I'm so damn pleased to have found this on archive. Three Days of The Condor is one of my absolute favorite movies ever.
Condor was originally going to be more of a generic spy film to generate some cash for the director, Sydney Pollack. But after the Watergate scandal, the general mood of the country shifted toward mistrust in government, so they tweaked the screenplay to make it a far more serious film with a message, which resulted in one of the finest thrillers of the 70's.
The acting by everyone involved is superb, the casting excellent, and the story excellently told. If I had to compare it to anything, it really feels like a 1970's prequel to the Bourne Conspiracy.
The story focuses on Joe Turner, a bookish CIA analyst codenamed "Condor" who works at the American Literary Historical Society in New York City, which is actually a clandestine CIA office. The staff members examine books, newspapers, and magazines from around the world to compare them to actual operations or to mine ideas, and things take off from there.
This is, in my opinion, the best movie I've yet posted to thus community, so if you're lookin' for something to watch tonight, I highly recommend grabbing some snacks and getting stuck in! :)
Have you also seen the tv show Condor with Max Irons as Joe? It's also really good. Too bad it got cancelled after two seasons.
I haven't gotten around to that yet! Another show I'll have to put higher up on the list. :p