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
The Ghost at the Feast: Robert Kagan on America and the Collapse of the World Order 1900-1941
Hijad Butch Blues: Lamya H on how to unf**k the world
Revolutionary Roads: Bob Thompson gets into his gas guzzling VW in search of the American war of independence
Maybe Tech Isn't So Evil: Darlene Damm on the exponential technologies that could radically improve the lives of billions of 21st century people
A Hacker's Mind: Bruce Schneier on how the powerful bend society's rules and how to bend them back
We Don't Know Ourselves: Fintan O'Toole on contemporary Ireland as a model for an open 21st century society
How to Fix a Broken Planet: Julian Cribb's advice for surviving the 21st century
An Assassin in Utopia: Susan Wels on the true story of a nineteenth-century sex cult and a President's murder
Rising Up Against Bullshit Healthcare: Sonali Kolhatkar on Why Americans Want a Government Run Health System
On the Ocean's Awesomeness: Farah Obaidullah explains why our lives depend on healthy oceans
Banking With Your Eyes Open: Robert Pickering on the rights and wrongs of contemporary banks and bankers
How to Fix Capitalism and Democracy? Raymond W. Baker on the "Invisible Trillions" that are Breaking American Society
From Doom to Bloom in 7 Days: Why Spring Has Arrived Unnaturally Early this Year in Silicon Valley