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.

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.

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.

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 ****

Along the same lines as (but not quite as good as) "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three", this quirky heist drama manages to hold the attention and entertain despite some slow points and the unavoidable datedness of its trappings. Connery (revealing his natural pate after having donned toupees for his role as James Bond and other films) is a recently released convict who is barely out the door before he's planning his next caper. First stop is ex-girlfriend Cannon's luxury apartment where she is all too willing to give him everything she's got, both physical and material, even at the risk of losing her sugar daddy/john (Shull.) He decides to clean out the whole building of it's valuables with the assistance of various crime characters. He calls upon fellow ex-cons Walken (in his screen debut) and Gottlieb along with feminine antique dealer Balsam (in a outrageous, uncharacteristic performance!) and a couple of others. After careful preparation (and the aide of gangster King, in a showy part), the men go about stripping the building clean with varied resistance from it's motley band of tenants (several of whom were noted TV performers at the time and/or afterwards.) From the opening of the film, Connery is taped by all sorts of surveillance cameras and is revealed to be in the state of being recorded by any and all varieties of agencies and individuals for one reason or another. This gives the film an eerie "Big Brother" feel at times, even if the concept isn't always completely followed through upon. Many of these moments are punctuated by the innovative, but occasionally irritating musical sounds of composer Quincy Jones. This is a film that has more lurking beneath the surface than one expects from a heist thriller. It's filled with unexpected moments and irony and invites closer inspection of it's themes. However, it's also a rather downbeat affair and will likely not suit everyone's tastes. The biggest surprise is Balsam. A reliably normal character actor in multitudinous films, here he is a flaming, lascivious queen with a riotous wig (borrowed from the "Diamonds Are Forever" set?) and heavily mascara-ed eyelashes. He provides the bulk of the film's humor through his committed, yet outre performance. It takes some getting used to, but in the end, he has truly created a memorable persona. Cannon exists mainly to slough around in flimsy outfits and bed down with Connery. Meeker shows up near the end to give a bizarre, yet strangely entertaining performance as a police chief (though his approach doesn't always gel with the material.) "Saturday Night Live" fans will be stunned to find Morris in a straight part as a SWAT member. It's interesting to see where technology was in 1971 and to see the attitudes and preconceptions of what people thought gays were (Balsam is not the only one in the movie.) The film does make effective use of flashback and nonlinear storytelling. It's just lacking that one little spark to make it a classic in the same league as several others from this genre.