Immediately after the office slaughter, "Condor" runs to an outside phone booth to call the CIA. When they are done talking, the Major tells himto "...just walk away. Do not hang up the phone." Condor walks away with the handset hanging down. Does anyone know the significance of not hanging up the phone? Is that a standard CIA ploy, so they can trace the call? It's never mentioned again.
shareI just thought it was a way of the CIA being able to trace where Condor was making the call from, as the phone line is not disconnected and they have plenty of time to do a trace.
In the novel, by James Grady, he's ordered to hang the phone up, and he does so . . . I cannot explain why in the film he leaves it dangling . . . unless it's a symbollic move---the phone dangling about helpless---just as Joe Turner is soon going to be . . .
shareI didn't know either but I like turkycat's idea about the trace.
shareWatch it again. The previous cut shows that they already had a successful trace. I believe leaving it hanging was a symbolic move Maybe a sign to the cleaners to also clean up the phone booth? Maybe there was a way to re-route the call an not leave a trace of what was dialed? Maybe it was a goof. Mayby they filmed it thinking they needed the trace, but added the sign of the successful trace prior to the scene in the editing.
shareTurner's being left out to dry . . . and the dangling phone . . . it's over for him . . .
shareMaybe Pollack just wanted an interesting ending to that scene than just havin Turner hang up the phone and walk away. The audience was probably left thinkin that it was standard CIA procedure that only they knew.
shareMy guess is artistic license. It sounded like good fieldcraft. More dramatic.
shareIf another call came in AFTER the trace, the information would be wiped out of the switch. Remember, back then, people could CALL telephones at phone booths. You would see people hanging around phone booths waiting for a call. By leaving the phone OFF the hook, no other call could come, so no risk of the info being wiped out of the switch.
shareThe word your looking for is called "tradecraft". It is old legacy stuff now with the advent of A.N.I. from At&T. Now "they" know who's calling BEFORE it rings and no tracing required (CID spoofing does not work on ANI either). Nobody uses payphones any more even if you could find one (thanks to drug dealers and beepers). They are also NOT secure. Your better off with a burner phone. But not much.
The reason why the MAJOR said just walk away is to allow the first responders (Damage Control Team) "The Cleaners" find the payphone as the Ma Bell Records back then only showed the street corner and in NYC there could have 10 payphones there. This allowed the cleaners to find it quickly and clean it - like fingerprints, or give Condor some ground support in case he gets into a fire-fight with bad guys or is found damaged laying in the street near the payphone.