‘Three Days of the Condor’ with updated bonus from Kino Lorber
Category: Blu-ray's and DVD's
Based on the book Six Days of the Condor by James Grady (published in 1974), the film Three Days of the Condor (1975) stars Robert Redford as Joe Turner, Faye Dunaway as Kathy, Cliff Robertson as Higgins, Max von Sydow as Joubert, John Houseman and Addison Powell. This top notch cast adds to the intense story that has thrilled viewers for decades.
The story revolves around one man, Joe Turner, who has a seemingly benign job reading books published in various countries, analyzing the contents for national secrets, and reporting back to his bosses at the CIA. Sounds like a great job for those of us who love to read. But reading can be dangerous, as Turner discovers.
One day he returns from lunch to find everyone in the office has been murdered. This leads him to phone “The Major” who instructs CIA agents what to do in case of trouble. The Major instructs Turner, whose code name is Condor, to keep a low profile, leave the area, and report back in a few hours. Then he will receive instructions about “bringing him in” so he is not a target of whomever killed everyone in the office. It was a fluke that he was away when the murders occurred.
The day, to say the least, is filled with stress and anxiety. What had they uncovered through reading the books? What secrets were lurking in their reports to the main office?
Turner is not confident the CIA has his best interests at heart when he is almost killed when trying to come in from the cold via another agent. He takes off and through happenstance finds a woman (Kathy) who is an easy prey. He kidnaps her and after awhile they bond and begin working together to find out what in the world happened, is happening, and what did he uncover that is so dangerous?
While they are putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Turner and Higgins, a high-ranking CIA official, begin to discover a secret within the agency. Who can they trust?
Enter Joubert, a paid assassin. But is this man going to kill Turner now that he has finally located him?
The show is non-stop thrills as the reason for the murders unfolds. Remember, this was filmed in the mid 1970s so think back to what was happening at that time. And it also has repercussions for today’s world as well.
From Kino Lorber the new Blu-ray disc as well as the new 4K + Blu-ray set include an all new audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson.
Other bonus features look at the director Sydney Pollack who admits he does not like the anxiety of making movies so he spreads out his projects to give himself a rest between films. Another featurette is with both Pollack and Redford who discuss their collaboration on the film and how they changed the characters as well as the main plot of the original story. They took the bare bones of the book and reconstructed the layers to fit their ideas of what the story should be.
Three Days of the Condor is rated R.
About the Author
Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 30 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. She is a longstanding member of the Television Critics Association and is accredited by the MPAA. Follow her on Twitter.