![]() In a 2007 discussion at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law (while he was still in post) he said of Three Days of the Condor: “No” Houseman replies, “I miss that kind of clarity”.Ī further indication of just how accurate Three Days of the Condor was in portraying the mid-Cold War CIA comes via John Rizzo, the former General Counsel for the Agency. “You miss that kind of action?” his colleague asks. …At one moment in the film, a top level CIA official played by John Houseman, wearily attempting to unravel the mystery and confusion surrounding “Condor”, reminisces with a colleague about his work during the great war. By making the source of its menace a renegade operation within the CIA “Three Days of the Condor” very much addresses itself both to the headlines we’ve been reading and to growing public concern with accountability and control of secret government activities… This in-depth review is very positive and dwells on the political dimensions of the movie:īut besides a realistic atmosphere and a credible hero, this thriller absorbs us on a more immediate level. The third article in the CIA’s documents on Three Days of the Condor is review of the film in the Wall Street Journal some months after the pair of articles about Helms’ visit to the set. However, that the film was being produced at the same time as congressional investigations into the Agency and other intelligence services is a pertinent and provocative coincidence. This sort of doublespeak ‘we didn’t talk about the CIA’ versus ‘we cannot divulge what we discussed’ is quite predictable and even amusing, given that whatever they discussed it was only for a brief period. He did not engage in shoptalk, said Redford, just chatted generally about the film. He stepped over to ask whether “I was encountering as many difficulties as he had been experiencing lately” explained Robert Redford. Then embattled ex-CIA director Richard Helms threw caution to the wind. The tall man in the London-tailored suit and woolen muffler sipped his coffee and carefully observed the husky blonde in the pea jacket. A very similar article in Time (also from February 3rd 1975) uses a picture of Helms reflected in Redford’ sunglasses, noting that: Sadly it almost certainly wasn’t Arnon Milchan – the Mossad spy/producer who at one time was business partners with Pollack – as he didn’t get started in Hollywood until later. Who this mutual friend was is not clear but Helms did adopt a more positive approach to Hollywood than previous heads of the CIA so it could have been anyone from Jack Valenti to Jane Fonda. “At this point in time,” grinned Redford, “we are not at liberty to divulge the details.” No clues as to what the once and would-be spies discussed. ![]() Helms had accepted an invitation passed along by a mutual friend, to watch Redford film a scene in “Three Days of the Condor”. One of the CIA’s records is a brief article from Newsweek, including the original of the photo above. It was a movie, finally, and not any attempt on our part to do a definitive documentary. (Richard) Helms to come and watch the shooting for a day, which he did. We would have welcomed it, but we knew better than to try to pursue it actively in any way. M: Did you have any contact with the CIA while you were making THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR? The Invitation to Richard HelmsĪccording to an interview in Jump Cut, Pollack extended the invitation to Helms, who by that point was the US Ambassador to Iran. Statements from former CIA chief lawyer John Rizzo suggest that they may have been directly involved in the production. Though Helms had left the Agency, three documents from the CIA’s open source monitoring of media coverage show they were keeping an eye on developments. ![]() Helms went along for a day and acted as a consultant to Robert Redford, as depicted in this infamous picture. In February 1975 the director of conspiracy classic Three Days of the Condor Sidney Pollack invited Richard Helms, former head of the CIA, to visit the set while they were shooting in New York. ![]()
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