5 Political Thrillers That Will Have You On The Edge Of Your Seat

Three Days Of The Condor (1975)

Based on the book Six Days Of The Condor by James Grady – published in 1974 – Three Days Of The Condor is directed by Sydney Pollack, from a script by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel. It takes a simple and unsettling premise, and leads us into a web of intrigue and murder that cuts right to the heart of the debate over the dependency of civilization on the production and sale of oil.

Joe Turner (Robert Redford) works as a CIA analyst in a secret office in New York City. Under the guise of being The American Literary Historical Society, Turner (codenamed ‘Condor’) and his colleagues examine all kinds of international print media, searching for signs of communications. One day, he leaves the office to collect lunches for the staff and, upon return, finds all of his co-workers shot dead.

What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse, as Turner begins to discover that his most recent report – about a little-known novel that received some notable translations – touched upon a secret plan to take over the oil fields of the Middle East. Under the auspice of the protection of national interests, the American intelligence community will eliminate any threat to the plan to secure oil resources for future generations. Co-starring Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow, Three Days Of The Condor was an early strike at the issue of oil dependency.