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Classic Movie Monday: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" & "Three Days of the Condor"


Great films often borrow elements from other great films. Captain America: The Winter Soldier borrowed from Three Days of the Condor and in doing so, it revolutionized the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For the first time ever, they proved that the movies in the MCU could tackle different genres. For this film, they went in the direction of 1970s political thrillers. The Winter Soldier sees Steve Rogers as a fugitive running from the very people he thought were the good guys, people he served under because he thought they were doing the right thing. As he is being hunted down, Captain America must uncover the truth behind those who are after him.  Leading the charge against Cap is none other than Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce.
The fact that it is Redford who is in the role of Alexander Pierce is important because in 1975, Redford starred in the film Three Days of the Condor. This film sees Redford as Joe Turner, a CIA code breaker who walks into his office to find the entire staff dead. After escaping the scene to report back to his supervisors, he discovers that the murders were set up by the same people he works for. Fearing that Joe now knows too much, the head of the CIA arranges for contract killer, Joubert, to get rid of him. Now on the run, Joe must survive long enough to discover why the CIA wants him dead.
If that sounds familiar it is because directors Joe and Anthony Russo saw Three Days of the Condor as inspiration for The Winter Soldier. There are a lot of similarities between both films that go beyond their premises. For one, both films are riddled with an overbearing sense that you can’t trust anyone. 1970s political thrillers are very reliant in paranoia. Because of this, our protagonists are mostly isolated and have a very limited amount of people that can actually help them. With both heroes having to constantly be looking over their shoulder, the tension is palpable.
There are scenes in The Winter Soldier seem to come straight out of Condor. The Winter Soldier has a very intense elevator fight scene that marks the beginning of the hunt for Steve Rogers. It’s a moment that is built up to as Steve begins to notice how nervous everyone in the elevator appears to be. In Three Days of the Condor we see something similar when Joe has his first encounter with Joubert. It’s a perfectly executed scene that uses the audience's knowledge to its advantage. At this point, we have already been introduced to Joubert and know why he’s there but we know that Joe has no idea who he is. Because we know who Joubert is, we are constantly expecting something to happen but this moment is perfectly drawn out so that the tension rises with every passing second.
I love how similar these scenes are to each other while also being completely different. In Condor, we are aware of what is about to happen which is why the tension is so high. In The Winter Soldier, though, we are completely blindsided which makes the tension shoot from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds. I appreciate that while The Winter Soldier borrows a key moment from Three Days of the Condor, it still manages to make it feel completely fresh and original.
There is something special about seeing these films back to back and witnessing Robert Redford play two characters on the opposite end of the spectrum on films that are so similar to each other. To see someone who made a career out of being a hero be a villain is extremely fun and shows versatility as well as desire to keep reinventing himself as an actor.
Since its release, Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been lauded as one of the best superhero films ever made. It reminded audiences that superhero films could be seen as much more than simply “comic book movies”. Borrowing from one of the seminal 1970s political thrillers, Three Days of the Condor, helped make this drastic change a possibility. Any fan of The Winter Soldier should consider watching Three Days of the Condor if only to see where a lot of the ideas and inspirations for it came.



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