THE GOLDEN AGE OF SURVEILLANCE
Apr. 8th, 2009 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogOne of these men is Christopher Walken. Can you spot him?
Hint: he’s the one who isn’t Sean Connery or Stan Gottlieb.
That’s a still [via Cinebeats] from Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes, which is not only Walken’s first film role, but also a highly underrated film.
On the surface it’s a heist film (like Ocean’s 11, only they rob a New York apartment building, not a casino), but it’s also set against the backdrop of increased surveillance. Sean Connery gets out of jail after ten years to find he now has to contend with photo IDs and surveillance cameras in everyday life. Meanwhile, at least four different private and govt agencies are tapping the apartments and phones of half the people in the film, illegally in some cases, and yet none of them are aware of each other, and thus unable to realize that a heist is being planned right in front of them.
Sound familiar?
It’s amazing that this was not only made 38 years ago, but that it was released a full year before the Watergate story broke.
Anyway, I used to love watching this when I had it on CED videodisc 20 years ago. As heist films go, it’s pretty nifty, and while the gay characters are rather stereotypical, well it WAS 1971 – it was probably a brave move to put them in at all.
Highly recommended, if only to see Christopher Walken as a long-haired young criminal saying, “America, man! You know, it's so beautiful I wanta eat it!”
FUN FACT: Naturally, Hollywood is planning a remake, although the producer is working from the original Lawrence Sanders novel, not the screenplay of the first film. I am not optimistic, even if the surveillance angle is more relevant than ever.
Watch me,
This is dF
Hint: he’s the one who isn’t Sean Connery or Stan Gottlieb.
That’s a still [via Cinebeats] from Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes, which is not only Walken’s first film role, but also a highly underrated film.
On the surface it’s a heist film (like Ocean’s 11, only they rob a New York apartment building, not a casino), but it’s also set against the backdrop of increased surveillance. Sean Connery gets out of jail after ten years to find he now has to contend with photo IDs and surveillance cameras in everyday life. Meanwhile, at least four different private and govt agencies are tapping the apartments and phones of half the people in the film, illegally in some cases, and yet none of them are aware of each other, and thus unable to realize that a heist is being planned right in front of them.
Sound familiar?
It’s amazing that this was not only made 38 years ago, but that it was released a full year before the Watergate story broke.
Anyway, I used to love watching this when I had it on CED videodisc 20 years ago. As heist films go, it’s pretty nifty, and while the gay characters are rather stereotypical, well it WAS 1971 – it was probably a brave move to put them in at all.
Highly recommended, if only to see Christopher Walken as a long-haired young criminal saying, “America, man! You know, it's so beautiful I wanta eat it!”
FUN FACT: Naturally, Hollywood is planning a remake, although the producer is working from the original Lawrence Sanders novel, not the screenplay of the first film. I am not optimistic, even if the surveillance angle is more relevant than ever.
Watch me,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2009-04-08 03:49 am (UTC)Lumet's put out a film just last year! BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD.
It was terrific; he's still got it. I just wish it was catching... Hollywood could use some of it.
-- JF
no subject
on 2009-04-08 10:41 am (UTC)It's funny how Lumet gets overlooked in the Favorite Directors memes because his style is intentionally non-arty so you barely notice he's there. And yet he's the guy who gave us some of the greatest 70s movies ever: Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico and (the ultimate achievement that every director wish they had on their resume) Network.
no subject
on 2009-04-08 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-08 03:12 pm (UTC)