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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