Having now seen four of Sydney Pollack's films, it is amazing to me how subdued they are in tone and style. Only the bare essentials are used to tell the story, which is itself quite simple. Yet, there is a certain charm to some of his films, particularly Jeremiah Johnson and Three Days of the Condor, each of which are most unusual examples of their particular genre.
Continuing their blossoming work relationship, Pollack and Robert Redford team up again here and the result is perhaps their finest work. Redford seems completely at ease as the star here, playing a book analyst working for the CIA who is inadvertently drawn into action when his co-workers are murdered. As he follows leads and attempts to uncover the truth behind the assassination attempts, he stumbles upon a woman seemingly by chance, who just happens to look like Faye Dunaway. Needless to say, things happen but the real meat of this story is government conspiracy and the cover-up attempts of rather seedy-looking situations.
As mentioned before, Pollack's task is to play it as simple as possible. He maintains strong direction while Redford provides the heroics and Dunaway gives us some very dark and ironically funny line readings. Viewing it as a precursor to other spy films like The Bourne trilogy, this is a well-made and interesting, if simple-minded, spy film.
Continuing their blossoming work relationship, Pollack and Robert Redford team up again here and the result is perhaps their finest work. Redford seems completely at ease as the star here, playing a book analyst working for the CIA who is inadvertently drawn into action when his co-workers are murdered. As he follows leads and attempts to uncover the truth behind the assassination attempts, he stumbles upon a woman seemingly by chance, who just happens to look like Faye Dunaway. Needless to say, things happen but the real meat of this story is government conspiracy and the cover-up attempts of rather seedy-looking situations.
As mentioned before, Pollack's task is to play it as simple as possible. He maintains strong direction while Redford provides the heroics and Dunaway gives us some very dark and ironically funny line readings. Viewing it as a precursor to other spy films like The Bourne trilogy, this is a well-made and interesting, if simple-minded, spy film.