May 25, 2020 – The Deadly Affair (1967) and The Anderson Tapes (1971) Criterion Channel
I was laid up with lower back pain, so what better way to pass the time than with a double feature of films directed by Sidney Lumet. Lumet made a number of great movies, starting with his first film Ten Angry Men and continuing through Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Verdict. I think of Lumet as not the most original or visionary of filmmakers, but as a good storyteller, who consistently makes entertaining films. Neither of these two movies was a standout, but both were entertaining in their own ways.
The Deadly Affair is a spy story starring James Mason. It is another movie from a John le Carre novel, similar in tone and content to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, except that it is shot in color and set in swinging London. Part of the movie is set during rehearsals and performances of Macbeth and Edward II by The Royal Shakespeare Company. The movie is compelling, as Mason’s character has to solve the mystery and unmask the killer while coping with marital problems and clearing himself of allegations of professional wrongdoing. Warning: this movie seems to hate women.
The Anderson Tapes is a heist movie set in a gritty New York City. It has a great cast, led by Sean Connery, Martin Balsam, and Dyan Cannon. It is the last movie role of Margaret Hamilton (aka the Wicked Witch of the West), and the first major role for a young Christopher Walken. And Garret Morris, later from Saturday Night Live, has a small role in the film.
The Anderson Tapes follows the standard heist-movie tropes: the assembling of the team, the planning of the job, and the intricate choreography of the heist itself. Spoiler alert for a nearly 50-year-old movie: it doesn’t have the standard heist movie ending. When characters are wheeled out on stretchers at the conclusion of the job, I expected them to leap up and celebrate with the fake ambulance drivers who were the cronies. Nope. In The Anderson Tapes, crime doesn’t pay. And another warning: this movie isn’t fond of women either. I am not clear if the misogyny in these films is due to le Carre, Lumet or the both of them.
The two films both have great scores by Quincy Jones. The score for The Deadly Affair is bossa nova inflected and features a song sung by Astrud Gilberto. That song and the theme from The Anderson Tape are both on my Shelter-In-Place Streaming Playlist.