MovieChat Forums > Three Days of the Condor (1975) Discussion > The languages plot device.

The languages plot device.

posted 7 years ago by MNRebecca (762)
4 replies | jump to latest

I don't understand the initial equilibrium disrupter. How was Condor's observation about the languages of the mystery novel a threat to Addison's plan?

1. The mystery novel was actually the blueprint of Addison's plan that Addison had translated into the necessary odd assortment of languages so it could be read by all international free-lance agents involved in his plot to overthrow and capture oil fields. This is supported by Condor's final realization of the significance of the languages…"Oh! Those are all the people you would need to communicate with to capture Venezuelan oil fields!"…but what a dumbass approach to communicating with co-conspirators!

2. Condor's question about the odd assortment of languages brought the mystery novel plot to the CIA's attention, threatening Addison's plan that coincidentally mirrored the mystery novel plot. But wouldn't the plot have come to the CIA's attention anyway, just through the work of the ALHS, without Condor noticing the odd assortment of languages it had been translated into? And what good did it do to kill anybody now? The secret was out of the bag, wasn't it? Only move now - shut down the rogue operation?

3. Other?

[–] KutWrite (1220) 4 years ago

I had a problem with that from the first time I saw it in a theater.

I decided to let it pass. The author needed a device to get unsuspecting nerds inside the CIA to be in danger so he invented this one. I couldn't think of a better one, so I just sat back and enjoyed everything else.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

It's pretty far fetched, yeah. What a goofy way to communicate a conspiracy, and really vulnerable to being found out. I just went with it, though, since there were a lot of things to like about the movie.

[–] Druff (1469) 8 months ago

I don't think it was that literal, that complete A to Z plans were being outlined in the plots of books. The books were being used to send messages in code. Atwood (Addison?) freaked out simply because his sub-network had drawn the attention of a CIA dept that wasn't in on the secret, wasn't part of the conspiracy.

It is kinda stupid, it's a clumsy leftover from something they changed when they adapted the source material. In the original novel, the CIA was using books to smuggle heroin. Physically, inside the books. Which in itself is also pretty dumb.

It absolutely doesn't matter though, it's a macguffin. The lowly bookworm researcher accidentally discovered [A SECRET] and blabbed to everyone in his office about it, so they all had to get crossed off a hit list.

[–] Annkat (190) 6 months ago

1) They actually do use media to communicate. If 99% of the audience doesn't know the media has codes or even that there are codes, it is as good as any other method of passing messages.

2) CIA controls American media. It is their show. The problem seemed to be that someone was doing their own thing and Condor stumbled onto it.