Three Days of the Condor

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

One of the best movies of the 1970s and one of the finest thrillers ever made, Three Days of the Condor was one of the first DVDs to be released by Paramount Pictures. Often considered director Sydney Pollack's best feature, the print has been remastered in a widescreen anamorphic transfer that shows off Owen Roizman's letter-perfect cinematography. Roizman also lensed such landmark 1970s thrillers as The French Connection and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and it's nice to see his beautiful work treated respectfully here. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is well balanced and clean -- it accurately reflects the print originally released in theaters in 1975. While the only real extra offered with this edition is the original theatrical trailer, fans of Three Days of the Condor will still return to this DVD again and again. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surrond
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • Widescreen version enhanced for 16x9
  • Dolby Digital: English 5.1 Surround; English Dolby Surround
  • English subtitles
  • Interactive menus
  • Scene selection
  • Theatrical trailer

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Editing - 1975 (Donald Guidice, Frederic Steinkamp)

• Edgar Allan Poe Awards

•     Won Best Screenplay - 1975 (David Rayfiel, Lorenzo Semple, Jr.)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - 1975 (Faye Dunaway)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Robert Redford - Joe Turner
       Faye Dunaway - Kathy Hale
       Cliff Robertson - Higgins
       Max von Sydow - Joubert
       John Houseman - Wabash

• Director:

  Sydney Pollack

• Producer:

  Stanley Schneider

• Book Author:

  James Grady

• Screenwriter:

  David Rayfiel, Lorenzo Semple, Jr.

• Cinematographer:

  Owen Roizman

• Composer (Music Score):

  Dave Grusin

• Editor:

  Donald Guidice, Franz Steininger, Frederic Steinkamp

• Production Designer:

  Stephen B. Grimes

• Art Director:

  Gene Rudolf

REVIEW:

• One of the most memorable paranoia thrillers of the 1970s, Sydney Pollack's Three Days of the Condor never loses its focus as a tense, compelling exercise in suspense. The plot rests on the premise that everyone with power is corrupt; Pollack and writers Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel keep the proceedings from devolving into the preposterous or unconvincing. True to form, Robert Redford represents the powerless, non-corrupt, masses as the film's bookish CIA researcher Turner. Unlike some of the bleaker examples of the genre (1974's The Parallax View), Redford's character ultimately outwits the system and finds a way to fight the corruption, much as he would the following year in All the President's Men. Redford's charisma smoothes over some of Condor's less-believable moments, and Sydney Pollack directs in the distinctively gloomy-but-lively style common to 1970s films. This was the fourth film on which the director and star teamed; they would continue to work together on movies such as 1986's Out of Africa and 1990's Havana. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

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