The Parallax View (1974)

Warren Beatty is fine as Joseph Frady, a third-rate reporter who misses out on being present for the assassination of a U.S. Senator atop the Space Needle. However, an ex-girlfriend (Paula Prentiss, in an affecting cameo) WAS there, although she and other witnesses aren't entirely sure of what they saw. Nevertheless, the witnesses start to get killed off - including Prentiss - and Beatty is motivated to investigate into the matter. He eventually discovers a typically shadowy organization, dubbed Parallax, that is in the business of professional assassinations.The story isn't always completely coherent, but the fast-paced editing by John W. Wheeler ensures a story (scripted by David Giler and Lorenzo Semple, Jr., based on a novel by Loren Singer) that moves quickly and with no filler. Director Alan J. Pakula, also known for such top 70s features as "Klute" and "All the President's Men", is clearly in his element, and he keeps the element of mystery and nervousness high. He's ably assisted by the legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis, who never lights scenes more than absolutely necessary. This is especially essential when it comes to the nerve-wracking finale, taking place at a rehearsal where Parallax intends to give Frady his first assignment.Particularly of intrigue is the sequence where Frady is "tested". The questionnaire and personality-testing montage have to have individual viewers wondering just how they would personally fare, going through these processes. In the end, this system succeeds in creating such efficient cold-blooded creeps such as Bill McKinney's character (who has absolutely no dialogue).Glum, riveting, and ultimately downbeat, "The Parallax View" offers choice acting opportunities to a solid cast that also features Hume Cronyn (as Frady's long-suffering editor), William Daniels, Walter McGinn (in a standout turn as a friendly Parallax recruiter), Kelly Thordsen, Earl Hindman, Jim Davis, Kenneth Mars, William Jordan, Edward Winter, Stacy Keach Sr., Ford Rainey, Richard Bull, and an uncredited Anthony Zerbe. It's particularly fun for this viewer to see future 'Home Improvement' cast member Hindman as a hostile Sheriffs' deputy (who gets his ass handed to him by Frady).As was said, Beatty does a fine job. This is a character who's not an infallible superhero, and you can see that he really is out of his depth here.Pakula did do much more popular pictures during his career, but never really got enough credit for this one.Seven out of 10.

One of the best of all conspiracy theory movies and a brilliant political thriller, "The Parallax View" came from a time in the mid-seventies when American cinema appeared to have reached a peak in providing intelligent, grown-up entertainments that were both fun to watch and which required bringing your brain into the cinema with you rather than leaving it in the foyer with the popcorn. It begins with a political assassination on top of Seattle's Space Needle. At this stage the audience doesn't have apply any guesswork; we can see the set up. We can see the killing of the apparent assassin and we can see the real assassin get away.Step forward three years to a grubby Warren Beatty, who was there that day working as a reporter and who is now being contacted by another reporter, (Paula Prentiss in a tight cameo), who was also there and now fears for her life. It seems almost anyone who was there at the time is already dead; cue Warren off to uncover the truth. If the plot feels reasonably predictable, the treatment is superb. Alan J Pakula was the director, working from a screenplay by David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr and the great Gordon Willis was the cinematographer, working a lot more in the light for a change and there's an excellent supporting turn from Hume Cronyn as Beatty's editor and a brilliant one from the underrated William McGinn as the guy tasked with recruiting assassins. There's a twist in the tale you will probably see coming but it doesn't lessen the effect. As I said, this is a smart piece of multiplex entertainment from a time when movies like this were commonplace. Those, as they say, were the days.

Independent minded Senator Carroll is assassinated on top of the Space Needle. The assumed killer falls to his death and a commission declares him to be a lone gunman. Three years later, Lee Carter pleads with reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) to investigate the Carroll assassination. The people around Carroll on that day are getting killed off. Frady finds something disturbing. He is attacked by Sheriff Wicker. He kills Wicker and discovers the name Parallax Corporation among the sheriff's belongings. His boss is Bill Rintels (Hume Cronyn) doesn't believe him at first. He suspects that they are recruiting psychopaths and he intends to infiltrate the organization.The first half is really compelling. There is a good sense of paranoia. It fades a little after the plane bombing. They couldn't film the plane exploding. It's the first sign of the movie's limitations. I wish the movie could find the next gear but it's not really there. I also wasn't impressed with the long montage sequence that Frady sits through. It could be much more compelling but it feels derivative of 'A Clockwork Orange'. It's still a very good paranoid thriller.

I have to say that the most interesting thing in this film was a game of Pong with a monkey. Gamers today would not believe what we found interesting.A U.S. Senator is killed, they kill all the journalists who witnessed the attack. Reporter Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) has so far been spared, his investigations eventually put him on the trail of nebulous Parallax Corporation. Under an assumed name he infiltrates there. I found it hard to believe that Frady made it past the first test, but then the story would end, wouldn't it?The film explores conspiracy theories that were popular post-Watergate.Director Alan J. Pakula gave us an intelligent film that effectively explored the era and it's cynicism.