THE ANDERSON TAPES: a master director disappoints

Question: what's the thread that links 'The Wizard of Oz' with 'Kangaroo Jack', 'Diff'rent Strokes,' Cary Grant, 'St Elmo's Fire' and 'The Hunt for Red October'?
Answer: the 1971 crime thriller THE ANDERSON TAPES.

How come? Well, Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West in 'The Wizard of Oz.' Christopher Walken sullied his reputation in the 2003 movie starring a digitally created Kangaroo. Conrad Bain played the adoptive father of Willis and Arnold Jackson in tv's 'Diff'rent Strokes. Cary Grant was married to Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam played a pushy dad in 'St Elmo's Fire' and Sean Connery starred in 'The Hunt for Red October.
And Hamilton, Walken, Bain, Cannon, Balsam and Connery all appeared together in THE ANDERSON TAPES.
And other than mentioning that a very young Walken is impressive in his big screen debut, that's really the only interesting thing I have to say about this film. I wish there was more, particularly as it's directed by Sidney Lumet, who's made some outstanding films ('The Verdict', '12 Angry Men', 'Network', 'Dog Day Afternoon' etc etc). For me, this is one of his misses. Sean Connery appears uncomfortable playing an American with a Scots accent, Martin Balsam camps it up outrageously as a parody of a gay antiques dealer, the cutting edge technology which plays such an important part in the story, looks terribly dated, and Quincy Jones headache inducing 'sci-fi' score is just an irritating racket.
Lumet was prescient in his portrayal of how much of our daily lives and conversations are watched and monitored by a multitude of government agencies none of whom are coordinating with one another but the end result doesn't quite hang together.
Perhaps he hoped we'd be so caught up in the unfolding caper that we wouldn't notice the holes in the plot.