S2E3.5: Three Days of the Condor

The sad part is that this film doesn’t even have the most bafflingly awful sex scene in the 70s paranoid thriller genre </3

I genuinely just want to say that I fully subscribed to your Patreon because I was going through your backlog in prep for a long plane ride and saw you did a bonus episode on this film <3

I fell asleep listening to this episode last night and dreamt that due to a logistical error I ended up sharing an Airbnb with the KJB team. We watched this movie together and they commented, and any time I tried to comment Ms Thorne reminded me that I was having a parasocial dream and we were not friends in real life 😂

how are you going to mention Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy like that without it on the docket

I thought this movie and this episode was great, and what Nate said about the movie respecting that viewers are paying attention was bang on the money. Really excellent, subtle performances from von Sydow and Redford, and the effort to really dwell on character building moments, especially at the beginning, was really engaging. The misogynist elephant in the room that most detracts from it is the kidnapping, and while the comparison with the first Bourne movie makes sense - it's weird how this is a trope - the precise vibe it gave off was bugging me, but I realised it's almost exactly replicated in 12 Monkeys. A paranoid, violent and unpredictable man spinning a ridiculous (but true) story kidnaps a terrified and innocent random woman, with a very unpleasant undercurrent of sexual menace. There's such obvious parallels - the furious insistence she believe him; the scene where both men quite brutally kill in front of the women, who slip briefly into shock; the eventual acceptance and collaboration of the women - that I wonder if one is an intentional homage to the other. It makes far more sense in 12 Monkeys though.

This was a truly delightful episode! I know these movies I'm about to mention are probably too good but they're both under-appreciated. Abi has delighted me by using clips of "Four Lions" in 2 eps of Philosophy Tube, and though it's a) excellent and b) only marginally espionage-related, it's one I'd kill to hear you all discuss. Also my husband just made me watch "Eye of the Needle" and it's remarkably subtle and ambiguous for a 70s spy/secret Nazi thriller. Additionally, it would be enjoyable as hell to hear you all discuss wlw spy-school cult classic "D.E.B.S.", which of course I first saw while at an all-female university!

another mention of tinker tailor soldier spy on the pod has inflamed my need to hear you, and specifically alice, talk about it at length

I would love to see ya'lls take on High Noon or the original version of Shane (the remake is shit). Or even Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (which is a disaster in terms of...ethics but a delight in terms of music)

wait women ... or this woman?

Have been on a bit of 70's movie Flex recently, watched this, Taking of Pelham, The Murder of a Chinese Bookie, Get Carter, Long Good Friday, Godfather I+II, The American Friend and would really recommend The Friends Of Eddie Coyle for a surprisingly influential crime movie, particularly with regards to Steven Soderbergh's takes on the genre, Ocean's stuff very much included in that.

Don't worry Abi, we caught your Kung Phone line.

Next time Nate comes on for a big slice of 70s thriller, packed with paranoia and masculinity, it should be William Friedkin's 1977 Sorcerer.

Just stumbled across a 2 season series called Condor which follows the same story. Strange coincidences

Three days of the Condor depicts an ordinary person with a decent bludgeoning weapon defeating a much more skilled fighter who is unarmed. I can't even think of another movie where that happens, even though it's far more realistic than the alternative.

Where Eagles Dare is a fantastic ride.

My vote for a 70s/not 70s movie with a lot to say about paranoia and the American state apparatus would be PTA’s adaptation of Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice.” But an upvote for the folks on here shouting out “Where Eagles Dare.” Soooo much cooler and more ridiculous than any Bond film, and there’s plenty of amazing military fits and vintage weapons for Alice and the gang to get into.

If you want another movie that only happens because Robert Redford went to get food, may I suggest Sneakers (1992)? And, as a follow up to last week's movie, it features the NSA back when only the real fans knew who they were.

It's funny because the pre-Giuliani New York I have a fondness for is the one depicted in late 70's/early 80's horror movies like Basket Case and Maniac. The New York that guys like Frank Henenlotter and William Lustig saw.

petition for KJB Charlie’s Angels episode now 🔫🔫🔫🔫😤

Shouts out to The Guns of Navarone & Where Eagles Dare for some WWII commando shit

Weird US 70s film recommendation: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), starring the most 70s man alive, Donald Sutherland.

Hell yeah

I'll make a pitch again for the gang to watch "The Falcon and the Snowman", a true espionage story with Sean Penn as a weasely drug dealer.

aw yeah baby it's nate

as an american leftist who grew up in a military family Da Nate Zone is always a delight

LET'S GOOOOO