Classic Movies on Sky Arts - Series 5 Episode 3 - The Story of Three Days of the Condor

 

For a change it was Steven Armstrong who opened this episode about Three Days of the Condor, discussing the background with Ian Nathan. In fact the first glimpse of this movie has the star, Robert Redford, finding a dead body. The American Literary Historical Society is a cover for the CIA. Then here is Bonnie Greer (a previous contributor to earlier series) telling us about what was happening in America at the time, especially Watergate. So was director Sidney Pollack "going a little too far out on a limb"?

Steven reminds us that Watergate was still fresh in people's minds when the film was released in 1975. Christina Newland and Neil Norman both talk about America and the new breed of directors. Ian Nathan goes back to that "brilliant opening", and Bonnie Greer talks about Sidney Pollack. Steven tells us about the book Six Days of the Condor by James Grady, on which the film is based. The book had been optioned by producer Dino De Laurentiis, and he brought in screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr who had written The Parallax View. He "both streamlined and complicated" the story. 

It was actually Robert Redford who insisted that his good friend Sidney Pollack would direct if they wanted him to appear. This was just one of the films that they made together. It was Ian Nathan who talked about the director, while Christina tells us about Robert Redford and how this part was quite a departure. Steven then compares this film with a Hitchcock thriller. Bonnie Greer describes how important co-star Faye Dunaway is, how she is central to the film and her relationship with Redford. A very different role for her. The villain is played by Max Von Sydow, and Neil Norman says this casting is "a stroke of genius". Steven describes the supporting cast as "top class".

The location of the book was changed to cold New York in the lead-up to Christmas. Neil Norman describes how the film was all "about technology" that was moving so fast at this time. Bonnie Greer thought "the machine aspect takes over this movie". Ian Nathan thinks this was a new kind of thriller – "a techno thriller". Steven concludes the film had a great box office appeal and that it "grows more relevant by the year".