Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind Three Days of the Condor as it celebrates its 50th anniversary….
Although receiving somewhat of a muted response at the time of its release, Three Days of the Condor has since been reappraised and acknowledged as one of the best conspiracy thrillers to emerge from the 70s era along with All the President’s Men, The Marathon Man, The Conversation, Klute and The Parallax View. As the riveting spy drama celebrates its 50th anniversary we take a look back at the making of the film and the behind-the-scenes drama that transpired…
The film’s screenplay is still well regarded as one of the best produced
Six Days of the Condor is an espionage thriller penned by American author James Grady and first published in 1974. The story follows a CIA operative codenamed Condor as he attempts to unravel the conspiracy that got his fellow agents butchered in cold blood. Lorenzo Semple Jr. who wrote the 1974 political chiller The Parallax View, and Sydney Pollack regular David Rayfiel were responsible for adapting the novel to the big screen. The duo considerably revised most of the plot, even going to the extent of shifting the story from Washington D.C – where it’s originally set- to the bustling streets of New York City. The source material’s main catalytic event, which involved a drug smuggling operation was also changed to rogue CIA operatives with a keen interest in middle eastern oil fields. The title and timeline was also shortened to Three Days of the Condor. Semple Jr. and Rayfiel’s riveting script went on to win the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay the following year and still continues to be used at university film courses in the United States as a prime example of how to pen a good screenplay.
Warren Beatty was attached to the role that ultimately went to Robert Redford
In an illustrious career that spans over six decades, the late, great Robert Redford was a legendary Hollywood star who proved his mettle many times over in front of and behind the camera as actor, director and producer. The uber-talented actor became a household name in the 1970s with iconic roles in films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, The Sting, Jeremiah Johnson and The Way We Were. As an acclaimed filmmaker and producer Redford earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director with his directorial debut Ordinary People, which also nabbed the Oscar for Best Film that year. Prior to Redford’s involvement with the movie it was Warren Beatty who was attached to the lead role with Bullitt’s Peter Yates as director. However, when Redford signed on he preferred to have Sydney Pollack to helm the effort, having worked with him previously on Jeremiah Johnson and The Way We Were. So, producer Dino De Laurentiis paid Yates’ $200,000 salary in its entirety and got Pollack on board.
Robert Redford was very involved in different aspects of production
The story of Three Days of the Condor was set during the winter period, but the film itself was shot in autumn. Because of this, the streets and alleyways where the movie was being shot and the trees and saplings therein had to be defoliated to achieve the required wintry look. Redford, who also happened to be an avid ecologist, got personally involved in this process to ensure that no form of damage was done to the local plant life. The actor even intervened to change the advertising campaign chosen by the studio which wanted to focus on the CIA element of the flick; along with Pollack’s support Redford convinced them instead to focus on the characters in the story for advertising and marketing purposes.
Director Sydney Pollack’s hands-on approach surprised Faye Dunaway
One of the finest actresses of her era Faye Dunaway is the recipient of multiple accolades including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards. She rose to fame for her mesmerizing portrayal of outlaw Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde. In her biography “Looking for Gatsby”, Dunaway spoke at length regarding director Sydney Pollack’s hands-on approach to directing cast members and highlighted one instance in particular where Redford left the set and Pollack temporarily took over his role for Dunaway’s reaction shots, “The cameras were rolling, I was in position, and suddenly Sydney lunged at me, growling ‘I am going to get you!’. I’m tied up at this point, unable to get away or move much at all, but Sydney kept moving toward me, his eyes glaring at me as he went on detailing all the horrible things he was going to do to me, and let me tell you, Sydney has an inventive mind. He is also a great actor, and he scared the hell out of me. Sydney kept the camera rolling and he was relentless”.’
Sydney Pollack sued Danish TV for “mutilating” his film
Sydney Pollack was not at all pleased when Danish TV aired a pan-and-scan version of Three Days of the Condor in 1991. The filmmaker went to the extent of suing the television company for “mutilation” of the movie, and violating his “droit moral”, which is his legal right as an artist to maintain reputation through preserving the integrity of his effort. In the end, however, the courts ruled in the defendants favor based on a technicality.
Max von Sydow enjoyed playing a sophisticated villain in the movie
Max von Sydow started his career in European cinema before moving to American cinema and eventually crossing over to theatre and television, in a career that spanned 70 years. Von Sydow received international acclaim for his roles in some of Ingmar Bergman’s best efforts such as The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring and Through a Glass Darkly. He later got wider recognition for Hollywood films like The Exorcist, Conan the Barbarian and the 007 flick Never Say Never Again. For Three Days of the Condor, von Sydow revealed in interviews that playing Joubert was a refreshing change, as he’d previously played more traditional villains. The sophistication and pragmatic nature of Joubert thoroughly appealed to the veteran Swedish-French actor.
The Central Intelligence Agency, 9/11 and some weird coincidences
In the story, the offices of CIA director Higgins, played by Spider-Man 2 alum Cliff Robertson, were located in the World Trade Center. This little detail turned out to be true in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when it was revealed that the CIA was indeed operating out of the WTC. The station reportedly served as a base for spying and functioned as a center for recruitment diplomats employed in the UN building nearby. Incidentally, Robertson, who was also an avid aviator, was flying his private aircraft directly above WTC when the first Boeing 747 struck the towers. Air traffic grounded all commercial and private aircrafts and Robertson too had to comply. The former director of the CIA Richard Helms served as a personal consultant to Redford during the course of the shoot.
The KGB opened a clandestine office purely inspired by the movie
In the film as well as the book the office in which Redford’s character is employed functions as a clandestine office run under the CIA’s purview that examine books, magazines and newspapers from around the world to compare them to real world spy operations. According to a former Soviet intelligent agent Sergei Tretyakov, it was this outfit featured in Three Days of the Condor that inspired their own KGB to establish an equivalent office in Moscow called the Scientific Research Institute of Intelligence Problems.
Moderate box-office, mixed reviews and an unexpected legacy
Made on a production budget of $7.8 million Three Days of the Condor went on to become a moderate box-office hit by making a worldwide total of $41.5 million. At the time of its release the flick received mixed reviews with most skewed towards a positive light. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert penned his thoughts on the effort in the following manner, “Three Days of the Condor is a well-made thriller, tense and involving, and the scary thing, in these months after Watergate, is that it’s all too believable”. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the movie, “is no match for stories in your local newspaper, but it benefits from good acting and directing”. Some critics at the time lambasted Pollack’s film as a piece of “political propaganda”.
Since its release, however, Three Days of the Condor has been reappraised as one of the best conspiracy thrillers to debut in the 70s era. The effort perfectly captured the post-Watergate paranoia as well as chillingly depicting the different forms of institutional corruption that takes place within clandestine agencies. Interest over the film renewed with the remarks made by the Russo Brothers, directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who said they were deeply inspired by Three Days of the Condor and went to the extent of casting Robert Redford to pay homage to the spy drama. In a slew of fantastic efforts that were released in that period, fifty years ago, Three Days of the Condor stand out as one the finest in the paranoid thriller genre that continues to resonate with contemporary audiences and filmmakers as well.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
