The Anderson Tapes (1971)

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Sean Connery, Martin Balsam, Dyan Cannon, Ralph Meeker, Christopher Walken, Alan King, Dick Anthony Williams, Val Avery, Stan Gottlieb, Conrad Bain, Garrett Morris, Margaret Hamilton, Hildy Brooks. [PG]

Safecracking ex-con Connery plots a complicated heist financed by the Mafia he protected through silence during his prison stint; he’s aided by the usual motley caper crew types—confident driver Williams, effete antique dealer Balsam, and soused veteran Gottlieb, among others, plus Connery’s lover (Cannon). Uneven but sometimes absorbing crime pic gets by on a good cast and assertive direction from Sidney Lumet, although the disorganized script (by Frank Pierson, from Lawrence Sanders’ same-named novel) juggles too many moving pieces and minor characters for the sake of clarity and credibility…on the reasonable basis of this brand of clockwork escapism, that is. The electronic surveillance elements, more of a gimmicky plot device than a recurring theme, are approached as clumsily as they’re applied, and the piercing music/sound effects used to give them a “voice” aren’t much friendlier to the ear drums than a dentist drill is to a healthy tooth. First major film role for Christopher Walken, and the last for Margaret Hamilton (best remembered for playing the Wicked Witch of the West).

64/100