Questions About Three Days Of The Condor (1975 Film)

msdemos
Elite Member

SNAFU

@msdemos
Posts: 6,020

Questions About Three Days Of The Condor (1975 Film) Oct 8, 2022 20:39:55 GMT

Quote

Post by msdemos on Oct 8, 2022 20:39:55 GMT

For Anyone Who's Never Seen This Movie: SPOILER ALERT !!

Wondering if there's anybody who's seen this GREAT movie, Three Days Of The Condor (1975), and might be able to answer any of these questions I have after watching it again for the 6th?, 10th?, 12th? time:

1.) Why did the squad of hit men leave the "American Literary Historical Society" (the offices where they murdered all the employees at the beginning of the film), even though they knew that they had missed one of their targets ("Joe Turner", the Robert Redford character, who had slipped out the back door to pick up lunch for everyone) [The only other 'missing' employee, "Ralph Heidegger", who wasn't at work that day, we later find out was murdered at his apartment]?

While I get that they wouldn't want to hang around afterwards and possibly end up getting caught, wouldn't you think that, at the very least, they might have kept one person behind out on the street for surveillance, in case "Turner" returned there (which, of course, he did, when he finally comes back with the lunch order and discovers all the bodies)? And yes, though we learn that a few of the hit men end up going to his apartment to eliminate him there, he ends up avoiding them by dumb luck.........but since they only knew of those two places he MIGHT be at some point (his home and his workplace), wouldn't you think they'd continue to cover both of those spots until he was found?

2.) Also, why did the Robert Redford character walk right out the front door after he discovered all the bodies at the 'ALHS', rather than exiting through the same back exit he had used when he went out to get the lunch order? You would think his character would have been worried enough that somebody might still be hanging around to finish the job, that he would have thought to leave the building with the "safer" of the two exits?

3.) Finally, when Joe Turner does leave the 'ALHS' and then makes his first panicky phone call from the pay phone on the street to the the agency and asks them "to bring him in", why, at the end of the conversation do they tell him the following:

"Walk away from the phone.......don't hang it up....."

Still haven't been able to figure out that odd little bit of "intrigue" detail, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the main story of the plot. Why would his hanging up, or not hanging up a pay phone, matter AT ALL after the end of that conversation ??

And YES, I get it......the REAL answer to those first two questions are simply: "Because that's just how the scriptwriter wrote it....."

But if anybody can shed some light on something I'm possibly missing here that might help explain why the characters did what they did in this story, I would appreciate it.......that said, the third question DEFINITELY has a logical explanation in some kind of espionage-related way......but one that I just haven't been able to figure out yet.....

Finally, not so much a question, but for those that like to 'imagine' what might have ended up happening to characters after a movie (or TV show) ends......as this movie comes to a close, "Joe Turner" is still out on the run, having told the "Higgins" character (the company operative played by Cliff Robertson) that he had been to The New York Times and "told them a story".......meaning (I'm assuming) that he told a reporter at the paper everything he knew up to that point; which leads Higgins to ask him, "How do you know they'll print it?", with Turner simply responding, "They'll print it......", of course, not really knowing if they actually will.

So.....if you had to guess, what ended up happening to "Joe Turner" after the movie ended.....did 'The Agency' still try to eliminate him, and were they eventually successful, or no (since the "Atwood" character, and most of the others associated with him and all the murders of the 'ALHS' employees at the start of the movie, were now all dead....except, of course, for the "Joubert" character played by Max von Sydow, who ended up "flipping" late in the film); did his story end up getting told, and was he ever able to return to any kind of "normal" life, assuming he did eventually end up coming out of hiding ??

SAVE FERRIS

Last Edit: Oct 22, 2022 15:20:09 GMT by msdemos

Rodney Farber
Senior Member

@rodneyfarber
Posts: 1,116

Questions About Three Days Of The Condor (1975 Film) Oct 30, 2022 14:36:58 GMT politicidal and msdemos like this

Quote

Post by Rodney Farber on Oct 30, 2022 14:36:58 GMT

What I remember most about this film is the clock that hung in Higgins’ office. It took me 9 years to find out what it was called [Geochron] and another four to decide whether to spend $900 to purchase one. It's still in my living room. They're over $2000 today.

Oct 8, 2022 20:39:55 GMT msdemos said:

(text omitted)
And YES, I get it......the REAL answer to those first two questions are simply:  "Because that's just how the scriptwriter wrote it....."
(text omitted)
Finally, not so much a question, but for those that like to 'imagine' what might have ended up happening to characters after a movie (or TV show) ends.

(text omitted)

I think you’re over-analyzing the film. I think the "REAL" answer is that the script writers failed to consider that trivial plot point. OTOH, you could ask yourself:
>If this place was so hush-hush, why was the backdoor that Condor used even allowed to exist (or not set off an alarm if opened). Did you notice that Condor did not close the door?
>Or, why didn't the assassins know about this backdoor exit.
>Or: Nobody heard others getting shot? Silencers don't eliminate that much noise, and even if they did, one would hear the bullets hitting the walls or the bodies hitting the floor, or somebody yelling.
>Or, if I came back and found three dead bodies in the lobby, I wouldn’t go upstairs because the assassins might still be there.
>Or, if I were an attractive female (Dunaway) who already had a boyfriend, I probably would not have sex with my kidnapper on the same day I had been kidnapped.

As for "don't hang up the phone", my guess is that the writers threw in something that had the appearance of a CIA plot device.

As for "imagine", why bother. It's FICTION. The story is over and you have no basis for what happens next. My favorite silliness is the number of people who wanted to learn the intricate details of the fictitious Venus Butterfly (L. A. Law, 1986).

Last Edit: Oct 31, 2022 22:07:10 GMT by Rodney Farber

movielover
Exalted Member

@movielover
Posts: 71,629

Questions About Three Days Of The Condor (1975 Film) Oct 30, 2022 15:24:34 GMT msdemos likes this

Quote

Post by movielover on Oct 30, 2022 15:24:34 GMT

3. To allow the first responders (Damage Control Team) "The Cleaners" to find the payphone. Even though a trace had been completed, the Ma Bell Records back then only showed the street corner, and in New York City there could have 10 payphones there. This allowed the cleaners to find it quickly and clean it - like fingerprints, or give Condor some ground support in case he gets into a gun fight with bad guys or is found laying in the street near the payphone.

2. He was probably in such a state of panic and shock that he didn’t plan his exit well.

1. I would imagine for the reason that you said, they don’t want to get caught. After a mass shooting like that, you know the place is going to be crawling with cops soon. Even leaving one person behind for surveillance—as you suggest—would seem risky.