The Parallax View

The first shot was already too much contrived. Then everything in the plot followed the same pace, the same succession of events, each one not really leading to the next (yep, it's a pretty episodic and pedestrian structure). With the whole thing never getting interesting and mostly pleased with itself (how many 70s conspiracy movies thought they were very very clever?) I didn't find many things to praise. The pouting Warren Beatty is duller than ever, the couple of action scenes are understated, to say the least (yeah, understated meant intelligent in those movies). OK, the cinematography by Gordon Willis is excellent and Hume Cronyn is as good as ever (in a role announcing Jason Robarts' award-winning performance in All the President's Men). If you're looking for a good conspiracy movie I'd rather advise you to watch Three Days of the Condor. It's much more original, balanced and the understated storytelling really adds up to a situation where the hero is alone against the elusive villains. But if you're more in the understated pathos you might prefer The Conversation, at least Coppola skills makes it interesting. As for Pakula his work here and in Klute has been much over-hyped and this doesn't stand the test of time.

A rising-star Democrat politician gets assassinated, and in the course of the next years all journalists who were present when this happened start getting knocked off one by one, by an evil, mysterious, all-powerful, sinister, TNT-happy (and doubtlessly Republican-controlled) organization with a rather bombastic name, "The Parallax Corporation" (sounds almost sci-fi-ish; anything with the letter "x" denotes "threat" and "ominous bad guys doing evil deeds"). Soon Beatty, the next reporter waiting in line to be spectacularly executed, nearly gets killed in a dam(!) accident. No, not a "damn accident", a DAM accident! Talk about pythonesque levels of comical overkill - sort of like Terry Jones (a Marxist, btw) trying to split a running train with his nose. One would think that those SECRET, MYSTERIOUS, evil corporations/organizations would do things like this quietly, effectively, intelligently. Alas, Pakula wants to have his cake and eat it too: have the villains be all-powerful and yet as stupid and reckless as a drugged-up, drunk strip-bar bimbo doing a head-stand. Next, Beatty survives an explosion on a yacht. (How he survives BOTH these assassination attempts, we never know.) Granted, not nearly as 007-esque as a dam being blown up to smithereens to kill ONE person, but rather funny too. To cut a very silly, long story short, Beatty finds a killer-recruiting questionnaire from the evil evil dark "PARALLAX CORPORATION" (make sure you let that "X" hang on the top of your tongue when you say it out loud). One of the questions is "do you have a fear of blood?" You see, when recruiting assassins, it is of vital import to find out if the candidate is squeamish so you don't end up hiring someone like Pauly Shore to mess up the murders of your political enemies. In the end, Beatty gets whacked, because even he isn't godlike enough to have 100 lives. Pakula, who marketed this as a "drama/thriller" - and not a political sci-fi/horror action fantasy - has absolutely no basis in reality to go on. His portrayal of a "dark, underground, sinister" Right-wing America is the stuff of monster tales being told to kids. No, Pakula, your DAM(n) stupid propaganda flicks still haven't helped bring about a surge of change in the minds of the U.S. voters, helping bring about a "spontaneous" proletariat revolution and then a "peace-loving" Communist regime - just as Marx had so... badly predicted. Ironically (and this is nothing to laugh about), it is Pakulas heroes - Caucesku, Stalin, Mao, Lenin, Pol Pot - who regularly use(d) the kind of killer squads that Pakula actually wants us to believe that democratic regimes have in abundance.

As others have said, Pakula's paranoid tale subverts the Hollywood paradigm. Creating an unreliable hero is only the beginning: it is difficult to tell who is lying, who is telling the truth - or how much of the truth they know. It's a lot more "real" than one-track plots which leave no room for doubt. I have always thought it was influenced heavily by Costa-Gavras's magnificent film Z, where conflicting versions of the central event are on display. Nevertheless, in Z, it adds up to a clear-cut conspiracy, even though not all the conspirators will be punished; here it adds up to a depressing - but again "real" - failure to get the evidence where and when it is needed (like Silkwood). What sets it apart in my viewing, however, is the way Pakula deploys visual metaphors throughout the story, and I am disappointed that other commentators obviously haven't picked up on them. The most important of these is the setting of the central event, the assassination (on 4 July!) atop the Space Needle in Seattle. It's a circular venue. That means that each witness sees the event from a different angle: that is the very meaning of parallax. It's also why different versions of the event emerge and continue; and why some people telling the "truth" can't be reconciled with others. The opening sequence doesn't merely define "parallax" it defines the whole film. There are many other examples, such as the hypertrophied attempt the wash the conspiracy clean by releasing a flood from a dam. Don't mistake this for a naturalistic film: it's as highly stylised as Eastwood's The Gauntlet, or Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. A collection of great writers - Lorenzo Semple Jr, Robert Towne (Chinatown)among them - put together this narrative, which is deliberately fuzzy. Many so-called film-makers would be satisfied to simply relate a script as good as that, but Pakula's films always had a visual vitality that adds a further dimension. It's supposed to be why we watch films instead of reading books. In this film, there is a valuable visual commentary on the plot, which will take the tale to the attentive viewer on another level.

On the positive side, it stars Warren Beatty at the time when he was a great leading man. It also starred Paula Prentiss, another plus. The cinematography was imaginative and worthy of praise. On the negative side, it never shared enough detail for the viewer to know what was going on or to really care. It was a minimalist movie in that regard. I was looking forward to this movie. I was cursing the time wasted while watching it, and very displeased when it was over. The story could have been told quite fine in a 30 minute Twilight Zone episode, including leaving some of the 30 minutes time for commercials. Don't waste your time watching this movie.

You won't get any answers from this film. Because giving us definitive answers would be contrary to the entire point of the film. If you have a single definitive answer (or view), then you don't have a parallax (view). Everyone will come out of this film with a different idea of what it was about or what really happened -- their own interpretations of the information presented to them -- kind of like how conspiracy theorists generally operate. For example, Zapruder shot his JFK film from one angle -- and 12 other people also shot films or photos at the moments of the assassination, all from different angles (or points of view). Not to mention the many other people who were present that day to witness it, who also saw things from their own point of view. Some folks saw movement in the grassy knoll, others didn't. In the end, we'll probably never truly know the answers to these sorts of things. And the search for the answers can be a slippery path to travel... Which is what we can only assume Warren Beatty's character learns in the final moments of the film. But really, that's just from my point of view.

The late Alan J. Pakula's 1974 film about political murders is a superbly crafted thriller that holds the audience in its quiet, unsettling grip. Warren Beatty gives his character of Joe Frady, a "third-rate" journalist, just the right balance of recklessness and determination to enable one to have faith in this man to uncover such shady, potentially threatening goings-on. Beatty is ably backed up by the supporting cast, most notably Hume Cronyn as Frady's editor, and Paula Prentiss and William Daniels as, respectively, a television reporter and columnist both in fear for their lives. Composer Michael Small's main theme (used at strategic points throughout the film and often playing on the traditional patriotic sound of the trumpet) has a quality both mournful and despairing that relates effectively to what we are watching. It is a rather sparse music score, but this seems to add to its power. Gordon Willis's Panavision photography conveys threat in even the most everyday of locations (his rendering of modern architecture is especially strong in suggesting a faceless, omnipotent threat), while the editing rhythms and sound design contribute a great deal in throwing the audience off-balance. Pakula has been involved in more widely-known projects such as All The President's Men and Presumed Innocent, but The Parallax View is definitely one of his best and most powerful films.

In the age of conspiracy, there are dozen of reasons why bad things happen to good people. They never happen to bad people, they are protected. Lincoln, Kennedy, Luthor King and even Bobby Kennedy, all were targeted for death by their enemies. Bush, Nixon or even pedophile priests, all have guardian angels. This movie is called " The Parallax View " which offers a plausible suggestion of how such powerful organizations work. Warren Beatty plays Joseph Frady, a top notch reporter who discovers a mounting pile of evidence, all which indicates a U.S. Senator was not assassinated by a lone gunman. However, as he begins collecting both the name of witnesses and collaborating evidence to substantiate his conclusions, he become the primary target of the Paraallax corporation. With Williams Daniels and Hume Cronyn in supporting roles, this strange and compelling film urges the audience to try and stay ahead of the assassins. Base on the David Giler novel and aptly directed by Alan J. Pakula this movie is driven by suspense and fueled by circumstance. From the very beginning, the audience is drawn ever forward with the hero and we hope he will get to the exit door before the Parallax crew prevents him. An exciting and heart pounding ending awaiting anyone paying attention and riveted to their chair. Superior film for Warren Beatty and one destined to become a Classic. ****

Fascinating premise gets somewhat pretentious, lugubrious treatment from acclaimed director Alan J. Pakula. Conspiracy thriller has newspaper reporter Warren Beatty investigating years-old assassination of a U. S. Senator wherein witnesses to the shooting are all mysteriously dying. Beatty gives one of his better performances here, although the scene in which he defeats a taunting deputy in a bar is fairly absurd (as is the sidebar involving a hick town built around a dam, which seems to be little more than a red herring). Gordon Willis' arty cinematography is exasperating, although a shot early on of assassin Bill McKinney looking up at the Space Needle is chilling; McKinney has few lines but suits his role well, as does Paula Prentiss in small part as a frantic 'next target'. The much-discussed 'Parallax test' (a delineation on how innocent boyhood is corrupted by sex and violence at the expense of Mom and Country) is handled with sledgehammer style, and the unhappy ending is too cynical to swallow whole. **1/2 from ****

I generally enjoy conspiracy films, because they invariably generate a great deal of suspense and coax great performances from actors who are playing people going through a living nightmare. However, after watching this film for ten minutes, I had a strong suspicion that I would not like it; nonetheless, because I am a hard-core movie buff, I decided to stick it out. After a half-hour and then 45 minutes (by which times the plot holes and unnecessarily confusing plot were all too evident), I would not have been particularly upset if my VCR had somehow malfunctioned and I'd lost the rest of the film. * Spoilers * Warren Beatty, a decent actor (but in my opinion one who never delivers powerhouse performances), plays a reporter who witnesses the assassination of a U.S. senator; and, after learning of the deaths of 6 persons who witnessed his murder, ultimately becomes convinced that his death was part of a huge conspiracy. His boss (played wonderfully by Hume Cronyn) has little faith in him because of his problems with alcohol in the past and because of some of his past investigations which led nowhere. Warren persists, however, and becomes involved in a number of hair-raising experiences in which he is almost killed. A dam bursts and almost drowns him -- we do not see how he escaped the raging waters, but that is a minor quibble compared to his next escape. He finds himself on the yacht of a man who justifiably fears for his life due to his proximity to the senator when he was shot; the yacht blows up and we do not even see Warren's character near a lifeboat or even in the water. It is evident that they are way out to sea; so how on earth did he make it to shore, let alone escape the massive explosion? He does manage to steal a briefcase from a loathsomely corrupt sheriff and finds documents inside, which offer faint hope to the viewer that the movie's pace and depth will pick up. The papers are from the Parallax Corporation and consist of a large number of questions which obviously are geared to determining whether the person seeking admission to the organization would make a good killer. I was able to make out about 10 of the 80 (?) questions and cannot see how Warren or his friend (supposedly an expert at rigging such tests) could possibly fail to answer each question in such a way that the organization would be interested in the applicant. "Do you have a fear of blood," "Do you feel that people are out to get you?" are just some of the questions, to which any semi-intelligent person would know how to respond in order to attract the attention of the recruiter(s). We NEVER do find out what the aims of this organization are, but it seems that they have a thing against powerful politicians who are planning on becoming president. Yet, for some reason, they also blow up a plane, and it is not clear if there is even anyone important on board (or perhaps in my then semi-comatose state I missed something), except good old Warren, who manages to ground it by writing a note on a napkin that there's a bomb on board. I think that this film could have been far more engrossing if the aims of this sinister organization had been made clearer and if so many questions had not been left unanswered. P.S. Warren dies (big surprise)...Avoid this movie unless you are incredibly patient like me or have a desire to waste just under 2 hours of your life.

I'm amazed that some reviewers actually called this film "underrated", since it seems to have built a strong reputation over the years, most of which it doesn't really deserve. Not only are the political-paranoia aspects dated today, and way over-used by many other films since, but the picture doesn't even work perfectly as a thriller; it holds some interest most of the way but in the final 20 minutes, when the story is supposed to be climaxing, the suspense just peters out and drains away. Beatty is good but not spectacular; William Daniels is subtly creepy as a member of the Parallax organization. A footnote: how do the people who find this film profound explain the extended, useless fistfight near the beginning? Or the car chase? (**)