Wonderful character development!

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

A top-notch cast under superb direction and slickly made by Sidney Lumet who makes this movie enjoyable in every aspect . Amusing caper with magnificent acting by all-star-cast , acceptable production design and masterfully realized by the always original and great Sidney Lumet . After Duke Anderson (Sean Connery , being the first film in which he stopped wearing a toupee) 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 chief (Alan King who also worked in ¨Just Tell Me What You Want¨ by Lumet) to bankroll a caper . Upon visiting his old girlfriend , Ingrid (Dyan Cannon married to Gary Grant) at her upscale apartment in New York City , he plans to rob the entire building . As the ex-convict , under strange electronic surveillance that have tracked him since he abandoned prison , wishes to pull off a big robbing . Agreeable as well as interesting picture with tight editing , magnificent acting , fast-paced , thrills , plot twists , emotion and entertainment . It was originally conceived as a tense as well as thrilling flick about a spectacular hold-up . Though the most movie is set in a luxurious building it never lacks for taut , suspense , intrigue , inspired direction and a climax particularly thrilling . The tension behind closed doors is tense , charged and riveting . Sean Connery is very good as ex-inmate decided to carry out a big heist , being accompanied by a beauty Dyan Cannon . Support cast is pretty good , such as a young Christopher Walken -film debut- is perfectly cast as an ex-con , Alan King as mobster , Ralph Meeker as Police officer , Martin Balsam as gay man , Garrett Morris , Val Avery , and final feature film by Margaret Hamilton of Wizard of Oz , among others . Fine Quince Jones soundtrack . Atmospheric and appropriate cinematography by Arthur Ornitz . Frank Pierson's brilliant script was left virtually intact on this adaptation upon the novel titled "The Anderson Tapes" by Lawrence Sanders . This thriller was professionally directed by Sidney Lumet with an extraordinary plethora of actors who give awesome interpretations . It keeps the spectator utterly involved , it holds up extremely well on television . Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema , best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York . In ¨ The Anderson tapes¨ Lumet had a strong comeback with this box-office hit . He made over 40 movies , often complex and emotional , but seldom overly sentimental . He achieved great successes such as ¨Serpico¨, ¨The Veredict¨, ¨Fail safe¨ , ¨ Morning after¨, ¨The hill¨ , ¨Dog day afternoon¨, ¨Murder on the Orient Express¨ , ¨Network¨ and his best considered one : ¨12 angry men¨ . In 2005 , Sidney Lumet received a well-deserved honorary Academy Award for his outstanding contribution to filmmaking.

Connery's a long way from his glamorous, toupee-wearing, Bond role. But it's his strong presence that holds this crowded caper film together. The first part is pretty hard to follow. There's constant switching back and forth between assembling the gang and the many illegal surveillance set-ups by apparent law-enforcement agencies. Ironically, the agencies never catch on to the unfolding criminal plan they're eavesdropping on. Instead, they're surveilling the mob who's financing the heist.The heist itself is a nail-biter as the gang loots an upscale apartment building, while the cops try a little mountain climbing in order to trap them inside. What seems so unusual and realistic is how chaotic things become once the two encounter each other. It's like a medieval melee.Dyan Cannon gets a featured role as a silken mistress, while Martin Balsam minces along in stereotypical fashion as a gay art dealer and fence for the gang's stolen articles. Actually, I think the movie is one of the first to underscore the widespread use of hidden cameras to spy on people, a growing menace in our contemporary world. In my book, the best heist films are those with some sympathetic characters. Maybe working stiffs combining their individual skillls, like The Killing (1956), to make one big haul. That way the audience is torn between the characters and the law. Here, Pop and the kid are definitely sympathetic, while Haskins (Balsam) is lending his expertise. Anderson (Connery) is too tough and savvy to be sympathetic, but we respect him because he knows the score, as he spells out in a long denunciation of corrupt society. This means the robbers are not just robbers, but human beings, as well.Anyway, I understand this is Connery's favorite movie, maybe because it's so un-Bond-like, including the ending. As a heist film, it's certainly different, with several fairly memorable parts.

"The Anderson Tapes" is a somewhat ahead-of-its-time film by Sidney Lumet. A precursor to modern heist films and a successor of early noirs, the film stars Sean Connery as an ex con who resolves to rob an entire apartment complex. "It's a dog eat dog world," he says, "and I want first bite." Much of the film lingers on surveillance tapes, electronic devices, hidden microphones and cameras. It turns out that every ex con whom Connery assembles for his team is being monitored and observed by different law enforcement departments. But because these departments are illegally wire-taping/spying and are acting entirely outside of their fields of operation, they're information isn't admissible in court. So though they all inadvertently detect or map Connery's crime, they're unable to act on their intel. The film's big irony is that all this surveillance proves useless, yet a kid with a simple two way radio is able to thwart Connery. So observation fails but two way communication takes him down.The film predates "The Conversation", predates even Nixon's nefarious wire tap dancing, and features a genre defining score by Quincy Jones. Lumet's camera-work - usually stiff and static - is also unconventionally fluid. His location work would prove influential on later crime and gangster flicks, and some of his shots here would be lifted by other directors for later heist movies. The film's sudden climax homages early Warner crime films and early noirs, but will let down modern audiences raised on cleverer endings. A young Christopher Walken co-stars.7.9/10 - This was released the same year as "The French Connection", both films updating noir, crime and heist tropes for a new era. These "updates" are more decorative than genuinely substantial. Worth one viewing.

This movie gets off to a great and unusual start and moves along at a good pace keeping the viewer well absorbed in the plot, Connery (Anderson), as always delivers, no one else really stands out in the film , Martin Balsam (Haskins), is good early on, but fades away, Dyan Cannon (Ingrid), is very sexy, but not much else! Anderson, using mob money sets about building his team, but not always from his choice. It's generally a good watch, but just as the action 'hots up' it all goes very cool, the final 15 minutes are almost pointless and kill the movie dead - such a shame - an opportunity missed! Not something you would say too often about a Director like Lumet!