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The Great Max Von Sydow Character SPOILERS

posted 3 years ago by ecarle (14979)
18 replies | jump to latest

As far as I know, Max Von Sydow became a known star in the late fifties thanks to his work in the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman ..with The Seventh Seal leading things off.

But this was "art house stardom" -- Von Sydow stayed below the radar of mass American audiences even as he was "brought along" in such major 1960s American films as The Greatest Story Ever Told (where he played Jesus) and Hawaii with Julie Andrews.

Von Sydow was very tall, very blond, very Nordic, with a Swedish accent that at once made him sound severe and kind of suave.

But he was rather colorless. There is a 1970 spy thriller called The Kremlin Letter where Von Sydow is the evil Russian villain, but EVERYBODY all around him in the male roles are more charismatic -- Richard Boone, Orson Welles, George Sanders, Nigel Green.

Then -- in 1973 -- it all changed for Von Sydow. He found himself in a blockbuster: The Exorcist. And maybe he had the title role(or did the other priest , Jason Miller?; its like who WAS The Godfather...Brando or Pacino?)

So by 1975, Max Von Sydow was...a very big star. Or at least a very big character actor. And he landed a major role in a major thriller: Three Days of the Condor.

Von Sydow is billed fourth above the title, after leading man Robert Redford, leading lady Faye Dunaway, Best Actor Winner Cliff Robertson.

...and he rather steals the movie. "De-aged" from his Exorcist role and looking his more middle-aged self, Von Sydow is tall(as usual), cold and mild-mannered(as usual), but....interestingly dangerous. He's a professional international hitman named Joubert(a French name for a Swedish actor?) who uses a small team to machine-gun to death 7 "innocent" CIA employees(men and women both) in a cover office in NYC...while Redford is conveniently out to lunch having used a back door to exit.

In this early "office slaughter scene"(sadly indicative of live shooter situations today), Von Sydow personally kills no one, but leads the assault and - using his calm, quiet, rather sad voice -- even convinces one attractive young woman to "move away from the window, please" -- so she can be shot without witnesses. WHY do these victims cooperate? Well, Von Sydow is so reassuring an authority figure.

For the duration of Condor, Von Sydow is "the villain" (even as there are others, both hidden and open) -- a hit man out to make good on a contract which, frankly, he screwed up: Redford wasn't supposed to get away. Von Sydow agrees not to charge for Redford's murder and takes on an auxillary killing later on for free "to apologize." What a fair businessman!

Redford is our lead, and he has scenes with Faye Dunaway(he kidnaps her to her apartment but eventually becomes her one-night lover) and Cliff Robertson (a "good" CIA man who might or might not help Redford), and assorted others...including one "near miss" in an elevator cornered by the quiet Von Sydow.

But come the final 20 minutes of the film, Von Sydow takes it over -- and establishes his great character and a theme for the movie itself..

Redford has cornered the renegade CIA man Atwood (white haired and elegant looking) late at night in the living room of his Chevy Chase home. Redford has a gun on the man and is seeking information about his leadership of the plot which led to the murder of the 7 people.

The man won't talk -- and then he will. Smiling. Because Max Von Sydow has entered and has a gun on Redford.

It would seem that it is all over for our star. "Put your gun down," Von Sydow commands and AGAIN the victim cooperates. (Why?)

And then Von Sydow kills the BAD GUY and announces that he has no interest in killing Redford anymore. The contract has been switched. Von Sydow has been re-hired by the CIA to kill the renegade Atwood.

Redford: But what about me?
Von Sydow: Oh, (the CIA) didn't know you'd be here. I knew you'd be here.

But Von Sydow no longer has to kill Redford at all. Just like that. Then this exchange:

Redford: Why is this happening?
Von Sydow: I'm never interested in why. Usually when. Sometimes where. Always: how much.

Its a great conceit. Von Sydow, the "evil villain" has killed 7 people -- including the pretty young woman with whom Redford seemed to have maybe a relationship with. He has killed other people. He has just killed Atwood.

...and he will walk out of the movie Scot free. Neither killed nor arrested nor incarcerated nor punished in any other way.

And his personality changes "just like that." He offers Redford a lift to the DC airport for a return flight to NYC. He gives Redford a gun to protect himself from future danger.

And he predicts that future danger. "You have not much future(there)," Von Sydow tells Redford. And then he gets two great speeches:

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

The two great speeches:

Joe Turner(Redford): I'd like to go back to New York.
Joubert(Von Sydow): You have not much future there. It will happen this way. You may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know, maybe even trust, will get out of the car. And he will smile, a becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift.

And then about his line of work as a professional international assassin.

Joubert: Well, the fact is, what I do is not a bad occupation. Someone is always willing to pay.
Joe Turner: I would find it... tiring.
Joubert: Oh, no - it's quite restful. It's almost peaceful. No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause. There's only yourself. The belief is in your own precision.

---

These words really cannot be done justice "on the page." Its how calmly and warmly Von Sydow says them, how quietly -- with a great accent. And the melancholy music that accompanies them...in the early morning chill of a December day outside the home of the CIA renegade Joubert has just killed.

And Joubert walks...

"Three Days of the Condor" director Sydney Pollock said in an interview that he rather actually identified with Von Sydow's Joubert more than anyone else in the picture. The idea of not taking sides, or even believing in sides. Rather appealed to Pollock's own sense of cynicism. In this way, Von Sydow's Joubert connects to a Robert Redford character in ANOTHER Pollock film -- the one right before Condor: The Way We Were, in which Redford's cynical neutrality is pitted against Barbra Streisand's strident activism.

Anyway, only in the 70's, huh? Von Sydow's character is a mass murderer who comes off as the coolest, most sensible guy in the movie other than the hero, and he gets away.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

PS. Von Sydow's "It will happen this way" speech was spoofed on Seinfeld(with regard to the US Postal Service) and in Condor itself, is referenced twice:

ONE: When Von Sydow himself offers Redford a lift(which Redford accepts) and

TWO: When CIA man Cliff Robertson makes a similar pitch in the final scene of the film.

[–] ccr1633 (1411) 3 years ago

More great film analysis from you ecarle. It's always a pleasure reading your viewpoints on the classics.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Thank you!

[–] ccr1633 (1411) 3 years ago

I keep thinking, "What if Joubert gave up the assassination racket and went straight?" Then I see Fredrick from Hannah and Her Sisters.

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

I keep thinking, "What if Joubert gave up the assassination racket and went straight?" Then I see Fredrick from Hannah and Her Sisters.

--

Hey...he decided to stay in New York City!

The movies are 11 years apart, but Von Sydow is rather the same in each. Just much less likeable in Hannah.

I love his line to his young girlfriend, uttered in disgust: "I watched professional wrestling on TV tonight while you were gone. Can you imagine the mentality of people who like wrestling?"

Some guy made a documentary on professional wrestling and got Woody Allen's permission to use that clip to open the doc. I figure Von Sydow was speaking FOR Woody.

Anyway, great idea for where he ended up!

[–] ccr1633 (1411) 2 years ago

"Hey...he decided to stay in New York City!"

Let's do Joe Turner next. So disillusioned he was with the corruption and rot he experienced first hand in the world of intellectual elites and government spooks, perhaps he changed his name to Sonny and moved down south to become a champion rodeo rider?

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

Let's do Joe Turner next. So disillusioned he was with the corruption and rot he experienced first hand in the world of intellectual elites and government spooks, perhaps he changed his name to Sonny and moved down south to become a champion rodeo rider?

---

Ha. I missed this character prediction(I caught your one about Von Sydow in Woody's later film.)

Its a funny idea that Joe Turner might "hide out" in simpler world of the west, complete with a big moustache(shades of The Sundance Kid) and a cowboy hat to hide in.

The Electric Horseman, like Three Days of the Condor, was directed by Redford's pal Sydney Pollack, and so there is more "connection" to Condor than you might think. Some of it is the expensive slick style of both films -- Panavision wide screen, plush cinematography, a major female star opposite Redford(here, Jane Fonda) -- is the musical composer for both films the same? I think so -- and music gives a movie its character.

But this: both Joe Turner and Sonny are "men apart" from society and in somewhat quiet rebellion -- against their Big Government and Big Corporate employers. Audiences identified with that, and the women on screen and in the audience fell for it just in pure terms of Redford's cool 70's sex appeal.

PS. Willie Nelson gives Redford fun "wise older guy" support in this, and his final l line in the movie is surprising, funny and "NSFW."

[–] bsantosu (155) 2 years ago

There is also something chilling about how he switches the outside lights off, on, and off again. I don't know why I feel that way about it.

[–] buzzlightbeer (1812) a year ago

you mean at atwood's house?

[–] Annkat (177) 8 months ago

I have this feeling that the company will make it so hard for Joe to make a living, that he will probably end up working with Joubert in some way. A mercenary career is the only road for him.

[–] LTUM (969) 7 months ago

interesting idea. hmmm.

i gotta say, i DO wonder strongly what happens to turner after the credits. that chilling freeze-frame of him turning and looking back as he walks beside the carolers.... that is an awesome shot and a great bookend for the whole movie. (of course, blended so perfectly with that epic smooth jazz score. just wow!)

i do. i wonder what happened to turner after. ....and it's THIS kind of thing that (imo) makes for a really great movie vibe leaving the theater. i think the viewer should get a strong desire to see how the movie CONTINUES on after the credits. and that's t he vibe i catch every time i see that final shot in 3 days of the condor.

i believe Grady wrote a sequel. actually, i thin it was a short series, 3 or 4 novels altogether. but for me, i don't want to know anything about those other books. i can't take a chance on them diminishing the awesomeness of the first story. (originally set in DC but moved to NYC by redford)

additionally, i catch a similar vibe at the end of the bourne identity (which ironically is also about a former spy running from the cia). and the same sentiment about the sequels applies to the bourne movies, too; i think they messed up the vibe from the first film. (not solely because of but ALSO LARGELY DUE TO paul greengrass and his lousy/lazy ass use of shakicam)

so, yeah, i wonder where turner went. what doe she do now? how long will he last? does the times publish the story? WHAT A CLIFFHANGER!!! great ending.

cheers.

[–] jokul (5) 2 years ago

Three Days of the Condor is one of my favorite films, in large part because of Max Von Sydow. I also seem to have an affection for movies set during winter. The scene with Condor and Joubert outside after the Atwwod killing is my favorite. So calm and cold.

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

Three Days of the Condor is one of my favorite films, in large part because of Max Von Sydow

---

Von Sydow played a lot of cold and rather uninteresting characters in his younger Hollywood days -- but Joubert is a classic case of "the character as the star." Its a brilliant hat trick how the man who has engineered so many cruel killings ends up winning our ...our WHAT? Admiration? Amusement? Agreement? Certainly not "love." Some of it is the writing -- this man's killings are "business, nothing personal." But something is the performance -- the voice, the tone, the wryness.

--

. I also seem to have an affection for movies set during winter.

--

Me, too. Fall as well. Both seasons speak to "things ending" and to a rather tamped down way of life. Melancholy. I can't say I'm much of a fan of spring movies -- not melancholy enough.

Now summer movies are their own upbeat mood-makers. I think that "Jaws" is the ultimate Summer Movie --its a movie ABOUT summer, and it was a big hit DURING the summer(of 1975). The movie and the world it was set in merged. Watching Jaws in December isn't the same.

Body Heat is also a great summer movie -- everybody is sweating(especially during and after sex), everybody is drinking iced lemonade and iced tea, fans are on everywhere...

---
The scene with Condor and Joubert outside after the Atwwod killing is my favorite. So calm and cold.

--

Yes, mine too. Its as if the whole movie is leading to it, and it pays off.

I remember the big gasp in the audience(full house) when Joubert -- holding one gun on Redford and the other on the main villain -- shot the VILLAIN. BOOM...just like that, Joubert has switched sides ...but only on the pay situation. ("My contract had been with Atwood but....as you can see...")

Redford in that moment was resigned that he WAS going to die...and had to assemble in his mind that he was now out of danger...from Joubert at least.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 2 years ago

Key moment: Joubert hands Joe a loaded gun, for future protection ("For that day.") Joubert knows Joe well enough to know that Joe won't kill him; Joe knows himself well enough to know that even if Joubert supervised the killing of innocents ...there just is no point to killing him. It WAS just business. And those "innocents," after all...were spies. They knew the jobs were dangerous when they took them. Even in an office.

That the movie pulls all of this off, I think, owes to its general sense of melancholy. The 70's was "setting the table" for a cynicism that stretches all the way to today -- if you want to envelop yourself in it. Whether you are pro-government or anti-government, it is an inevitable fact of life and as George Carlin once said "There is a group of people that run the world, and you're not one of them." Joubert and company are murderous...but Cliff Robertson and John Houseman are just cold and ruthless. Nobody CARES.

And the brief Redford-Dunaway romance(yeah, he kidnapped her, but she KNOWS he's good and he looks like Robert Redford) ends without hope, too.

PS. I forget to mention: one thing I like is how Joubert suggests to Joe that HE might like work as an assassin. I don't think Joubert is kidding. He's seen how skilled Joe was in evading assassins and surviving, and in outsmarting the government, too. And he probably "feels" a kindred cynical soul in Joe. Joe responds earnestly: "I think I would find it ...tiring," and (rare in movie all these decades later) says he would miss America if he were to settle in Europe, however "cool" Joubert might find it.

A fine movie. At once very emotional(melancholy) and very intelligent.

[–] buzzlightbeer (1812) a year ago

great thread, mate.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 months ago

Thank you

[–] ElizabethJoestar (929) 4 months ago

I rewatched this movie recently. Von Sydow is fantastic-- I love the quiet, weary authority he has in every line reading. That last scene between him and Redford is wonderful. This might actually be my favorite Von Sydow performance, at least outside of a Bergman film.