The Anderson Tapes

Name: The Anderson Tapes
Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime
Released: June 17, 1971
Duration: 99 min
Rating: 61
Cast: Alan King, Christopher Walken, Dick Anthony Williams, Dyan Cannon, Garrett Morris

1971

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Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: June 17, 1971 | GP

Starring: Alan King, Christopher Walken, Dick Anthony Williams, Dyan Cannon, Garrett Morris, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, Sean Connery, Stan Gottlieb, Val Avery

Summary: After Duke Anderson is released from prison after ten years for taking the rap for a scion of a Mafia family, he cashes in a debt of honor with the mob to bankroll a caper.

Director: Sidney Lumet

Genre(s): Action, Thriller, Crime

Rating: GP

Runtime: 99 min

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Critic Reviews

The Telegraph Catherine Gee

Reflecting the mood of Nixon's America, the film plays on the anxieties of surveillance. [27 Oct 2012, p.36]

Roger Ebert

Perhaps Lumet was simply too ambitious in trying to work anti-bugging sentiment into the film. If he'd thrown out all the hidden mikes and stuck with the Heist, The Anderson Tapes would have moved with a more confident step in the direction of Rififi. Read full review

Pauline Kael

Sean Connery manages to rise above the material; most of the rest of the cast plays in broad style, and there have rarely been so many small, sleazy performances in one movie.

Roger Greenspun

In Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes the quality of professionalism appears in rather lovely manifestations to raise a by no means perfect film to a level of intelligent efficiency that is not so very far beneath the reach of art. Read full review

IndieWire Oliver Lyttelton

Connery more than proved he could carry a movie away from 007, and the film remains pretty enjoyable, even if it’s an uneasy blend of the kind of gritty crime picture that Lumet would make his stock-in-trade, and the lighter caper flick so popular at the time. Read full review

Stefan Kantner

Unfortunately, failed comedy and vigorous suspense are handcuffed together for the entire trip. Read full review

Andrew Sarris

I thought there were about 11 good minutes in it, and the rest confused and uncertain. [22 Jul 1971, p.55]

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 28, 2021

This is very much a dated film. Its amusing in terms of seeing what I assume cutting edge technology was perceived as, at the time the film was made - there's lots of tapes, cassette tapes and loud beeping noises, esp. at the start of the film. Connery does pretty well in his role and thereThis is very much a dated film. Its amusing in terms of seeing what I assume cutting edge technology was perceived as, at the time the film was made - there's lots of tapes, cassette tapes and loud beeping noises, esp. at the start of the film. Connery does pretty well in his role and there are some fairly exciting/entertaining moments but it did feel rather dull otherwise. I suppose you could argue that it highlights the surveillance of people without them knowing but with the main character being an ex-con, its hardly as if I feel entirely sorry for him and he's shown to be a bit of a womaniser, which doesn't exactly appeal to me either, shall we say.

Its not an especially memorable film to me but its nostalgic and ok in general I suppose. I wouldn't recommend it as such, no.… Expand

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