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The Anderson Tapes (1971) More at IMDbPro »

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33 comments in total

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16 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
The Man Who Was There! As weird as realism can get., 7 August 2003
Author: manuel-pestalozzi from Zurich, Switzerland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Forget about the tapes and the surveillance business, they are not the main issue here. At best they are used as a smoke screen to hide the real purpose of this movie: To show us what extents human stupidity can reach.

For Sidney Lumet this must have been the dress rehearsal for the more famous Dog Day Afternoon. Most of it is shot in a realistic style. But there is more to it, the absurdity of it all is pushed much further and converts realism into surrealism. This is the story of Anderson, a guy who gets out of prison after having served a long spell behind bars. Before he leaves he makes a short speech in which he declaims his philosophy. The essence of it: Everybody steals and therefore everybody has a right to steal. He steps into freedom, gets directly to his former lover's elegant apartment house off Central Park, looks around a bit and instantly makes the big decision concerning his future life: He will burglarise all apartments in this house in one big sweep and live on what the fence will pay him for the loot for the rest of his life.

Anderson seems to be a direct descendant of the Coen Brother's Ed Crane in The Man Who Wasn't There. And Sean Connery gives a performance as convincing as Billy Bob Thornton. Anderson made a decision - period. He will bear all the consequences, however bloody they will get. And, funny enough, there are people who think the idiotic scheme might be a success. Anderson has authority and leader qualities; he gets financial backing from an oddball son of a big time mobster and can form a team of more oddballs for the burglary (including a very young Christopher Walken). So eventually Anderson drives up to the apartment house with a huge removal truck (remember: this is not filmed in the style of a comedy!).

I do not want to give away the whole story. Only this much: The viewer sees people on both sides of the law engaged in heavy duty physical exertion. You can laugh and at the same time feel sorry for the poor fellows. The whole enterprise ends in utter disaster for the burglars. Towards the end of the story there is much police present on the street around the apartment house. You can observe ambulance personnel relaxedly unfolding bed linen for their stretchers in front of the Guggenheim. Then some of the gangsters try to make a getaway in a car. The engine roars and the car crashes and overturns after a few yards. This is all filmed very undramatically from a distance, in a matter of fact way, without musical soundtrack. It could almost be a documentary.

The low key style of the movie heightens the absurdity of the story, strengthens the message and make The Anderson Tapes a memorable experience. There is a very good electronic musical score by Quincy Jones which to my ears still sounds modern, funky and futuristic.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrific caper movie. Extremely underrated!, 11 November 2002
Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia

It's taken me a while to track down a copy of 'The Anderson Tapes', but I'm sure glad I did. I was knocked out by this consistently interesting caper movie. Sean Connery, post-Bond, pre-Zardoz, plays Duke Anderson, a recently released criminal who decides to rob the luxury apartment block his high class hooker girlfriend (Dyan Cannon) resides in. He assembles a team which includes "The Kid" (an unbelievably young and cool Christopher Walken in his first major movie role), his flamboyant art loving buddy Tommy ('Psycho's Martin Balsam camping it up outrageously), the super cool Everson (Garrett Morris), and (against his will) Mafia goon Socks (Val Avery). Duke however doesn't realize that he, and just about everyone else involved in the plan, are under surveillance by a multitude of government agencies who are following their every move. 'The Anderson Tapes' is an entertaining and tough little thriller full of humour and originality, and with an almost 'Conversation'-like feel to it - a movie it predated by three years incidentally. While nowhere near as well known as Sidney Lumet's other Seventies crime dramas 'Serpico' and 'Dog Day Afternoon' it is equally as good. An extremely underrated movie that deserves a lot more attention.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film that sometimes may get overlooked., 4 April 1999
Author: Doctor_Bombay from Lucas Buck, NC

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.

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14 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
I Couldn't Believe The TV Guides ..., 14 September 2004

Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland

... Gave THE ANDERSON TAPES a bad write up . Seriously this was a very well regarded heist movie when it was released but for some reason when it was broadcast very late on Channel 4 the other night all the TV guides said Sean Connery was wasting his time appearing in this turkey . I know Connery has appeared in more turkeys than reusuable stuffing but THE ANDERSON TAPES isn't one of them . It might not be classic Connery like THE HILL but as entertainment it more than succeeds

I can't help thinking that the TV guide critics are somewhat underwhelmed by certain stereotypical aspects of the movie . Take for example the getaway driver who is black . There seems to have been an attitude in the early 70s that white men can't drive , see also DIRTY HARRY . But I think it's homosexuality rather than race that upsets some TV guide critics . Oh come on chaps , it's a fun thriller not some Derek Jarman art house ego trip and lines like :

" Describe him ? Fifty . Slightly podgy . Fag "

and

" Do as your told and my man will keep his weapon in his pants "

" I'll be the judge of that "

are actually amusing in a mainstream way . It might be politically correct to laugh at these things nowadays but at the time of the original caused a wry smile .

And we get to see a very early performance by Christopher Walken before he became known as " Dead Career Ham Walken "

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
1 East 91 Street, 16 May 2007

Author: jotix100 from New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"The Anderson Tapes", directed by Sidney Lumet, showed up recently on cable. Having read the Lawrence Sanders novel years ago, we basically didn't have a clear recollection of the action. As adapted by Frank Pierson, the film shows Mr. Lumet at what he does best. Totally filmed in New York, it offers a glimpse at the way the city looked during those days.

The only thing that doesn't seem to work with the film is the way the electronic surveillance shows what Duke Anderson and the crew he puts together were about to do, at all times. Why the eavesdropping is going on all the time is only explained at the end of the film, something that doesn't make much sense because the ones doing the spying are completely aware of what Anderson is going to attempt all along the movie.

Sean Connery makes a wonderful Duke Anderson. He works well under Mr. Lumet's direction; he keeps the film going as the man with the plan for a caper that will help him retire from the business of being a thief. Dyan Cannon plays Mr. Connery's affections. She is the one who is the key for the gang to access the posh building. Christopher Walken made his film debut and it's hard to recognize him when he first appears. Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker ant the rest of the cast made valuable contributions to the film.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
It's in the title, 21 March 2003
Author: Anaximenes from Tennessee

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There is a reason that the title is "The Anderson Tapes." Some of the reviews that I read here on IMDB seem to miss the point. Spoiler coming up.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!! It's irony. Throughout the movie, there are all of these government and even private agencies and people recording and taking pictures of Anderson's entire plot. They have his confessions, his helpers, the location, etc. But none of the agencies are working together. So, they have all of this dope on him and they aren't even interested in him. However, as we watch we KNOW that they are nailing his coffin and that at some point, he is going down hard and right back to a prison cell. The beauty of the tapes is that in the end, because Anderson goes through with this elaborate robbery, all of the agencies have to erase these tapes, flushing all of the evidence against Anderson that would sink him big time. In the end, therefore, all of Anderson's helpers are dead and he's the only one who gets to tell a story. He wore a mask during the caper, so in order to convict him of doing anything, the law is going to have a difficult time. If only they had all of those tapes, videos, and pictures! A twist is that there still seem to be tapes made by Dyan's boyfriend, but he already said that he doesn't care if Anderson robs the joint. But the cops saw the recorded and listened via it to hear Anderson panting in the room. But they have no idea that Anderson was living there or that the boyfriend has tapes of the entire caper planning by Anderson. So, the cops miss these tapes too. There's more to it than this, but that's a start.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Well-played nonsense..., 31 March 2008

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Engaging heist flick from Lawrence Sanders' novel has recently-paroled master thief Sean Connery plotting one last job: robbing the residents of an entire New York apartment house! Some of the sideline plots--such as Connery's relationship with prostitute Dyan Cannon--don't add up to much and a few of the story details, like the title-named tapes, never come to fruition. However, the character writing by Frank Pierson is 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, though the film's tone grows suddenly serious near the finish, which may leave many viewers feeling conned. Sean's camaraderie with his old cronies is wonderfully handled by director Sidney Lumet, though Cannon (the token female) gets left out of the mix. Writer Pierson and Lumet later teamed for "Dog Day Afternoon", which this film resembles in style and content. **1/2 from ****

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Wicked prescient commentary on our surveillance culture, 3 July 2005
Author: mkham6 from RI

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I thought this was quite the brilliant movie, with the essential amorality of various police agencies vividly displayed. They all are listening and recording every word, but each care only about their own little bailiwick, non of which includes John Anderson. More so, almost, they care about nothing, and realize the essential meaningless and futility of their lives, as they live their lives secondhand by eavesdropping on bad guys whose crimes and threats are never revealed. In the end, they realize that all their actions are illegal and destroy all their tapes and evidence of this caper.

The genius Sydney Lumet parlayed this clever irony into an obsession with police corruption: Serpico, Prince of the City, Q & A, etc., where he explored the continual lure of the greed and power on cops. He was about the only director to explore this common corruption until the scathing Training Day and The Shield. The Anderson Tapes presage the era of omnipresent taping, where much of any person's external life is videotaped without their knowledge and permission by so-called security cameras. London has over a million cameras on street corners intersections, stores, and US cities are copying that. In this movie, we are brought back to the "quaint" world of yesteryear where government agencies understood that these privacy violations are wrong.

Sean Connery is, as usual in his non-Bond, films, superb. His gritty hood exhibits the macho authenticity and believability he brings to every film (only maybe Denzel does the same), and the supporting cast is excellent too. While not at all a comedy, there is a definite tongue in cheek aspect here in the blindness and moral ambiguity of the many police and spy agencies monitoring the heist- all in vain.

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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Fast paced entertainment..., 13 September 2003
Author: pljewkes from Boston, MA

Sean Connery stars in director Sidney Lumet's fast paced thriller centering on the burglary of a swank NYC apartment house. The gimmick being that the would be robbers, along with every move they make, are being recorded by the government. This explains the overuse of reel to reel sound effects.

Connery is good as a third rate hood and Alan King makes one of his sporadic film appearances as a mafiosa, which is pretty much all he ever plays, but he's good at it so why mess with it. Dyan Cannon is in it too...she asks Connery to "ball." It is 1970!

Christopher Walken, Garrett Morris, and a particularly swishy Martin Balsam also star.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
First rate Thriller!, 7 January 2007

Author: watmicky43 from United States

I saw this movie when it first came out and I was enthralled! Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, come on! I was 16 and It had everything a teen could want. The plot was excellent and well executed. I thought that the casting was outstanding and Martin Balsam out did himself as the gay appraisal expert, really camping it up and almost over the top. It was the first role I saw Garrett Morris in and he did not disappoint. I loved the sympathetic older ex-con, Pop, who just did not have the heart to go on with life. I could go on and on, believe me! Quincy Jones did an admirable job on the sound track of course, and the direction and pace was outstanding. I have since became a big fan of Sidney Lumet films and see them every chance I get. Christopher Walken was just breaking in his chops but gave a solid performance. I have to say the movie holds up just as well now as it did all of those years ago in the theater.

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