MovieChat Forums > The Anderson Tapes (1971) Discussion > The Point (SPOILER)

The Point (SPOILER)

posted 19 years ago by MortimerRandolph
14 replies | jump to latest

I am not questioning the existence of a point in asking “What is the point?”, merely being curious. It struck me that different people may take away different senses from the film, so I want to know different people’s opinions.

So, what is the overall message/point being delivered by the Anderson tapes (and I mean the tititular reel-to-reel recordings themselves), and especially the final line?

Erase, erase… erase. We don’t wanna get caught. (That general idea.)

[–] ejr-4 19 years ago

It was just meant to convey the terrific irony of the circumstances. Everyone who was contacted by Anderson was under illegal surveillance by a different law enforcement agency for a different reason. Even though the plot to rob the townhouse was overheard by them all, none of them took action because burglary wasn't within their fields of operation. Instead, the heist was foiled by a sharp young kid and when the arrests were made the various agencies had to erase the tapes of their subjects, who were now under arrest for burglary. They did not want to be caught with illegal wiretap tapes in the ensuing investigation.

[–] easy_fritzy 18 years ago

thanks for clearing that up....i feel really foolish now.

[–] PenTheater 18 years ago

When I saw this as a kid I didn't get that part either. But loved the "other" story.
Later I got the part about the tapes and it made it even neater.

I just saw Bridge to Terabithia, and I simply can't talk about it.

[–] whosit 18 years ago

Speaking of the kid (ham radio operator)....there was a copy of Popular Electronics in his room, I had a subscription at the time....that very issue just arrived shortly before I saw this movie so obviously the film company obtained a very early copy (may have been blank pages with just covers).

I wonder if the producers got any money for this....that's got to be one of the earliest examples of product placement!

Another bit of useless info, the store where Walken works was one of the many surplus stores along Canal St in Manhattan after WWII. I purchased many strange electronic bits and war surplus gear down there during the 60's and 70's. The moment the scene came on the screen I practically jumped out of my seat as I recognized that very store! Later that week I visited them and they had a sign on a counter top mentioning the film.

The last chunk on mental flotsam I'll inflict on your dear readers is that the building they robbed was on the corner of 5th Ave and just north of the Guggenheim museum (no longer recall the exact street, but could easily identify it again if I visited the area). I lived just a couple of blocks south so I know of what I speak!

Sorry for having wasted a couple minutes of your life!

[–] budbluecollar 18 years ago

The building is on the corner of 5th avenue and 91st st. It was the home of Otto Kahn, and is now the Sacred Heart Academy, a Catholic grade school.

[–] whosit 18 years ago

Thanks for the update. I wonder if they still sell Christmas trees out front.

[–] AnonymousReviewer 18 years ago

Thanks alot for explaining the movie, now I will go back and rewatch this.

[–] derirre357 17 years ago

Perhaps htere is a deeper message and it would be "crime does not pay" - Sydney Lumett would make the same statement with "Dog day afternoon" and "Before the devil kkows You're dead"

Women are like deer - You can't just charge in, you gotta stalk 'em...

[–] moosefeathers 16 years ago

i took it as they were taping Pat Angelo, and new that Anderson had ties to him. Thus, the reason they couldn't do anything about the robbery, until the boy called out for help and then the police had to get involved.

[–] jigalini 12 years ago

I read book before seeing movie. Point is that all the agencies taping it had what they needed to stop robbery, but were not working together. Narcotics agents were not sharing with FBI or police, FBI was not sharing with New york Police and Narcotics, and so on. Author of book, Lawrence Saunders, wrote an afterword to the original book saying this. Watching movie ia can see where that message might get bit lost, and replaced by a Big Brother type feeling.

[–] jawebster2000 12 years ago

I believe the overall point in the movie was: "Crime doesn't pay."

[–] jigalini 12 years ago

Author of book said it was tapes, I will take his word.

[–] artistathome 11 years ago

The true theme was the illegal recordings not the burglary.

Anderson had the bad luck to choose all his old cronies who obviously were still bad sorts even after 10 years. And since wire tapping was a new thing to Anderson, he had no CLUE that he might have been being taped.

The police discovered the tapes. If a judge had been told about the tapes found in the hotel basement it would have been nuclear because that was illegal.

The gov agents doing the taping wanted to go back to taping all those people illegally so they destroyed everything and start over again later. They wanted to keep what they were doing a secret.

Who knows what happened to Anderson? The tapers cared less about Anderson. They wanted to find out what all the others were doing not him.

That would be my take.

[–] 11 years ago

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