The Anderson Tapes

Beautifully made caper film by one of the best in his prime, Sydney Lumet. The pacing and balance may be the true art of the film. Premise is a bit far fetched: recently released con (Sean Connery) plans extravagant heist of entire Manhattan apartment building using mob financing. The hitch is that most everywhere he goes during his planning, electronic surveillance follows from varied and sundry sources.

A young Chris Walken heads a superb support group including Dyan Cannon. Martin Balsam is absolutely spectacular as the femme antique dealer.

Slightly dated, but never tired, the story progresses like a time bomb countdown.

Often imitated, rarely duplicated.

... 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 "

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.

The Anderson Tapes was made in 1971 and feels like it was made in 1971. Unlike, say, Zardoz (another underrated Connery '70's classic), this doesn't mean that the cast all resemble slightly cleaner hippies. Instead, it is the level of technological innovation that is stuck two years before I was born. That said, this is a good movie. The performances are all fine, and while some situations are laughable, not all are. I will say this against it, though; Christopher Walken, as "The Kid", is supposedly a safecracking and lockpicking expert. What he actually does is blow stuff up. Some expert! My cousin Timmy likes to put firecrackers in tin cans and blow them up. Does that make him a safecracking and demolition expert?

Quincy Jones' score, which often pops up in all of the wrong places, is inadvertently hilarious (and also quite funky!).

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.