The Anderson Tapes

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

This breathlessly paced high-tech thriller stars Sean Connery as Anderson, a career criminal who's just been released from his latest prison term. Seeking a quick financial turnover, Anderson uses mob funding to finance an ambitious robbery. With a gang of expert thieves, Anderson sets about to rob every wealthy tenant of a fancy East Side apartment building. What he doesn't know is that every move he makes is being monitored and taped by several law-enforcement agencies, who hope that Anderson will lead them to the Mob kingpins. Though the film may look like a "comment" on the Watergate break-in, The Anderson Tapes actually preceded that third-rate burglary by nearly two years. The Anderson Tapes boasts an impressive supporting cast, many of whom play wildly against type, including Alan King as an aging and infirm Mafia don. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • cc
  • Original trailer
  • Martini minutes: "How to Play the Leading Man" and "How to Hold Your Liquor"

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Sean Connery - Duke Anderson
       Dyan Cannon - Ingrid Everleigh
       Martin Balsam - Haskins
       Alan King - Pat Angelo
       Ralph Meeker - Capt. Delaney
       Christopher Walken - The Kid
       Michael Prince - Johnson
       Jack Doroshow - Eric
       Carmine Caridi - Detective A
       Max Showalter - Mr. Bingham
       Val Avery - Socks Parelli
       Frank Macetta - Papa Angelo
       Robert Dagny - Doctor
       Helen Martin
       Paul Benjamin - Jimmy
       Stanley Gottlieb - Pop
       Meg Myles - Mrs. Longene
       Scott Jacoby - Jerry Bingham
       Richard B. Shull - Werner Gottileb
       Michael Miller - 1st Agent
       Reid Cruickshanks - Judge
       Judith Lowry - Mrs. Hathaway
       Paula Trueman - Nurse
       Dick Williams - Spencer
       Michael Fairman - Sgt. Claire
       Garrett Morris - Everson
       Dick Anthony Williams - Spencer
       John Call - O'Leary
       Anthony Holland - Psychologist
       Norman Rose - Mr. Longene
       John Braden - Vanessi
       Sam Coppola - Private Detective
       Joseph Leon
       Tom Signorelli - Sync Man
       Conrad Bain - Dr. Rubicoff
       Ralph Stantley - D'Medico
       Bradford English - TV Watcher
       Janet Ward - Mrs. Bingham
       Hildy Brooks - Receptionist
       Margaret Hamilton - Miss Kaler

• Director:

  Sidney Lumet

• Producer:

  Robert M. Weitman

• Screenwriter:

  Frank Pierson

• Book Author:

  Lawrence Sanders

• Cinematographer:

  Arthur Ornitz

• Composer (Music Score):

  Quincy Jones

• Editor:

  Joanne Burke

• Art Director:

  Philip Rosenberg

• Associate Producer:

  George Justin

• Set Designer:

  Alan Hicks

• Costume Designer:

  Gene Coffin

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Dennis L. Maitland

• Makeup:

  Saul Meth

• First Assistant Director:

  Alan Hopkins

• Casting:

  Vic Ramos, Marion Dougherty

REVIEW:

• Caper films like The Anderson Tapes live or die by their plots; it's really great when there is also fully developed (or interesting or colorful) characters or snappy dialogue or an underlying allegory, but without careful attention to plot, a caper flick just never gets out of the gate. Anderson Tapes is fortunate to have a very nifty plot gimmick as its basis and fortunate that the structure that supports that gimmick is also sound. It's somewhat less fortunate in the dialogue department. What Anderson Tapes has is not bad, mind you, but it doesn't crackle the way it intends to and sometimes comes across as merely perfunctory. The main character is very well developed, the supporting cast rather less so; but if they're fairly stock, the supporting characters still have one or two defining characteristics each that make them stand out a little from their general types. And all of the characters are very well played, starting with Sean Connery's laid back, assured Anderson and including a very change-of-pace Alan King, an effete Martin Balsam, and a very young Christopher Walken. Sidney Lumet's direction is efficient if not particularly distinctive; if it can be faulted for not always melding the serious and the comic aspects of the film, it still manages to get the job done. All in all, The Anderson Tapes is a very satisfactory heist film, one that's not great art but is a lot of fun. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi