"Three Days of the Condor" certainly manages to give a pretty good depiction of cloak and dagger intelligence activity. Robert Redford played Joe Turner, a CIA analyst who finds himself in a desperate situation when he returns to the office from lunch and discovers all of his co-workers murdered and realizes that he must surely be the next target. The movie follows Turner as he tries to put together the pieces and figure out exactly what's happening.
Redford's performance was all right, but in all honesty this wasn't the strongest performance of his career. I frankly thought he was overshadowed by Faye Dunaway, who played Kathy - a woman Turner kidnaps as part of his desperate attempt to escape those out to get him, and with whom he eventually develops a connection - emotionally and sexually. Unfortunately, neither character was particularly believable. Turner - self-described as no spy but rather simply as a guy who reads books, nevertheless seemed to come across as a pretty accomplished cloak and dagger type. The relatively quick development of the relationship between Turner and Kathy detracted from the latter character's credibility, as did her apparently quick and easy entrance into Turner's activity.
This isn't especially an action movie - although it has action moments. It's more of a behind the scenes look at the intelligence community and its ways. It has some mildly effective twists, and a resolution to the mystery of why Turner's colleagues were killed, although the movie ended on a bit of an open ended note, with a great deal of uncertainty about what Turner's ultimate fate would be.
Redford's performance was all right, but in all honesty this wasn't the strongest performance of his career. I frankly thought he was overshadowed by Faye Dunaway, who played Kathy - a woman Turner kidnaps as part of his desperate attempt to escape those out to get him, and with whom he eventually develops a connection - emotionally and sexually. Unfortunately, neither character was particularly believable. Turner - self-described as no spy but rather simply as a guy who reads books, nevertheless seemed to come across as a pretty accomplished cloak and dagger type. The relatively quick development of the relationship between Turner and Kathy detracted from the latter character's credibility, as did her apparently quick and easy entrance into Turner's activity.
This isn't especially an action movie - although it has action moments. It's more of a behind the scenes look at the intelligence community and its ways. It has some mildly effective twists, and a resolution to the mystery of why Turner's colleagues were killed, although the movie ended on a bit of an open ended note, with a great deal of uncertainty about what Turner's ultimate fate would be.