A nerdy reader for the CIA (Robert Redford) steps out of his mundane New York City office for lunch and returns to find all of his coworkers brutally executed leaving him, an agent so hapless he's not even sure of his code name or how to tell military time, to untangle the conspiracy before suffering the same fate as his coworkers. From a spy novel by James Grady (whose Condor had three extra days), Three Days of the Condor is an intense thriller and another entry in a series of fine collaborations between Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford, the latter whom offers his expected moralizing in a nonetheless compelling performance. Max von Sydow and Cliff Robertson are likewise excellent in supporting roles. The picture has an armrest-gripping beginning and conclusion, which makes it all the easier to forgive a few missteps in its middle.
