Redford's character is Joe Turner, initially a cheerful, maverick, well-read employee of the American Literacy Historical Society, a CIA front whose staff peruses spy novels to generate ideas for the agency's activities. Turner discovers and naively investigates evidence revealing a shadow organization within the CIA, which responds by hiring mercenaries to kill everyone at the ALHS.
Out to lunch, Turner is spared, but the hitmen led by Joubert (Max von Sydow) are still on his trail. Worse, his bosses at the CIA, especially Higgins (Cliff Robertson) and Wabash (John Houseman) also seem to prefer Turner dead. Desperate and paranoid, Turner kidnaps a beautiful and surprisingly sympathetic stranger, Kathy (Faye Dunaway), for the use of her house and car. This creates a dubious if audience-expanding love interest subplot.
Predictably, the CIA executives are portrayed as duplicious and indifferent to human life. Turner makes an unlikely character transition from bookworm to action hero. Still, Redford's skills as an actor transcends his character, and the script is intelligent and well written. Joubert, both noble and sly, is a memorable hitman character.
Director Sydney Pollack manages to bring together five of the most respected actors in the business (Redford, Dunaway, Robertson, von Sydow, and John Houseman) into a single film. It was one of seven movies starring Robert Redford that were directed by Pollack. It appears that the two had each other's back throughout the prime of their careers.
The film's most interesting aspect is the Stockholm Syndrome transformation of Dunaway into Turner's accomplice. It is reminiscent of kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst helping the Symbionese Liberation Army rob a bank, something that had happened only the year before.
If it seems unlikely that Joubert would spare Turner at the film's conclusion, remember that his primary goal was to make the death of Atwood (Addison Powell) appear to be a suicide. That makes it important to get Turner away from the crime scene prior to killing him. But why should Joubert kill Turner, when he was paid to kill Atwood? Perhaps he will be paid again soon to kill Turner.
Based on James Grady's novel "Six Days of the Condor" (Hollywood is always abridging the classics), the film received a single Oscar nomination, for best editing.