Walken's 1971 debut film role was a major part that hooked me as a lifelong fan immediately, as The Kid, directed by Sidney Lumet in a gem adapted for the film from a great book of the same name by author Lawrence Sanders - "The Anderson Tapes". I'm not an avid reader, but I did read most of Sander's mystery novels, and would rate this as one of his best. It's worth mentioning that the only memorable quote from this movie on this web site is a Christopher Walken line! He brought an electrifying presence to the role with his trademark edginess akin to a cocked revolver.
The movie stars Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Alan King, and Martin Balsam (in a beautifully restrained role as a light-in-the-loafers antiques dealer). I'm sure viewers of this film following its release must have considered the addition to the cast by The Kid as a wonderful bonus. The locale of the film is NYC's Central Park perimeter, namely the high-priced real estate at the park's border.
Besides being a pre-PC (in both contexts of PC) satire of technology and man's inability to control its sometimes obvious sinister applications, it is also an ironic precursor to the "authorities'" myopic interpretation of gathered intelligence data, specifically the current federal administration's inability to "connect the dots" after receiving Richard Clark's distribution of the pre-9/11/2001 FBI memo detailing the intercepted intention of Arab terrorists to fly jumbo jets into skyscrapers and other federal buildings. Who would have (or should have) thought they might try to complete their failed 1993 attempt to bring down one of the WTC towers? On a lighter note Garrett Morris acted in this film with Walken, a full 4 years before his SNL run, site of some of Christopher Walken's most memorable gigs.
The movie stars Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Alan King, and Martin Balsam (in a beautifully restrained role as a light-in-the-loafers antiques dealer). I'm sure viewers of this film following its release must have considered the addition to the cast by The Kid as a wonderful bonus. The locale of the film is NYC's Central Park perimeter, namely the high-priced real estate at the park's border.
Besides being a pre-PC (in both contexts of PC) satire of technology and man's inability to control its sometimes obvious sinister applications, it is also an ironic precursor to the "authorities'" myopic interpretation of gathered intelligence data, specifically the current federal administration's inability to "connect the dots" after receiving Richard Clark's distribution of the pre-9/11/2001 FBI memo detailing the intercepted intention of Arab terrorists to fly jumbo jets into skyscrapers and other federal buildings. Who would have (or should have) thought they might try to complete their failed 1993 attempt to bring down one of the WTC towers? On a lighter note Garrett Morris acted in this film with Walken, a full 4 years before his SNL run, site of some of Christopher Walken's most memorable gigs.