The Anderson Tapes (1971)

America, man! You know, it's so beautiful I wanta eat it! – "The Kid" (Christopher Walken)

The Anderson Tapes is primarily a heist film starring Sean Connery as Duke Anderson, a just got out of jail con, who wants to rob an entire upscale apartment house in NYC. His accomplices are a gay interior designer who knows how much stolen goods are worth (Martin Balsam), a young cocky kid who was in the pokey for drug posession (Christopher Walken), a cool cat wheelman (Dick Anthony), an old geezer of a con who has spent the last 40 years in jail and doesn't know anything else (Stan Gottlieb), and a patsy for the mob who is there for muscle(Val Avery). Well dear readers, as you know, complications will ensue.

If you are going to plan a robbery/heist, the Parker books by Richard Stark are a must. It helps establish the importance of planning and team work. If only Duke had read those books. First of all, he's involved with a woman (Dyan Cannon) which distracts him from staying all in on his job. Then he gets tied up with the mob boss (Alan King), thinking that the mob owes him for doing time. Parker would never go the outfit for startup money. You can't trust the machine if you want to be an independent operator. And then his motley crew is filled with loose cannons and greenhorns. You need professionals for a job of this size and the fewer people the better. Poor Duke. If only you had spent more time reading while you were in for a dime, you might have had a better chance.

One of the more interesting devices used in the storytelling is the proliferation of surveillance devices. When Duke is going around town setting up the score, he is being watched by the Narc squad, FBI, IRS, private dicks, and who knows how many other information gathering sources. Very few, particularly government agencies, are interested in him and what he is doing, even though they know something is going down. They all have ulterior motives for other cases they are working. It is interesting to note that this film came out before the Watergate scandal and the revelation of Nixon's secret tapes. If this had come a couple of years later, it would have been a big hit rather than merely prescient about our Big Brother world.

Now if it is the early 1970's and you've got a crime movie, you have better have a kickass soundtrack! And The Anderson Tapes lays a doozy on us with Q himself breaking out some solid funk mixed with a lot of beeps and boops to show how cutting edge technology could be. I loved it! There's nothing that will be a breakout hit, but for an early techno thriller soundtrack, this one is alright. In fact, I need to hunt down a soundtrack CD/LP for it.