Review of Three Days of the Condor (1975) by Dominic G — 05 Jan 2008

Like I needed more of a reason to want to live in the 1970s. I love spy movies and I love paranoid ambiguity, so I wasn't surprised to enjoy Three Days, but I was surprised by how well crafted it is. Up until about the end of the film, a typical failing point for all 70s cinema, when the story falls off of its established rails a bit, I was enraptured.

Pollack finds a way to make what could be a too talky think piece into a Hitchcock worthy suspense piece. His use of editing techniques and interesting compositional choices is remarkable. The political undertones are "eh" but the performances are fantastic. Redford is charming, engrossing and not at all unbelievable as a CIA analyst stuck in the field after his entire section gets hit. Its a little hokey when he and photographer-turned-hostage Faye Dunaway seem to fall in love in the span of a few hours, but its a testament to the actors, writers and Pollack that we, the audience, dispense with any questions about midway through the beautifully shot love scene.

The one stand-out in this film is Max Von Sydow, a criminally underrated actor who set my eyes ablaze in Bergman's Seventh Seal and is golden in pretty much anything he walks in front of a lens for. This is the kind of top-notch acting and sharp writing that is missing from action/thriller cinema today. Also, love the freeze-frame finish, very reminiscent of The 400 Blows and another Redford classic, Butch and Sundance.