The Anderson Tapes

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.

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

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!).

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.

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.