As Turner, code named Condor, attempts to gather his wits and find out what happened to his co-workers, the situation quickly spins out of control. He learns all-too-soon that those he thought he could trust are in fact the ones that are trying to eliminate him. In a moment of desperation, he kidnaps Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway), a lonely photographer, to use as cover while escaping pursuit. Initially an unwilling hostage, Hale soon learns that, while Turner is a desperate man, he is also a compassionate and sensitive person, a man whom fate has dealt a bad hand. With her help, Turner soon turns the tables on his would-be assassins, uncovering a plot regarding a secret sect located within the United States intelligence community, a sect with its own agendas and ideologies. Max von Sydow and Cliff Robertson turn in fantastic supporting performances and Mr. Pollack does a great job of keeping the audience guessing at the outcome while bringing about a sincere connection with the main character, allowing for a very empathetic understanding of his predicament. Ironically (or perhaps not so ironically), though the movie was filmed some 30+ years ago, the underlying scheme that Turner uncovers is a plot to invade third-world oil-rich countries, something with which modern audiences can certainly identify.
While the movie is quite entertaining and enjoyable, I do question the release on Blu-ray. The film and audio have both been remastered, supporting digital sound and 1080p video output. Unfortunately I, like many viewers, do not own a 1080p equipped set. Watching the movie at 720p, I could not notice a difference in quality between the Blu-ray version and a standard definition version played through an up-converting DVD player. To test this, I played my SD version through my Xbox 360 HD-DVD (which, despite being a relic now, produces great quality up-conversions) on the same set. I switched back and forth between the versions playing and honestly could not differentiate between them.
So, if the remastered video and sound are not enough incentive to buy this movie on Blu-ray, then the extra features certainly are, right? One would think that, given a chance to re-release a classic such as this, starring actors as accomplished as these are, that there would be a plethora of extra content included, especially in light of the available space on a Blu-ray disc. However, the only bonus offered is the original theatrical trailer. This is borderline inexcusable in the modern age of "give me more." If you do not already own the film and are a fan of the genre and/or the actors involved, then by all means, this would be a good purchase. If your library already includes a standard definition version of the film, I cannot in good conscience recommend that you spend your money on this movie when there are so many more worthy offerings that truly take advantage of the Blu-ray medium.
Please bear in mind that my rating of 70 is based upon the contents of the entire package (or lack thereof) and its corresponding release. Were I rating the movie alone, I would give it a score hovering around 80.
