The Anderson Tapes (1971) User Reviews (90)

1 East 91 Street

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 16 May 2007]

"The Anderson Tapes", directed by Sidney Lumet, showed up recently on cable. Having read the Lawrence Sanders novel years ago, we basically didn't have a clear recollection of the action. As adapted by Frank Pierson, the film shows Mr. Lumet at what he does best. Totally filmed in New York, it offers a glimpse at the way the city looked during those days.

The only thing that doesn't seem to work with the film is the way the electronic surveillance shows what Duke Anderson and the crew he puts together were about to do, at all times. Why the eavesdropping is going on all the time is only explained at the end of the film, something that doesn't make much sense because the ones doing the spying are completely aware of what Anderson is going to attempt all along the movie.

Sean Connery makes a wonderful Duke Anderson. He works well under Mr. Lumet's direction; he keeps the film going as the man with the plan for a caper that will help him retire from the business of being a thief. Dyan Cannon plays Mr. Connery's affections. She is the one who is the key for the gang to access the posh building. Christopher Walken made his film debut and it's hard to recognize him when he first appears. Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker ant the rest of the cast made valuable contributions to the film.

Well-played character-oriented heist flick

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 31 March 2008]

Recently-paroled master thief Sean Connery plots one last job: robbing the residents of an entire New York apartment house on a holiday weekend! Engaging heist flick, adapted from Lawrence Sanders' novel by Frank Pierson and directed by Sidney Lumet, takes a dark turn towards the end--much like Pierson and Lumet's later "Dog Day Afternoon" in 1975. The title-named tapes are a bluff (and, when revealed as such, more perplexing than amusing) and the asides with Connery and "kept woman" Dyan Cannon don't add up to much, though she's still nice to have around in the first-half. Pierson's character profiles and dialogue are expressive and sharp, and there are wonderful supporting performances by Martin Balsam, Alan King, and Christopher Walken in his film debut. Connery is terrific as well, but some viewers may not like the downbeat third act. The joshing tone gives out, replaced with action and consequences, yet it's all quite marvelous from a filmmaker's standpoint. *** from ****

I'm still confused.

[astacvi-1 · 5/10 · 1 July 2013]

There's a reasonably interesting heist movie in here, and some understated commentary on our surveillance society (particularly relevant as I write this in the summer of 2013.) Unfortunately, they are mismatched parts that never quite come together into one film.

Sean Connery was clearly trying to escape the penumbra of James Bond here, playing a much coarser character and working without toupee. He's actually pretty good, with the exception of the dreadful accent he attempts. It's a bizarre Brooklyn/Scottish hybrid, and come to think of it, sort of fitting for this movie: two things that don't really mesh but are jammed together anyway.

Martin Balsam and an extremely young Christopher Walken are the standouts among the supporting cast. Balsam seems to have somehow channeled Harvey Fierstein from the future, almost but never quite going over the top. Walken is mesmerizing in a very small role, showing even at his young age the physical grace and edgy unpredictability that would come to define him.

I must make special mention of the dreadful score. It's distracting and awful, almost certainly the lowlight of Quincy Jones's career.

Ultimately, and unfortunately, this film just doesn't quite work. It can't seem to decide what it wants to be. It's kind of funny, kind of suspenseful, kind of socially critical, kind of dramatic, but in the end not really anything very specific. I can usually decipher what a movie has attempted, even if it fails, but in this case I just don't know. It's a confusing, strange melange of recognizable parts that never form a consistent whole.

Great little gem, sadly forgotten

[MovieAddict2016 · 20 September 2004]

Sean Connery plays a jail bird who's let out and decides to pull another heist with the help of a team of experienced crooks; little does he know the cops are monitoring everything.

What's so unique about this film by Sidney Lumet, in superb form as director, is that heist films rarely mount the tension by showing us the cops' side -- here it's like a ticking time bomb, we're just waiting for Connery and his crew to be arrested and we know that they don't know that the cops know (err...) and the result is pretty tense.

No fault found in the acting: Connery and a very young Christopher Walken (in his film debut) are great, particularly Walken who shows extensive range very early on. After seeing this I was reminded of his recent role in the "Stepford Wives" remake and had to wonder why he's resorting to such trash, because he's just as talented (almost, anyway) as De Niro and Pacino and the difference is he wasted a lot of this during the '80s and '90s by taking on small bits in horrible films. I mean, in 2003 he starred in KANGAROO JACK. C'mon!

Overall THE ANDERSON TAPES is a tense and unique crime thriller that, although very "70s-ish" is entertaining, if a bit outdated in terms of technology. I'm sure it will be remade some day, there's a lot of potential, however I doubt it'll ever come close to the original.

4/5

Confused Caper Movie.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 23 January 2013]

I expected more from this film, influenced, I guess, by my TV Guide which gave it a rating of three and a half out of four. It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who has done some fine New York City stories -- "Serpico", "The Pawnbroker" -- and the cast includes people like Sean Connery, Martin Balsam, and Christopher Walken. How could it go wrong? Well, it doesn't go wrong -- exactly. The first half, though, looks a lot like an ordinary caper movie. Connery is just out of jail and assembles and finances a handful of experts to rob an entire high-end apartment house of every valuable in every flat.

Lumet and his writers have even inserted a bit of humor, largely based on Martin Balsam's gay interior decorator, and Balsam is great in the role. He's given a couple of witty lines and moues that never quite go over the top, though they approach it. Ralph Meeker as Delaney, the police captain in charge, really DOES go over the top with his machine-processed working-class New York accent. There's ironic humor, too, in the incremental revelation that three of the conspirators are being covertly watched by three independent law-enforcement agencies, none of whom know about the others: Walken because the Narcs are interested in him, the black driver because he's a Black Panther, and the mobster who is providing the money because he's -- well, he's Italian. Not that the records play any part in the story, which is all the more reason for a talented guy like Quincy Jones to have avoided all those screeching electronic noises on the sound track.

But Lumet is a tragedian at heart. He ends few of his movies happily, a tendency he shares with some other directors and writers, like Roman Polanski and Stephen King. The last half of the film has the robbery crew hurrying about their business in the apartment house, not realizing the crime has already been detected, the street sealed off by police, and a Special Tactical Police Unit (or whatever it's called) is already rappelling down the side of the edifice. There is a climactic shoot out in which people are realistically killed.

Lumet has directed this uncertain story with noticeable skill. He intercuts long scenes of the preparation and execution of the robbery with briefer scenes of witnesses describing that happened to them. There are also cuts to the post-crime events involving police on the street. At first we're unsure of what's going on in the background except that we notice a lot of bustle. With each cut it becomes increasingly clear that what's going on is that dead bodies are being removed and put into an ambulance, so the audience only gradually becomes aware of the fact that the ending is going to be melancholy.

But in asking the viewer to make the leap from the assembly of a comic caper crew into tragedy, Lumet is asking a lot. Let me put it this way: Sean Connery is not the kind of actor who should be shot in the back and die.

I Couldn't Believe The TV Guides ...

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 14 September 2004]

... Gave THE ANDERSON TAPES a bad write up . Seriously this was a very well regarded heist movie when it was released but for some reason when it was broadcast very late on Channel 4 the other night all the TV guides said Sean Connery was wasting his time appearing in this turkey . I know Connery has appeared in more turkeys than reusuable stuffing but THE ANDERSON TAPES isn't one of them . It might not be classic Connery like THE HILL but as entertainment it more than succeeds

I can't help thinking that the TV guide critics are somewhat underwhelmed by certain stereotypical aspects of the movie . Take for example the getaway driver who is black . There seems to have been an attitude in the early 70s that white men can't drive , see also DIRTY HARRY . But I think it's homosexuality rather than race that upsets some TV guide critics . Oh come on chaps , it's a fun thriller not some Derek Jarman art house ego trip and lines like :

" Describe him ? Fifty . Slightly podgy . Fag "

and

" Do as your told and my man will keep his weapon in his pants "

" I'll be the judge of that "

are actually amusing in a mainstream way . It might be politically correct to laugh at these things nowadays but at the time of the original caused a wry smile .

And we get to see a very early performance by Christopher Walken before he became known as " Dead Career Ham Walken "

Gripping and exciting picture about an ex-con who wants to execute the big heist with unexpected consequences

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 7 August 2015]

A top-notch cast under superb direction and slickly made by Sidney Lumet who makes this movie enjoyable in every aspect . Amusing caper with magnificent acting by all-star-cast , acceptable production design and masterfully realized by the always original and great Sidney Lumet . After Duke Anderson (Sean Connery , being the first film in which he stopped wearing a toupee) is released from prison after ten years for taking the rap for a scion of a Mafia family , he cashes in a debt of honor with the mob chief (Alan King who also worked in ¨Just Tell Me What You Want¨ by Lumet) to bankroll a caper . Upon visiting his old girlfriend , Ingrid (Dyan Cannon married to Gary Grant) at her upscale apartment in New York City , he plans to rob the entire building . As the ex-convict , under strange electronic surveillance that have tracked him since he abandoned prison , wishes to pull off a big robbing .

Agreeable as well as interesting picture with tight editing , magnificent acting , fast-paced , thrills , plot twists , emotion and entertainment . It was originally conceived as a tense as well as thrilling flick about a spectacular hold-up . Though the most movie is set in a luxurious building it never lacks for taut , suspense , intrigue , inspired direction and a climax particularly thrilling . The tension behind closed doors is tense , charged and riveting . Sean Connery is very good as ex-inmate decided to carry out a big heist , being accompanied by a beauty Dyan Cannon . Support cast is pretty good , such as a young Christopher Walken -film debut- is perfectly cast as an ex-con , Alan King as mobster , Ralph Meeker as Police officer , Martin Balsam as gay man , Garrett Morris , Val Avery , and final feature film by Margaret Hamilton of Wizard of Oz , among others . Fine Quince Jones soundtrack . Atmospheric and appropriate cinematography by Arthur Ornitz . Frank Pierson's brilliant script was left virtually intact on this adaptation upon the novel titled "The Anderson Tapes" by Lawrence Sanders .

This thriller was professionally directed by Sidney Lumet with an extraordinary plethora of actors who give awesome interpretations . It keeps the spectator utterly involved , it holds up extremely well on television . Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema , best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York . In ¨ The Anderson tapes¨ Lumet had a strong comeback with this box-office hit . He made over 40 movies , often complex and emotional , but seldom overly sentimental . He achieved great successes such as ¨Serpico¨, ¨The Veredict¨, ¨Fail safe¨ , ¨ Morning after¨, ¨The hill¨ , ¨Dog day afternoon¨, ¨Murder on the Orient Express¨ , ¨Network¨ and his best considered one : ¨12 angry men¨ . In 2005 , Sidney Lumet received a well-deserved honorary Academy Award for his outstanding contribution to filmmaking.

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep....

[BrianMemphis · 6/10 · 9 May 2010]

The soundtrack beeps and bloops and the emphasis on the surveillance technology looks very dated now. Every time you see a camera, expect them to hold the shot then cue the synthesizer! But stick with the film through the first 20 minutes or so and the effect becomes less distracting. Once you become engaged with the film, you'll find it's a surprisingly good movie.

Technology (despite the low-tech portrayal here) plays a central role in Anderson's undoing. He puts together a team that does things 'the old fashioned way' - masks, blowtorches, con men - and he's undone by tape recorders and a child with a ham radio.

Lots of reasons for people who are interested in films to see this one, and it won't disappoint them.

A Bold And Audacious Caper

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 16 May 2009]

The Anderson Tapes occupies a great place in the career of Sean Connery, it is one of the films he likes best in his career. And with good reason, it was the first film for which he both drew good reviews and clicked with the public not playing James Bond. Connery could finally be taken seriously as an actor, not just an international sex symbol.

The film itself draws from elements found in The Asphalt Jungle and The Desperate Hours. There's no planner character in this film, Connery himself is both the planner and enforcer in the crew he's put together for a job. But he does need a backer and that's where organized crime boss Alan King comes in.

Connery is a Duke Anderson, a con just recently released from prison and he's got some attitudes similar to that other Connery character from Family Business has Jesse McMullen. Not surprising since both films were directed by Sidney Lumet. Like McMullen he feels that stealing is the most honorable profession going if you're not a hypocrite since all successful people engage in some kind of crookedness. And since he's done the full ten year bit with no parole and no strings attached to him, there isn't anything that the criminal justice system can do to him.

When he sees how well former girl friend Dyan Cannon is doing as someone's kept woman in a very ritzy apartment on New York's Upper East Side, Connery conceives a plan to take down the whole building. And bit by bit he assembles his crew.

Young Christopher Walken gets his first big screen role of notice as a young convict released with Connery from the joint. Another con released at the same time is Stan Gottlieb who's spent most of his life in stir and is thoroughly institutionalized. With his character, Lumet makes a powerful statement about institutional acclamation, in Gottlieb's case, it's an act of cruelty almost to let him out in society, he knows no other way of life.

Since there's a lot of merchandise to move from these rich folk's apartments, Connery needs someone along who knows the value and how to get the best value when fencing. Martin Balsam who's an antique dealer and fence on the side gets brought in on the job itself. Balsam has one of the earliest post Stonewall portrayals of a gay man and while sadly he does conform to stereotype, still it's a fine piece of work. And he's crushing out on Connery big time.

Alan King makes an unusual condition on Connery. He wants the crew to take along mob hood Val Avery on the job and arrange for his demise on same. Avery is something of a loose cannon, the powers that be want him eliminated without their fingerprints on it. When Avery arrives you can see why he's such a liability. He's an out and out racist and drivers Garrett Morris and Dick Williams would gladly do it for nothing.

Connery and his crew take the entire exclusive apartment building hostage, just like the family in The Desperate Hours. And the film itself has an Asphalt Jungle feel to it, both in the planning stage and in how it all turns out.

The title comes from the fact that several government agencies are actually taping this whole proceeding from many different angles, the FBI, the IRS, Immigration, etc. But since it's all quite illegal, none of them can really step in to put a halt to the criminal enterprise. It's a nice touch, but quite superfluous, the film works beautifully as a straight out caper film.

Sean Connery and the rest of the cast play this thing to perfection. Two of the best performances are from a pair of little old ladies, the shocked Margaret Hamilton and feisty Judith Lowry who just loves being taken hostage and robbed, it's the most excitement she's had in years.

As for Connery he could finally put James Bond to rest, after just one more film. His next role, 007 in Diamonds Are Forever.

Fast paced entertainment...

[JasparLamarCrabb · 7/10 · 13 September 2003]

Sean Connery stars in director Sidney Lumet's fast paced thriller centering on the burglary of a swank NYC apartment house. The gimmick being that the would be robbers, along with every move they make, are being recorded by the government. This explains the overuse of reel to reel sound effects. Connery is good as a third rate hood and Alan King makes one of his sporadic film appearances as a mafiosa, which is pretty much all he ever plays, but he's good at it so why mess with it. Dyan Cannon is in it too...she asks Connery to "ball." It is 1970! Christopher Walken, Garrett Morris, and a particularly swishy Martin Balsam also star. A classic.

Not Lumet's best film

[paul2001sw-1 · 4/10 · 17 October 2004]

Veteran director Sidney Lumet has made many above-average films in his time, but 'The Anderson Tapes', a generic heist thriller from the early 1970s, is not one of them. The dialogue and acting (including that of lead Sean Connery) are both poor, and the Quincey Jones score is horrid; the camera work is better but insufficient to compensate for a movie where none of the characters seem wholly real (in a way quite typical of indifferent movies from this era). Another problem is that the film lacks purpose; the tapes of the title seem quite irrelevant, and although the confused ending is in some sense superior to the glossy "perfection" at the conclusion of movies like "Ocean's Eleven", the viewer is still left asking "so what?". Overall, this not an awful film, but it is lacking in much to distinguish it from the very large number of similar movies.

A Salvador Dalí painting of 1971, that prophesies the future.

[flackjacket · 9/10 · 26 July 2013]

In 1971 I was in first grade. So the first time I saw this film was about 5 years later when a censored version was broadcast on TV. So when it was recently broadcast, unedited, all I remembered was the imagery and soundtrack was unique. The synthesizer sound track, the big Mayflower moving truck and leather masks. So I decided to watch it again.

Actors and story line aside, I was amazed at how perfectly this film totally captured that brief era in technology and culture between Woodstock and Watergate, both visually and audibly. Overall, it's a surreal painting of the year 1971. Quincy Jones' soundtrack, and his use of the early synth combined with the visuals of reel to reel tape recorders, bugging devices, microphones and radio equipment all ooze 1971.

And seeing it now, post 9/11, it's a rare, almost prophetic commentary on how government surveillance can fail when it's isolated between departments. The country had just landed a man on the moon, all the technology from NASA was just beginning to saturate the society. But regardless, when the intelligence wasn't shared, it was useless.

The casting and acting are impeccable. Each character plays their role to perfection and it's an all-star cast. Quincy Jones score for this film is in a class of it's own, a one of a kind audible mile marker of 1971. And the camera angles, direction and visuals paint in vivid detail the brief moment in history between the lunar landing and digital LED watches.

On the surface, and at the time of release, it was just another big heist film. But years later, it has become a film that not only defines the genre, but is a genre in and of itself.

If your young and want experience that transitional time in history, or if you're older and want to go back in time, this movie is well worth watching.

Pretty straight-forward heist movie

[Sandcooler · 7/10 · 2 June 2009]

This movie has an exciting build-up, but loses me a bit in its main event. The first half delivers exactly what a crime drama needs: smooth dialogues, colorful characters, and a fair amount of tension. Then we get the actual heist, which suffers a bit from flat direction and is just plain overlong. These guys sure love to take their sweet time for everything, I know they don't want to cause panic but seriously, take everything and run. The plan makes little sense anyway. The subplot with the government spying on everyone seems a bit redundant, and could have been left out altogether. It's pretty irrelevant, and it has no effect on the story developments. This movie is still fun to watch though, mainly because of the actors. Sean Connery delivers a particularly charismatic performance as the bad guy with the heart of gold, and an amazingly young Christopher Walken only sweetens the deal. I also enjoy the visual style of this movie, then again I enjoy the visual style of every 70s crime movie. The heist genre has better things to offer, but this is a pretty enjoyable piece of work.

Confused Muddle That Never Congeals

[rewolfson · 2/10 · 23 November 2023]

I agree with all the single (1) star reviews but will give it two because the friend I watched it with thought it had some entertainment value. It doesn't.

Sean Connery plays the main character while trying to hide his native Scotch brogue.under poor imitiation Brooklyn dialect. But that's not the first thing that doesn't work. The movie opens with a sequence before Connery's character leaves prison: a group session with the prison psychologist that represents three minutes of film that should have been left on the cutting room floor. Also non-sequitor is the intrusive and un-cool Quincy Jones soundtrack (Jones' joke as he deposited his paycheck). There is nothing cool about the bomb. The entire affair is a plot contrivance completely unsupported by any development, rhyme or reason. It's all way over the top schtick wrapped around an obtuse theme that we are all being watched and listened to by various nefarious government voyeurs who collectively can't accomplish what an asthmatic invalid kid in the apartment of one the "victims" can do on a ham radio contacting his other incel friends.

The real victim is the audience. This film cost 3 million to make and grossed 5, so it was considered a success, at least by the real thieves: the studio. I watched this for free on Thanksgiving Eve. It's a turkey.

Terrific caper movie. Extremely underrated!

[Infofreak · 11 November 2002]

It's taken me a while to track down a copy of 'The Anderson Tapes', but I'm sure glad I did. I was knocked out by this consistently interesting caper movie. Sean Connery, post-Bond, pre-Zardoz, plays Duke Anderson, a recently released criminal who decides to rob the luxury apartment block his high class hooker girlfriend (Dyan Cannon) resides in. He assembles a team which includes "The Kid" (an unbelievably young and cool Christopher Walken in his first major movie role), his flamboyant art loving buddy Tommy ('Psycho's Martin Balsam camping it up outrageously), the super cool Everson (Garrett Morris), and (against his will) Mafia goon Socks (Val Avery). Duke however doesn't realize that he, and just about everyone else involved in the plan, are under surveillance by a multitude of government agencies who are following their every move. 'The Anderson Tapes' is an entertaining and tough little thriller full of humour and originality, and with an almost 'Conversation'-like feel to it - a movie it predated by three years incidentally. While nowhere near as well known as Sidney Lumet's other Seventies crime dramas 'Serpico' and 'Dog Day Afternoon' it is equally as good. An extremely underrated movie that deserves a lot more attention.

Amazing Cast - One of Connerys Better Efforts

[szovati · 7/10 · 10 November 2020]

A man who's been behind bars for 10 years gathers old pals to pull off a heist - but he's just a little behind the the times. Alan King, Ralph Meeker, Christopher Walken and a few other very familiar faces of 70's cinema and an interesting story makes this with watching. 2 other points of interest: it is absolutely a breath of fresh and funny air to see Martin Balsam play a flamboyantly gay man and it's amazing to see Walken hold his own vs Connery - imagine your very first role in a major film and they put you up against a legend like Bond. Dyans Cannons is the eye candy of the film. Enjoy!

Good caper flick

[goya-4 · 7/10 · 25 August 2000]

Sean Connery plays a newly released prisoner who gets the gang together for the big heist..a luxuary apartment house.. Unaware that the law from state city federal and others are watching..but for different reasons.. The acting is good with a very talented cast including Connery a lovely Dyan Cannon and a young Christopher Walken and excellent writing from Lawrence Sanders. A very entertaing suspenseful flick... On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it a 7

Suspenseful and ahead of its time, but pointless

[paul_tremblay · 6/10 · 6 October 1999]

What to say but that the point of the movie (your privacy is virtually non-existent, à la "Enemy of the State" and "The Conversation") seems to be wasted, that in spite of a breathless suspense to the end. The tapes made by different parties appear, in the scope of the film, to lose any kind of meaning or focus at the end (besides the fact that the robbery is compromised by ham radio and that Anderson is caught because of the basement tapes); the rest are wasted, physically, and narratively. The music, relevant to the time period, don't match the action most of the time.

I usually snob remake, but I wonder what kind of film one could make today, from this movie... That's probably why remake exist...

Above Average b/c Every Character is Below Average

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 7/10 · 14 November 2019]

It takes a lot of confidence to make a movie where every single character is pretty much an idiot, a scr3w-up or a full-on loser. In order to then avoid making a broad farce, it requires the writing, the acting, the directing - something - to be so well done that it remains believable and we maintain our interest. Lumet's camera work gets so close to his characters it's clear he's confident his actors can pull it off. And they do - Connery, Walken, Balsam, Cannon, King - they really shine. Various levels of police monitor, tape, investigate, and rush in like cavalry. But it's never clear whether they'll accomplish anything b/c they're so busy tripping over their own feet. I found the Third Act to be quite comical in this regard. It's quite clear from the very last scene what Lumet was trying to say about the surveillance state and police methods.

First rate Thriller!

[watmicky43 · 9/10 · 7 January 2007]

I saw this movie when it first came out and I was enthralled! Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, come on! I was 16 and It had everything a teen could want. The plot was excellent and well executed. I thought that the casting was outstanding and Martin Balsam out did himself as the gay appraisal expert, really camping it up and almost over the top. It was the first role I saw Garrett Morris in and he did not disappoint. I loved the sympathetic older ex-con, Pop, who just did not have the heart to go on with life. I could go on and on, believe me! Quincy Jones did an admirable job on the sound track of course, and the direction and pace was outstanding. I have since became a big fan of Sidney Lumet films and see them every chance I get. Christopher Walken was just breaking in his chops but gave a solid performance. I have to say the movie holds up just as well now as it did all of those years ago in the theater.

Interesting early 70's crime caper with Sean Connery...

[dwpollar · 7/10 · 6 October 2010]

1st watched 10/4/2010 -- 7 out of 10 (Dir-Sidney Lumet): Interesting early 70's crime caper with Sean Connery as a recently released burglar who doesn't give up his expertise and decides to take on robbing an entire apartment complex(where his girlfriend lives) as his next job. To accomplish the task, he assembles a team of misfits that provide some comic relief. At the same time, the cops are taping his every move(thus the Anderson Tapes) illegally--- but apparently they don't think he's been completely rehabilitated. His team includes Martin Balsam, playing a gay character realistically, an elderly man from his prison days, and Christopher Walken(in an early role) playing a young guy who does some of the minial tasks. The movie throws in strange sound effects anytime any kind of sound or image capture device is shown giving the viewer kind of an education into all of these things that are available and providing a kind of strange, trippy, psychedelic soundtrack(what the heck it was made in those days -- you know). The director, Sidney Lumet, plays it out at a slow pace, not unlike the way it might work in real life, and keeps your interest until the very end. The only down part of the movie, in my opinion, is there is no real connection between the tapes and any attempt to capture the robbers(it would be interesting to see how this was dealt with in the book). Another winner by an under-rated director with a group of very capable stars to carry out this unexpectedly well-done movie.

Ho-hum heist

[Lejink · 5/10 · 24 November 2011]

The late 60's and early 70's saw a spate of heist movies ("The Heist", "The Hot Rock", "How To Steal A Diamond") but this didn't strike me as being one of the best of them, despite Sidney Lumet directing and a toupee-less Sean Connery starring.

The gimmick to the story, as is made abundantly clear from the outset, is that released felon Connery's every move and utterance is being taped, not only by the authorities but also by the jealous sugar daddy of his call-girl lover Dyan Cannon, in the end thwarting his big-idea plan to clean out every flat in a luxury complex of their occupants' rich pickings.

The improbability of the story is its biggest stumbling block. Despite having mob connections you don't comprehend just why Connery merits such official attention which added to the coincidence of Cannon's surveillance too, stretches credulity way too far. In other ways a determinedly adult-oriented film, especially the scenes between Connery and Cannon in bed and the casual violence of the heist itself, it wants to be gritty and grown- up, at the same time attempting to be modern and clever with various showy directorial techniques (assorted flashbacks, stop-start sequencing), but in the end it all fails to gel and underachieves, with too many inconsequential scenes and thinly-drawn characterisations at its heart. The robbery itself attempts to impose some forced and unwelcome humour by highlighting the individual quirks of the intended victims which include a disabled computer whizz-kid, an ancient but feisty old woman and a warring couple but this just comes across as distasteful and glosses over the real horror and violation I'm sure any ordinary citizen would feel at the situation they endure.

The acting is mixed, Connery seemingly miscast as the "Limey" (he'd hate that) leader of the motley crew he gathers around him for the job, amongst whom only Martin Balsam as a way-too-far over-the-top homosexual and a young Christopher Walken as a savvy new-kid-on-the-block, shine. Dyan Cannon is wasted in an underwritten role and is mainly required, it seems, to be something for Connery to nuzzle up to.

No, not the greatest of caper films and not the strongest item in the careers of Messrs Lumet and Connery. I'm a keen student of early 70's contemporary thrillers and had high hopes for this movie, but like Connery's character's plans, it just never got off the ground.

Worthy of Watching on Many Levels, Especially for Christopher Walken's Film Debut

[musica_poetica · 9/10 · 14 May 2005]

Walken's 1971 debut film role was a major part that hooked me as a lifelong fan immediately, as The Kid, directed by Sidney Lumet in a gem adapted for the film from a great book of the same name by author Lawrence Sanders - "The Anderson Tapes". I'm not an avid reader, but I did read most of Sander's mystery novels, and would rate this as one of his best. It's worth mentioning that the only memorable quote from this movie on this web site is a Christopher Walken line! He brought an electrifying presence to the role with his trademark edginess akin to a cocked revolver.

The movie stars Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Alan King, and Martin Balsam (in a beautifully restrained role as a light-in-the-loafers antiques dealer). I'm sure viewers of this film following its release must have considered the addition to the cast by The Kid as a wonderful bonus. The locale of the film is NYC's Central Park perimeter, namely the high-priced real estate at the park's border.

Besides being a pre-PC (in both contexts of PC) satire of technology and man's inability to control its sometimes obvious sinister applications, it is also an ironic precursor to the "authorities'" myopic interpretation of gathered intelligence data, specifically the current federal administration's inability to "connect the dots" after receiving Richard Clark's distribution of the pre-9/11/2001 FBI memo detailing the intercepted intention of Arab terrorists to fly jumbo jets into skyscrapers and other federal buildings. Who would have (or should have) thought they might try to complete their failed 1993 attempt to bring down one of the WTC towers? On a lighter note Garrett Morris acted in this film with Walken, a full 4 years before his SNL run, site of some of Christopher Walken's most memorable gigs.

How often is the MacGuffin in the title???

[lesunra · 6/10 · 7 April 2023]

There's The Maltese Falcon and this. I'm not giving away too much with that. I'll just say The Anderson tapes themselves serve absolutely no purpose in this movie. Having all the surveillance (and Connery's title character Duke Anderson isn't even the intended target for the surveillance) serves only to pad out the film abd try to make it more interesting from a cinematic standpoint but it's still just a caper movie.

Without the tapes subplot and the odious Quincy Jones score, this movie would be better. It would be a fairly faithful throwback to 1940s Film Noir movies except modernized for the 70s. You sort of feel sorry for the crooks at times. That's what makes me think of John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle

Alan King is pretty good as the pseudo head of the crime family who finances the robbery at a price. Martin Balsam definitely plays against type in this as the decorator who cases the building they plan to rob. Christopher Walken makes his debut as an adult actor (used to be a child actor in the early 50s) as one of the robbers. Garrett Morris plays one of the cops. Ralph Meeker plays his superior. Character actor Val Avery plays one of the robbers and he is excellent in this but I've seen better work by Dyan Cannon, Sean Connery and Sidney Lumet elsewhere even if the score or title were better . Good to see once but not memorable.

Plain stupid

[pietclausen · 3/10 · 26 August 2020]

If you like Sean Connery, skip this film. Rated as an action, crime, thriller it is non of this. The movie is just plain stupid and makes no sense, not even as a comedy. Many people have given it a reasonable rating, but surely this was meant for the actors. Besides Connery there is Dyan Cannon and Martin Balsam in leading roles, but the end result is nothing but a farce.