The Anderson Tapes
A thief (Duke Anderson) just released from ten years in jail, takes up with his old girlfriend (Ingrid) in her posh apartment…
- Director: Sidney Lumet
- Genre:Crime / Drama / Thriller
- Runtime:95 minutes
Cast
Sean Connery : Duke Anderson
Dyan Cannon : Ingrid
Martin Balsam : Haskins
Ralph Meeker : Police Captain ‘Iron Balls’ Delaney
Alan King : Pat Angelo
Burglar John “Duke” Anderson is released after ten years in jail. He renews his relationship with his old girlfriend, Ingrid. She lives in a high-class apartment block (1 East 91st Street) in New York and Anderson, almost instantly, decides to burglarize the entire building in a single sweep — filling a furniture van with the proceeds. He gains financing from a nostalgic Mafia boss and gathers his four-man crew. Also included is an old ex-con drunk, “Pop”, whom Anderson met in jail, and who is to play concierge while the real one is bound and gagged in the cellar.
Less welcoming is a man the Mafia foists onto Anderson: the thuggish “Socks”. “Socks” is a psychopath who has become a liability to the mob and, as part of the deal, Anderson must kill him in the course of the robbery. Anderson is not keen on this since the operation is complicated enough, but is forced to go along.
However Anderson has entered a world of pervasive surveillance — the agents, cameras, bugs, and tracking devices of numerous public and private agencies see almost the entire operation from the earliest planning to the execution. As Anderson advances the scheme he moves from the surveillance of one group to another as locations or individuals change. These include a private detective hired to eavesdrop on Anderson’s girlfriend who is also the mistress of a wealthy man; the BNDD, who are checking over a released drug dealer; the FBI, investigating Black activists and the inter-state smuggling of antiques; and the IRS, which is after the mob boss who is financing the operation.
Yet, because the various federal, state and city agencies doing the surveillance are all after different things, none of them are able to “connect the dots” and anticipate the robbery. Read more
