The Parallax View (1974)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers:

David Giler (writer) and
Lorenzo Semple Jr. (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

14 June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

There is no conspiracy. Just twelve people dead.

Plot:

An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the worlds headlines.

Plot Keywords:

Assassination | Conspiracy | Reporter | Senator | Investigative Reporter

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

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
Chuck Waters	...	Thomas Richard Linder
Earl Hindman	...	Deputy Red
William Joyce	...	Senator Charles Carroll (as Bill Joyce)
Bettie Johnson	...	Mrs. Charles Carroll
Bill McKinney	...	Parallax Assassin
Jo Ann Harris	...	Chrissy - Frady's Girl (as JoAnne Harris)
Ted Gehring	...	Schecter - Hotel Clerk
Lee Pulford	...	Shirley - Salmontail Bar Girl
Doria Cook-Nelson	...	Gale from Salmontail (as Doria Cook)
Jim Davis	...	George Hammond
Joan Lemmo	...	Organist
Kenneth Mars	...	Former FBI Agent Will
William Jordan	...	Tucker's Aide
Edward Winter	...	Senator Jameson
Stacy Keach Sr.	...	Commission Spokesman #1
Ford Rainey	...	Commission Spokesman #2
Alma Beltran	...	Joy Holder
Richard Bull	...	Parallax Goon
Suzanne Cohane	...	Stewardess
Ronda Copland	...	Girl
Joe Di Reda	...	Ralph Scoletta (as Joseph Di Reda)
Patsy Garrett	...	Woman
Penelope Gillette	...	Woman
Robert P. Lieb	...	Senator Gillingham (as Robert Lieb)
William Swan	...	Herbert Moon
John S. Ragin	...	Buster Himan
Vernon Weddle	...	Harry Lutz
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steve Kelley	...	Class President (uncredited)
Anthony Zerbe	...	Prof. Schwartzkopf (uncredited)

Directed by
Alan J. Pakula

Writing credits
David Giler		(writer) and
Lorenzo Semple Jr.		(writer)
Loren Singer		(novel)
Robert Towne		uncredited

Produced by
Robert Jiras	....	assistant producer (as Robert E. Jiras)
Gabriel Katzka	....	executive producer
Charles H. Maguire	....	associate producer
Alan J. Pakula	....	producer

Original Music by
Michael Small

Cinematography by
Gordon Willis

Film Editing by
John W. Wheeler

Casting by
Alixe Gordin
Joe Scully

Production Design by
George Jenkins

Set Decoration by
Reg Allen

Costume Design by
Frank L. Thompson		(as Frank Thompson)

Makeup Department
William Turner	....	makeup artist (as Bill Turner)

Production Management
Charles H. Maguire	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hawk Koch	....	first assistant director (as Howard W. Koch Jr.)
John M. Poer	....	second assistant director (as John Poer)

Art Department
Dudley Holmes	....	property master (as R. Dudley Holmes)

Sound Department
David Dockendorf	....	sound re-recordist
Charles Grenzbach	....	sound re-recordist (as Bud Grenzbach)
Tom Overton	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Tim Smyth	....	special effects

Stunts
Craig R. Baxley	....	stunt driver
Paul Baxley	....	stunt coordinator
Denny Arnold	....	stunts (uncredited)
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Waters	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Brian Hamill	....	still photographer: special assignment
George Holmes	....	gaffer
Chris Schwiebert	....	camera operator

Other crew
Jon Boorstin	....	assistant to director
Karen Hale Wookey	....	script supervisor (as Karen Wookey)
Don Record	....	design consultant
Barbara Spitz	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Doubleday Productions
• Gus
• Harbor Productions

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1977) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)
• Paramount Home Video (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Pacific Titles & Optical

Other Companies

• DeForest Research  research
• Pacific Title  opticals

Also Known As:

À cause d'un assassinat (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Zeuge einer Verschwörung (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A Última Testemunha (Portugal) [pt]
A Trama (Brazil) [pt]
Ansa - Parallax View (Finland) [fi]
Asesinos, S.A. (Puerto Rico) [es]
El último testigo (Spain) [es]
Perché un assassinio (Italy) [it]
Sidste vidne (Denmark) [da]
Sista vittnet (Sweden) [sv]
Syndykat zbrodni (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Brazil:12 | UK:AA | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | France:U | Norway:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:R (certificate #23909)

Filming Locations:

Gorge Dam, Skagit River, Washington, USA

Company:

Doubleday Productions

Trivia:

The Parallax View (1974) is one of a trilogy of thrillers directed by Alan J. Pakula, along with _Klute(1971)_ and All the President's Men (1976). This was the only one not released by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the chase, right up until Joseph Frady crashes his stolen police car, the driver of his car is wearing a wide-brimmed sheriff's hat. He crashes with the hat, but gets out of the car hat-less.

Quotes:

Bill Rintels: When I agreed to take you back in January I made two suggestions. One was about your drinking. Well, you seem to have licked that. The other was that you curb your talent for creative irresponsibility: you can start working on that right now.

Movie Connections:

References Shane (1953)

Soundtrack:

Buttons and Bows

Existentialism with a political twist

I saw this film first some twenty years ago and loved it. I saw it again this week and found the film superior to most other films of director Pakula and found it to be another gem from cinematographer Gordon Willis.

"Parallax View" never won Oscars or other major awards for Pakula but this film along with "Klute" and "Sophie's Choice" are his finest works. Articles on Pakula often focus on his award-winning work and neglect this fine movie.

What was great in this film that was missing in "All the president's men" or "The pelican brief"? Here the element of existentialism sucked in the viewer to participate in the whirlpool of deceit, exemplified most by the test given to the lead character in the offices of Parallax Corporation, the staccato editing (John Wheeler) that exemplifies the individual's helplessness, and the imaginative photography (Willis) that stunts the individual (not crowds) against the himalayan landscapes of glass and steel.

The film was made at a time when Hollywood was brimming with great films with a similar line of thought (Spielberg's "Duel", Coppola's "The Conversation", Penn's "Night Moves", Polanski's "Chinatown", Antonionni's "Zabriskie Point", Altman's "Nashville", Boorman's "Point Blank", etc.) internalizing the external, as Camus would have best described it. "Parallax View" among all these films touched the subject of politics using the least obscure metaphors and similies.

Can one forget the dead calm in the sea before the explosion/assasination? Or the assassination viewed from the roof top of the victim's cart colliding with empty tables and chairs towards the end of the film? None of Pakula's other films have such hardhitting scenes as these, even if one were to discount the unconvincing cool response of the lead character in the airplane when he realizes that there is a live bomb on it.

This is a film that grips you nearly 30 years after it was made, when US politics seems to be at a point very close to what the film depicted three decades ago.