The Anderson Tapes (1971)

Caper films like The Anderson Tapes live or die by their plots; it's really great when there is also fully developed (or interesting or colorful) characters or snappy dialogue or an underlying allegory, but without careful attention to plot, a caper flick just never gets out of the gate. Anderson Tapes is fortunate to have a very nifty plot gimmick as its basis and fortunate that the structure that supports that gimmick is also sound. It's somewhat less fortunate in the dialogue department. What Anderson Tapes has is not bad, mind you, but it doesn't crackle the way it intends to and sometimes comes across as merely perfunctory. The main character is very well developed, the supporting cast rather less so; but if they're fairly stock, the supporting characters still have one or two defining characteristics each that make them stand out a little from their general types. And all of the characters are very well played, starting with Sean Connery's laid back, assured Anderson and including a very change-of-pace Alan King, an effete Martin Balsam, and a very young Christopher Walken. Sidney Lumet's direction is efficient if not particularly distinctive; if it can be faulted for not always melding the serious and the comic aspects of the film, it still manages to get the job done. All in all, The Anderson Tapes is a very satisfactory heist film, one that's not great art but is a lot of fun. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide