu-ray, now
lean toward a Chinese red/orange. Flesh tones are much cooler on the StudioCanal
4K. This is a plus. They look just a tad too pinky on the Blu-ray. But the pops
of Christmas reds and scalding hot orange wallpaper inside the CIA’s command
post in particular, are severely blunted. Both look dirty and dull. Ditto for
whites, never going beyond a dingy grey in 4K but looking bright and natural on
Paramount’s standard Blu-ray. Overall, I preferred Paramount’s Blu-ray to
StudioCanal’s 4K. Paramount’s Blu-ray
offers a 5.1 DTS uptick to the original 2.0 theatrical audio (which is not
included). The StudioCanal 4K has both audio tracks for our consideration. The
StudioCanal adds 2 extras not to be found on the Paramount bare-bones release:
an audio commentary from Sydney Pollack and a nearly twenty-minute French-language
piece on paranoia in American movies. Bottom line: Three Days of the Condor
should be required viewing. It’s a great movie. The Blu-ray is favored over the
4K for reasons already discussed herein. Yes, there are caveats to it too. But
these remain negligible when compared to the revisionist color spectrum on the
4K. It has been noted that Kino Lorber intends to release a 4K of its own in
the next few months. If they do, I sincerely hope they won’t make the same
mistakes as StudioCanal. Judge and buy accordingly.
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
Blu-ray – 4
4K – 3
EXTRAS
Blu-ray – 0
4K - 2
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