Klute

source: Klute

Donald Sutherland plays John Klute, a small town private investigator, whose search for a missing man leads him to a high-priced New York City call-girl named Bree Daniels, played by Jane Fonda. Bree keeps thinking she hears noises and has the feeling someone is following her. This story element combined with spooky music conveys an air of mystery, a sense that an unseen character lurks in the background. It's an interesting premise. But the story is thin, and the film's payoff at the end is disappointing. The weak story transfers responsibility of entertainment to the two lead characters: Klute and Bree. And with Sutherland's character so reticent and stoic, "Klute" turns out to be mostly a character study of the call-girl, and therefore a cinematic vehicle for Fonda. Although I'm not convinced she deserved an academy award for her performance, she does do a fine job. But there just isn't that much else to this film. It is very, very slow. Scenes are long and drawn out. Stylistically, "Klute" reminds me of "The Conversation" (1974). The film also is vaguely similar in style to some of Dario Argento's "giallos", minus the horror element, and minus Argento's fantastic cinematography. Most viewers like this film because of Fonda's performance. And that's certainly a valid criterion. Far fewer people recommend the film for its story or plot. If you are a Jane Fonda fan, "Klute" will be a real treat. If you are looking for a chilling mystery with lots of plot twists, you might want to look elsewhere.

For a movie that is all about the main character there is not much we learn about her. There are only these tapes and conversations she has with a shrink that sort of give insight in her thought process. Had this movie been advertised as drama I would not have such high expectations of this movie. The thriller/mystery element just didn't cut it for me. As a matter of fact there isn't much of a mystery although is has the appearance of. In stead it is more a portrait of the character Bree who has to deal with some issues. For me they weren't interesting enough. The performances however make up for the lack of plot.

The only thing making Klute a mediocre film rather than a dismal film is Jane Fonda's stellar performance. Her character study of a New York prostitute is superb acting. Fonda really shines in this role, giving the audience a glimpse of the complex workings of a call girl's psyche. The rest of the performances were run-of-the mill to lame. Sutherland has done much better work in other films, as he kind of lumbers along. The rest of the cast is forgettable. The story is rather boring and moves at a snails pace. This could be a good candidate for a remake in that the concept is interest; yet, it simply doesn't deliver. Rating should be 3 stars, but Fonda catapults it to 5 of 10 stars.

There is nomystery to this whodunit. The guy watching/stalking Breeis recognizable from the back of his head when he stands across the street watching Donald Sutherland first go into Bree's building. In every subsequent scene when the creep-executive is listening to Bree on tape, you see and recognize the face -- it's the same guy you've already seen in the first and second scenes of the movie! No mystery who is the villain in this piece. The only thing you sit through this stinker trying to figure out is: Why did the killer-villain-stalker hire Donald Sutherland in the first place? Oh yeah, so he could get caught for crimes/murders he'd already been getting away with for years. Furthermore, he just had to hunt Fonda down just so he could confess everything to her, all the many murders. Why? Oh yeh, because he's rich,powerful, successful so I guess he can't stand all that and has to go beat up hookers on the side, then murder them. And when the cops never could catch up to him, he had to hire Sutherland to do it, Such an 'intelligent' movie. What a piece of crap. Don't waste your time on this so-called 'classic'. It makes no sense. I give it less than zerobut one star is the lowest rating on this board.

Alan Pakula created one of his most memsmerizing and hauntingly beautiful pieces with this film. The love affair between Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda is nothing less than one of the most realistic and touching developments put onto film. Watch this movie for just one scene and you'll be amazed - when the 2 principals shop for fruit, watch how he selects a melon, and when Sutherland casually puts his hand on Fonda - it's enough to send shivers down the spine of any woman. This is when we see that great acting is an art too subtle to define and limit with categorical definitions - it simply IS art.

In the late 1960s and into the 70s, a lot of Hollywood films tried very hard to upend the old notions of movies. Instead of the nice old Production Code, the late 60s brought in all sorts of deliberately unsavory things--things meant to challenge traditional morality. Think about it...films like "Bonnie & Clyde" and "The Wild Bunch" brought violence to a whole new level. Additionally, films like "Sex and the Single Girl", "Midnight Cowboy" and this movie, "Klute" brought sex out of the closet and right into the audience's faces. Because of this, back in 1971 this film really had a big impact and brought Jane Fonda an Oscar for playing a prostitute. But is it good? I would say yes...but certainly not great. While Fonda's performance is very good, the story itself seems almost like an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit". It was novel then but today it doesn't seem quite to groundbreaking. Overall, I'd score this one an 8 back in '71 and a 6 today.

Despite the rough-edges reputation of Pakula, he always manages to give us some beautifully shot, almost fragile images. Like Fonda pondering an envelope full of money and a blank invoice while surrounded by clothing-store dummies; or Sutherland choosing apricots by feel; or even Roy Scheider's silent acknowledgement that he is being used. And Fonda's artless performance is so unbelieveable, I couldn't believe it was her. Terrifically acted - everyone takes just the right tone. My only quibble about the movie is how the mystery is solved. It's much too abrupt given the meandering pace of the rest of the movie. But the plot means nothing in this surprisingly delicate character study.

Fine gritty dramatic mystery that gets the pulse of NYC in the early 70's just right. It becomes another character in the film which only strengths the picture and adds a certain creeping menace to it. While the movie pivots on the disappearance of a man it's really a character study of alienation with the investigation a peg to hang the main action on. Sutherland is fine as the inquiring detective John Klute but the film lives and dies on the character of Bree Daniels and Jane Fonda owns that part. Bree wants the world to believe she's one tough hard customer but as the film progresses it becomes more and more obvious that the bravado is a front. She displays raw, honest emotion in all her scenes but particularly in her therapy sequences. She shows so many layers to the character, including flashes of humor that Bree comes across as a real woman. Usually I try not to let appearance factor into my appraisal of a performance however that shag hairstyle is integral to the audience's acceptance of her as a tough call girl. Having moved forward and away from her initial image of the blonde cutie with her previous film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, she completely transforms herself in this. The soft blonde Jane Fonda of Barefoot in the Park or Barbarella of only a couple of years before would never be believable as Bree Daniels. The film was a major hit and she won her first Oscar for it. She was up against some excellent performances that year but she was the correct winner. Expertly directed by Pakula in his usual observant style this is a classic of '70's cinema. Highly recommended.

In Pennsylvania, when his old friend, the laboratory engineer Tom Gruneman (Robert Mili), vanishes, detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is hired by Tom's colleague Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) to search for him. The unique lead is an obscene letter written by Tom to a call-girl in New York called Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda), and Klute moves to the Apple city to investigate the disappearance of Tom. Klute blackmails Bree to help him to find other prostitutes that might have been with Tom using some tapes of her phone calls that he had secretly recorded. They realize that some is stalking Bree, while Klute falls in love for Dress, and she has some sort of feeling that she can not understand for him. In 1971, Jane Fonda was a muse worshiped by many teenagers like me, and I was particularly following her work through the sexy and cult sci-fi "Barbarella" and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They", an excellent adaptation of Horace McCoy's novel of the same name that had impressed me a lot. "Klute" was considered erotic in those times and the scene where Dree fakes an * while looking at her watch was a sensation. Later I saw this movie many times on VHS, and now I have just bought the DVD. "Klute" is really a classic film-noir, one of my favorite movies ever, with an engaging story with thriller, crime and romance, magnificent direction and stunning performances of Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland in the role of very believable characters. Jane Fonda deserved the Oscar perfectly playing a very complex character, strong and insensitive with her clients, fragile and confused with love. It is amazing how this movie has not aged and how much I like it every time I see it. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): "Klute, O Passado Condena" ("Klute, the Past Condemns")