Parallax View (the)

Genre: political thriller

With: Warren Beatty (Joseph Frady), Paula Prentiss (Lee Carter), William Daniels (Austin Tucker), Walter McGinn (Jack Younger), Hume Cronyn (Bill Rintels), Kelly Thordsen (Sheriff L.D. Wicker), Earl Hindman (Deputy Red), Chuck Waters (Thomas Richard Linder), Kenneth Mars (Will), William Joyce (Senator Charles Carroll), Betty Murray (Mrs. Charles Carroll), Bill McKinney (Parallax operative), Anthony Zerbe (Prof. Schwartzkopf), Doria Cook-Nelson (Gale)

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Screenplay: David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr. and Robert Towne (based on Loren Singer’s novel)

Release: 1974

Studio: Doubleday Productions, Gus, Harbor Productions, Paramount Pictures

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.4/10 

 

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Story-line: Fourth of July in Seattle. Senator Charles Carroll, a potential candidate for the presidency, attends a social gathering high atop the Space Needle and is assassinated while speaking to his guests. An inquiry is conducted and a committee concludes that his murder was the work of a lone gunman… but doubts and suspicions linger. Some three years later, Lee Carter, who was present at the scene, tells her ex-boyfriend, reporter Joe Frady, that the deaths of other witnesses since Carroll’s assassination are the result of a conspiracy and that she herself is now a target.

Pluses: excellent acting by Warren Beatty, able support from Hume Cronyn, Walter McGinn, William Daniels, Paula Prentiss and a fine cast of meanies, tight direction by a first-rate helmer, an intriguing and elaborate screenplay that leaves a few loose ends to tantalize viewers and supplies a good deal of thrills, competent cinematography, irreproachable production values, an appropriate musical score that amplifies the drama and a surprising ending.

Minuses: none I can think of.

Comments: with its heavy mix of mystery, chills, political ploys and suspense, THE PARALLAX VIEW plays its hand deliberately, keeping its best card close to the vest until the very end. Like Joe finds out as he investigates the matter, the more you uncover, the worse it gets. Alan J. Pakula’s work remains mesmerizing and disturbing even in today’s world of mistrust, fact tampering and untruths. 

 

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