1974 Directed by Alan J. Pakula
An ambitious reporter, investigating a senator's assassination, realizes witnesses to the shooting are systematically dying and discovers a multi-million dollar corporation which serves as a front for the recruitment of political assassins.
Warren Beatty Paula Prentiss William Daniels Walter McGinn Hume Cronyn Kelly Thordsen Chuck Waters Earl Hindman William Joyce Betty Murray Bill McKinney Jo Ann Harris Ted Gehring Lee Pulford Doria Cook-Nelson Jim Davis Joan Lemmo Kenneth Mars William Jordan Edward Winter Stacy Keach, Sr. Ford Rainey Alma Beltran Richard Bull Suzanne Cohane Ronda Copland Joe Di Reda Patsy Garrett Penelope Gillette Show All…
A Trama, Винтовка с оптическим прицелом, Параллакс, A Parallax gyilkosságok
Politics and human rights High speed and special ops Thrillers and murder mysteries political, president, historical, politician or democracy political, democracy, president, documentary or propaganda spy, agent, intrigue, thriller or suspense terrorism, thriller, gripping, intense or political action, explosives, exciting, action-packed or villain Show All…
One of the most meticulously staged, carefully composed films of the ‘70s—much is made of Gordon Willis’ mastery of shadow and vanishing light, a tool to shade motivation and highlight a moral murkiness, but it is Alan Pakula’s patience that lifts this into rarefied territory. The recurring motif of ant-like miniaturedom—Beatty’s character trapped in the dam as water crashes through the man made valley; assassination seen from a great height; figures squeezed into airplane bathrooms or tiny apartments and offices; the tribunal at a distant remove, faceless and omniscient—underscores a theme of powerlessness and an inability to effect change, or even be seen clearly. This is the soft middle of Pakula’s famed Paranoia Trilogy, and the least celebrated of the…
You watch a movie like this and let the credits slip by as you sit in silent darkness. The hum of the movie still hangs in the air long after its finished and it feels like the only appropriate thing to do is take a long walk through the barely populated night of a one a.m. stroll.
The Parallax View perfectly manifests why the 1970s is my most treasured decade in film history. The next lines are not a review of the movie, but a kind of tribute to American New Wave cinema. If you want to hear me raving in a dramatic but completely honest manner about how fucking exceptional the decade was, go ahead and read on. Every word came from the bottom of my heart.
When someone asks me what this or that '70s movie is about, I tell them : 'You know, sometimes less is more. Synopses are useless; the importance of the raw story dwindles and atmosphere takes over. The surface only exists for the sake of the depth underneath. It's no…
We’ve been watching a lot of Columbo so I kept expecting this to go differently than it did. Glad I had that viewing experience because it helped me get into the worldview the movie’s working to shatter. Extremely bleak movie that’s only made bleaker by the fact that this shit happens all the time and everybody knows about it now. They don’t care. Epstein not killing himself is a meme. What are you gonna do about it? Ghislaine is going to misspell her own name in her suicide note. Literally what are you gonna do about it?
[Notes from a larger paper for students]
A film like The Parallax View is an example of a studio-financed, independent production. Its executive producer, Gabriel Katzka, ran his own company and co-produced with all of the major studios during the 1970s (as well as co-producing a kung fu film with Hong Kong’s Shaw Bros). Pakula himself began as a producer at Columbia Pictures in the 1950s, but formed his own producing-directing team with Robert Mulligan to make films like To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal, 1962) and Baby, The Rain Must Fall (Paramount, 1965). But even when he became his own director as well, Pakula never remained with a single studio. Warner Bros. produced both of Pakula’s other “paranoia films,” Klute…
A mediocre script that's elevated by near perfect execution.
What's interesting about this is I wasn't as hooked by the initial assassination/the famous space needle fight as I was by the rest of it. I was thrown into that scene and didn't find myself caring, however as the film went on, I cared a lot about the characters and was more caught off guard by the directing choices.
Pakula slays this. He's always keeping you engaged with interesting choices, like showing you an entire recruiting video as if you are the character. The twists and turns of the script are interesting and accentuated by his camera work, which reminds me at times of Hitchock. His followup All The President's Men is by all means a better movie, but doesn't have quite the same flare that Parallax View has.
Unexpected, dark, and fascinating I quite enjoyed this one.
Corporation turns angry loners into political assassins by showing them a slide show designed to associate the word "Mother" with bad stuff.
Criterion Collection Spine #1064
Political Thriller - shadowy assassin recruiting organization edition.
"You see, the very quality that gets you in trouble is what makes you potentially invaluable. What's that? Your aggressiveness."
The Parallax View starring Warren Beatty really makes you wonder who may have been behind all those political assassinations of the 1960s. Beatty's character plays a reporter who begins to re-investigate the assassination of a politician, when it becomes obvious that many of the people who witnessed the murder are being killed off. His hunt for the truth has him facing off against corrupt cops in a small town, and nearly escaping getting blown up. But it appearing that he is dead, gives him the chance to attempt…
Haven’t seen this in a bit. Forgot just how good it is, in particular the photography, and in particular the mind-fuck “test” section, and in particular in particular the absolutely bonkers good final sequence.
