MovieChat Forums > The Anderson Tapes (1971) Discussion > How is Anderson Tapes different from oth...

How is Anderson Tapes different from other heist movies?


I wanted to latch onto another thread, but decided to start my own. There are a lot of remarks comparing THE ANDERSON TAPES to THE CONVERSATION and well done, they are both excellent films and indeed similar. I have also seen a lot of complaints that the tapes do not seem relevant. I believe the biggest impediment to appreciating this movie is that we may not have seen it in 1971, when it was released, (when I was in diapers). It is partly a heist movie, and it is partly about the golden age of electronic surveillance, but it is also largely about future shock. Anderson, gone for ten years, now needs to understand about the photo ID, bus station security cameras, and the fact that the mafia regards heists and robberies as "old hat" when compared with casinos and horseracing.
(If it is hard for Anderson, it is exponentially worse for Pops who has been inside since 1931, and thinks that the sensibly dressed women in the bus station look like whores).
The irony of the tapes is that even though Anderson is recorded or filmed wherever he goes, and Congress, the FBI,IRS,NYPD, and a private investigator all know about the heist, it is not their concern, so they ignore him. The technology, albeit sophisticated, is useless.
THE CONVERSATION on the other hand, makes a better statement about the dangers of information and surveillance, and it makes a wonderful statement about the time it was released as it was nestled snugly between the Watergate burglary and the consequential resignation.

He didn't get out of the cock-a-doody car!!!

reply

I wrote this in another thread but no one seemed to notice, so I'll say it again here -- the reason the surveillance material is in the film is because it was in the source novel. The novel is written completely as transcripts of secretly-recorded conversations and films. In other words, it is not a "regular" type of novel. The filmmakers merely tried to replicate this in the movie.

reply


Hi Pawn,
I confess I have not read the novel. Do you believe my views warrant some merit anyhow? I ask because your writing suggests someone perceptive, not to be smarmy.

He didn't get out of the cock-a-doody car!!!

reply