Why This Might Be Robert Redford's Most Prescient Movie
We all have our own favorite Robert Redford movie. But what's Redford’s most prescient film about today’s America? His Seventies trilogy about American politics — The Candidate, Three Days of the Condor and All the President's Men — are all, in their own profound ways, lasting meditations on the United States. But of the three, it might be Sydney Pollack's Three Days of the Condor (1975) which has the eeriest relevance to contemporary America. For James Grady, whose equally classic 1974 thriller Six Days of the Condor inspired the movie, Three Days of the Condor speaks to both the all-encompassing paranoia and isolation of our age. It's the anti-James Bond film for our anti-James Bond age. "For a movie that was made fifty years ago to unearth the emotions we felt then, and the emotions we're feeling now — that's extraordinary," James Grady says. Yes. After a half century, the Condor has landed.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Episode 2270: Craig Garnett on May 24, 2022 - Uvalde's Darkest Hour
Episode 2269: Michael Sayman looks forward to an AI age in which all our online interactions are with bots
Episode 2268: David Rowell on how new technology is making us dislike new music
Episode 2267: Jonathan Taplin on the coming cultural renaissance in America
Episode 2266: Mr Musk, Mr Sacks and Mr Andreessen go to Washington
Episode 2265: Jeff Jarvis on how to reclaim the internet from moguls, misanthropes and moral panics
Episode 2265: Internet Hall of Famer, Mitchell Baker, on the promise of an Open Web
Episode 2264: Robert Pearl demystifies the RFK Jr nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services
Episode 2263: The Godmother of Silicon Valley on luck, love and fate
Episode 2262: Steve Blank on how to hack the 21st century
Episode 2261: Douglas Rushkoff on why AI is the first native app for the internet
Episode 2260: Andrew Keen evaluates the health of American democracy
Episode 2259: Idealab founder Bill Gross on what's he's learned over the last 20 years