Taglines: Be careful who you trust.
Three Days of the Condor movie storyline. Joe Turner (Robert Redford), code name Condor, works as a reader for Section 17 – fronting as the American Literacy Historical Society – of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The section’s readers read everything that is published to see if the material is being used or planted by national security agencies for the US or enemy regimes in actual operations. The office for the section, which is comprised of eight people in total, is located in a nondescript but secure building in New York City.
After returning to the office from a lunch food run for which he initially left the building through an unofficial entrance/exit, Condor finds that all six of his colleagues at work that day, including his girlfriend Janice Chon, have been executed, their dead bodies strewn throughout the office. The seventh has been murdered in his home. Not knowing any of his superiors outside the section, Condor slowly begins not to trust the organization itself.
After a botched attempt to bring him in, Condor decides to go on the run and try and figure out what is happening on his own. In his quest, Condor kidnaps a young, seemingly lonely woman named Kathy Hale, who, despite being scared by what is happening, eventually believes Condor’s story and decides to help him. He also believes the executions have something to do with the tall Alsatian accented man he keeps encountering, and the last report he wrote and submitted to his superiors outside the section.
Three Days of the Condor is a 1975 American political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow. The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel was based on the 1974 novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady.
Set mainly in New York City and Washington, D.C., the film is about a bookish CIA researcher who comes back from lunch one day to discover his co-workers murdered, and tries to outwit those responsible. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Semple and Rayfiel received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.
Three Days of the Condor was filmed in various locations in New York City (including the World Trade Center, 55 East 77th Street, Brooklyn Heights, The Ansonia, and Central Park), New Jersey, and Washington D.C. (including the National Mall). The film earned $8,925,000 in theatrical showings in North America.
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Directed by: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow, John Houseman, Addison Powell, Tina Chen, Michael Kane, Jess Osuna, Michael Miller, Helen Stenborg, Patrick Gorman
Screenplay by: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Production Design by: Stephen B. Grimes
Cinematography by: Owen Roizman
Film Editing by: Don Guidice
Costume Design by: Joseph G. Aulisi
Set Decoration by: George DeTitta Sr.
Art Direction by: Gene Rudolf
Music by: Dave Grusin
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: September 24, 1975
Views: 1092