dougdoepke
Connery's a long way from his glamorous, toupee-wearing, Bond role. But it's his strong presence that holds this crowded caper film together. The first part is pretty hard to follow. There's constant switching back and forth between assembling the gang and the many illegal surveillance set-ups by apparent law-enforcement agencies. Ironically, the agencies never catch on to the unfolding criminal plan they're eavesdropping on. Instead, they're surveilling the mob who's financing the heist.The heist itself is a nail-biter as the gang loots an upscale apartment building, while the cops try a little mountain climbing in order to trap them inside. What seems so unusual and realistic is how chaotic things become once the two encounter each other. It's like a medieval melee.Dyan Cannon gets a featured role as a silken mistress, while Martin Balsam minces along in stereotypical fashion as a gay art dealer and fence for the gang's stolen articles. Actually, I think the movie is one of the first to underscore the widespread use of hidden cameras to spy on people, a growing menace in our contemporary world. In my book, the best heist films are those with some sympathetic characters. Maybe working stiffs combining their individual skillls, like The Killing (1956), to make one big haul. That way the audience is torn between the characters and the law. Here, Pop and the kid are definitely sympathetic, while Haskins (Balsam) is lending his expertise. Anderson (Connery) is too tough and savvy to be sympathetic, but we respect him because he knows the score, as he spells out in a long denunciation of corrupt society. This means the robbers are not just robbers, but human beings, as well.Anyway, I understand this is Connery's favorite movie, maybe because it's so un-Bond-like, including the ending. As a heist film, it's certainly different, with several fairly memorable parts.
mark.waltz
When safecracker Sean Connery is let out of prison, he doesn't waste time; He begins planning a sure-fire way to make a quick fortune, and that includes using his old girlfriend (Dyan Cannon) to get access to her upper east side Manhattan apartment to rob the safes of the wealthy residents. What seemed like an easy robbery ends up like "Dog Day Afternoon" only with a private residence rather than a bank. What made that 1975 film so riveting was the subject matter behind the robbery (and the fact that it was a real-life crime) and the personal drama of the actual thieves. Here, the people are just greedy, and it is obvious how it will all play out.Poor Dyan Cannon has really no purpose here other than being a box office name, and she (like Elliot Gould) was terribly over-exposed after "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" with some less than memorable movies. The presence of some familiar character actors (Conrad Bain, Margaret Hamilton, Judith Lowry) and some humorous moments (Lowry, like she did on the TV series "Phyllis", has truly hysterical lines, especially one where she reveals a little secret about roommate Hamilton's reading material.) but little else to praise. A stereotypical early 70's gay character may raise eyebrows in this era of political correctness in movie and TV characterizations of homosexuals, but it is interesting to see that the gay character and Sean Connery have a truly affectionate camaraderie. A dumb Tor Johnson like brute (named "Socks") is added to give the thieves someone other than the gay character to make fun of and really adds no point other than "variety is the spice of life" when you want to do a home invasion.
ferbs54
Well can I remember the anticipation we all felt while awaiting the return of Sean Connery to the world of Bond, back in 1971. And, after a four-year, one-picture lacuna, Connery finally did return to play 007 in that year's "Diamonds Are Forever." Released in December, the film ultimately became the 5th highest earner of 1971, raking in almost $20 million domestically (pretty good, for those days!). But while the world anxiously awaited the return of Connery to Bondom, everybody's favorite Scotsman, as if to ease the tension, appeared in the Sidney Lumet picture "The Anderson Tapes," which came out in June of that year. Somehow, despite my love of all things Sean back when, it has taken me a full 41 years to catch up with this heist thriller, and a recent DVD perusal has served to demonstrate what a fun afternoon at the movies I missed way back when.In the film, Connery plays a safecracker named "Duke" Anderson, who, when we first encounter him, is being released from prison after a 10-year stretch. Duke wastes little time getting back together with his old gal pal Ingrid Everleigh, played by Dyan Cannon, riding high at the time after being Oscar nominated for her role in "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice." "I haven't been laid in 10 years," Duke tells his more-than-willing ex, whose last name, appropriately enough, is pronounced "ever lay." Duke soon hatches a scheme to burgle not just one or two apartments is Ingrid's posh building at 1 E. 91st St., right off Fifth Avenue and Central Park, but the entire building! Backed with Mob money, he hastily puts together a team, unaware that practically every single member of that team is being covertly spied on by various police or government agencies. And thus, as Duke and his cronies pull up their Mayflower van to the building, the viewer must wonder "Does this plan have a chance in hell of success?"I must admit that my initial viewing of "The Anderson Tapes" left me a trifle disappointed. It was not nearly as action packed as I had been expecting, and its middle, heist-planning third seemed to drag a bit. A repeat viewing served to change my opinion, however, as I picked up on all sorts of little business that I had somehow missed the first time around. While it is true that the final third of the film, the actual heist, remains fairly thrilling, the operation's planning stages, and the discreet surveillance that accompanies the planning, are quite fascinating, as it turns out. In the film, surveillance cameras, wiretaps and various bugs seem to be ubiquitous! There are cameras in Duke's prison, in a bus terminal, in the apartment complex and elevator; Ingrid's apartment is being tapped by her jealous part-time lover; the Mob boss who is backing Duke (an excellent, cast-against-type performance by stand-up comedian Alan King) has his car bugged, while an aged nurse spies on his capo dad and his waiter carries a wire; a surveillance team watches one of Duke's gang members, Spencer, a suspected Black Panther; and another surveillance team from the Narcotics Dept. observes another gang member, "The Kid" (played by Christopher Walken, in one of his first films). As I write these words, it is estimated that in NYC, there are 4,313 cameras in the subway system alone; in 2005, the New York Civil Liberties Union counted 4,176 security cameras below 14th St., an area roughly 1/6 the size of Manhattan! Truly, it would seem that Lumet's film--and the 1970 novel by Lawrence Sanders on which it is based--was more than prescient in this area. Ironically, however, Duke's plans come to woe NOT because of all the spying that inadvertently has him as its locus, but because of the actions of an asthmatic, paraplegic little boy; but perhaps I've already said too much. The bottom line is that the film sends a mixed message at best regarding the efficacy of government surveillance, and ultimately we are left unsure whether we are supposed to worry about those hidden eyes and ears or merely scoff.Besides the great players already mentioned, "The Anderson Tapes" features, in its truly marvelous cast, Martin Balsam as a gay antiques dealer, and yet another member of Duke's gang who is being spied on; Ralph Meeker as an amusingly tough police captain; the great character actor Val Avery as a Mob sociopath; future "SNL" alumnus Garrett Morris as a cucumber-cool police sergeant; Conrad Bain, who would soon become a TV fixture via "Maude" and "Diff'rent Strokes," as one of Duke's victims; and former pinup model and sexpot actress Meg Miles (ever see her in "Satan in High Heels"?) and former Wicked Witch of the West Margaret Hamilton (here in her final film appearance) as two more apartment victims. Lumet's direction makes for a tense and at times exciting experience; he had formerly worked with Connery on 1965's "The Hill" and would go on to direct Sean in the British films "The Offence" and "Murder on the Orient Express," as well as, years later, "Family Business." An intriguing, outre jazz score for the film was provided by composer Quincy Jones, and though at times it comes off as almost non sequitur, it IS an interesting one, nonetheless. Still, the main selling point of this film has to be Sean Connery, who is terrific here, as usual. Moving like a panther, handsome as can be, effortlessly tough and yet withal likable, he makes us root for Duke, while we wonder at the same time how his cockamamy scheme to rob an entire apartment building in broad daylight can ever hope to succeed. Truly, even a licensed British superagent would have had a tough time with a mission like this!
paulannguise
This movie gets off to a great and unusual start and moves along at a good pace keeping the viewer well absorbed in the plot, Connery (Anderson), as always delivers, no one else really stands out in the film , Martin Balsam (Haskins), is good early on, but fades away, Dyan Cannon (Ingrid), is very sexy, but not much else! Anderson, using mob money sets about building his team, but not always from his choice. It's generally a good watch, but just as the action 'hots up' it all goes very cool, the final 15 minutes are almost pointless and kill the movie dead - such a shame - an opportunity missed! Not something you would say too often about a Director like Lumet!
