Double Features : 70s Thrillers

As I said in my previous post, I've come up with a couple new features here at The Nerd Report, and the first one I want to share with you is my new Double Features series. Ever been at the video store, looking for some good flicks for a solid night at the movies, but you can't find anything to tickle your fancy? Well, hopefully this feature will help. I'll pair up some movies that will be connected by theme, stars, directors or some wacky connecter. What hopefully will make this different will be that I'll also be giving you a drink and a snack to go along with it!

To get us going, let's pull out our neckerchiefs and flared pants, enjoy the sexual liberation and the doses of the clap that accompany it, and relentless presence of countless shitty songs by the Eagles. That's right, we're heading back to the 1970s with a couple top notch thrillers.

Double Feature: Three Days of the Condor & Marathon Man

These two films recall the halcyon days when the Paramount logo meant quality as opposed to today, when I can't remember the last time I saw anything made by Paramount that actually wasn't a piece of crap.

Three Days of the Condor stars Robert Redford as an inexplicably hunky researcher who works for the CIA reading and analyzing various books. When his entire office is massacred for reasons unknown, Redford escapes and soon realizes that he can't trust anyone; not his friends, not his bosses, not even his own ideas about his country. Basically, it's a perfect representation of the paranoia that was rampant in those times. Redford is excellent, and the rest of the cast, featuring Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow and Cliff Robertson, is top notch. There's a love story that is unrealistic, but is mitigated by a sad undercurrent. The spy stuff is very cool here, mostly because it's so completely re-

alistic.

Marathon Man is the more famous of the two, and certainly the more chilling. Dustin Hoffman stars as a graduate student and marathon runner who, through his brother's shadowy life as a secret agent, becomes the target of a brutal Nazi war criminal played by Laurence Olivier. Beset on all sides by pretty much everyone all around him, Hoffman has to, through sheer endurance, stay alive and try to figure out exactly what is going on. Notable for its absolutely horrifying interrogation scene involving Hoffman's hero, Olivier's Nazi dentist, and one

question repeated over and over; "Is it safe?" Chilling and engrossing.

Drink: Our drink for the movie is that champion of the era: Harvey Wallbanger! You'll need 1.5 oz of Vodka, 3 oz of fresh Orange Juice, and a 1/2 oz of Galliano. Shake vodka and orange juice briefly over ice. Pour into a Collins glass. Top with ice if necessary. Float Galliano on top.

Snack: What better 1970s choice than some nice Fondue? Get some nice cheese, throw it in your fondue pot, and heat it up. Then dip in some nice meat, bread cubes and veggies and you're almost ready for a key party. Don't have the hardware? Then get yourself a snack plate that is segmented, preferably with a faux wood finish, and throw in some potato chips, bridge mix and roasted peanuts.

Enjoy the show!