MovieChat Forums > Three Days of the Condor (1975) Discussion > The whole love interest scene.....

The whole love interest scene.....


......Made absolutely no sense. First off, he knew that someone was killing people heartlessly to get to him but yet he involves a complete stranger, a stranger who is a woman , who could end up dead also. Secondly within, I'm guessing, 12 hours he completely forgets about his girlfriend who was brutally murdered and decides to sleep with this stranger and this stranger decides that this man who kidnapped her Is hot enough to sleep with as well. It just seems so forced and out of place and didn't match the depth of the rest of the film.

reply

Completely agreed. That's my biggest problem with the movie. It seemed so contrived. I've no doubt that the studio insisted on this dumb love interest storyline.

reply

It's Robert Redford, when he tells a female to get naked, they do it no questions asked.

reply

lol yes

reply

He reads everything. Must have included the plot.

reply

It's a 70s movie, with a 70s arthouse sensibility, rather European in flavor & approach. With a sudden plunge into the madness of mass killings all around him, knowledge that his own organization is out to get him & that some very dark ops indeed are going on, plus a concurrent need for human warmth & connection as a result -- it makes sense for the times, believe me. Life was more nuanced & emotions were more sophisticated & fluid then. That was all part of the zeitgeist.

reply

This is what happens when men write female characters.
It was rape, btw. Sex under duress is rape.

reply

At one point Redford says to Dunaway:

Redford: Have I threatened you?...Have i raped you?
Dunaway: The night is young.

...and the audience laughs, idea being that Dunaway sounds like she doesn't mind the prospect.

Different times.

This business of the wrongly accused hero kidnapping a heroine against her will until he convinces her to believe him was used by Hitchcock twice: in The 39 Steps(1935) and Saboteur(1942.) In The 39 steps, the couple are handcuffed together.

reply

Yes, yes, it was rape, literally ALL male -> female sexual intercourse is rape. Now let's get you to your safe space, little twerp.

reply

Fuck off, incel

reply

It wasn't rape at all. She was very willing and happy about it all by that point. It was earlier that she was scared of him. Once he came back to her place from Sam's apartment she warmed up to him (ridiculously) quickly.

reply

When she didn't axk for her hands to be untied, that was his first clue. She was beggin' fer it.

reply

lol

reply

I have seen this so many times over the years that I can't even recall how early it was when i first saw it, but having said that...

i do vaguely recall thinking the same thing back when i first saw this film, that it was kinda implausible that they'd both forget their relationships (a few hours ago) and dive into a steamy session. so yeah, i get what you mean and i kinda agree.

i think after one sees a film many many times the elements in the film become a kindof 'canon' which stands on its own, impervious to criticism or adjustment because 'that's the way it happened' ...done deal, past tense. hence you start at some point suspending the what-if's and just accept the film 'the way it happened'

i think this ^ is why i see their affair as normal today, but saw it as implausible 30 years ago. make sense?

:)

reply

Before men go to war, they make love to their partners like jackrabbits.

Redford's character didn't have any children, and people were trying to kill him.

The instinctive need for a man to pass on their lineage (especially if they have not already done so)during times of mortal danger is part of the human condition.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that the scene could occur, of course it helps if you look like Robert Redford.

reply