Review of The Anderson Tapes (1971) by Mereie D — 20 Aug 2009

Entertaining caper movie from the early seventies (1971: one year before the Watergate break-in - almost prophetic it seems), which combines a neat heist plot with a tape issue. When Connery's character comes out of prison, he is haunted by cameras and tape-recording sessions wherever he goes, just like most other people in the world, it almost seems (even in one's bedroom, privacy is hard to find).

It is unclear, though, what Lumet is trying to say. Is this movie some kind of social charge in the style of "1984", where Big Brother follows one's every move? And does he emphasize the negativity of this at the end when it turns out that the recordings were made illegally and therefore erased? And where does Anderson (=Connery) actually fit in? It turns out they were actually taping someone else.

And doesn't the fact the tapes were illicit and needed to be erased actually save privacy (and Anderson's oncoming courtcase) after all? In short, some key aspects remain unclear to me, plus the fact that one can wonder whether a caper/action plot combines well with such a heavy theme on privacy issues.