The Parallax View (1974)

Simply A Masterpiece

Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely Brilliant!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) is an investigative journalist who is tipped off that the assassination of a senator 3 years ago may have involved more than one person. As he delves deeper, Frady soon learns that several reporters present at the assassination are also dying in suspicious circumstances and learns that all these people are being targeted by the Parallax Corporation - a corporation who specialises in recruiting assassins. Determined to expose this organisation, Frady makes the bold decision to enrol in the Parallax Corporation.Dubbed as one of the films in Pakula's so called 'Political Paranoia Trilogy' The Parallax View is, for me, the lesser of the 3 films in this trilogy - the other two films being Klute and All The President's Men. The opening sequence is impressive and it's nice to see one of America's lesser known landmarks - the Seattle Space Needle playing an important role in the film. It's a shame really that after the impressive opening sequence that Pakula chooses to take his foot off the gas and turns most of the film into a rather dull and talkative affair with very little actually going on. Even when Pakula does show something actually happening he still had a tendency to draw some scenes out for way too long. Two examples of this are the scene where Frady has a fight in the pub which just seemed to go on forever, came out of nowhere, and made absolutely no sense. The second overlong sequence was when Frady was at Parallax Corporation bootcamp and they are showing him their 'training video'. That particular sequence ran for about 10 minutes with many of the same clips being replayed again and again and again. Why??? It just made me cringe.Another problem I had with this film was Warren Beatty; part of the problem lay with his rather lifeless performance and it also didn't help that his Joe Frady had no discernible character. As a thriller it wasn't particularly thrilling and never really gripped me and the investigative aspect doesn't get enough focus for one to become truly vested in the story.There are one or two good parts in the film and I did like the way that the film did at least have a rather non conformist Hollywood ending. However, these things are not enough to save this film and despite the fact that it only runs to just beyond 90 minutes I still found myself bored to tears watching it and was praying for it to end.

An ambitious reporter (Warren Beatty) 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 world's headlines.This is not a well-known thriller, even with Beatty leading the way. I would speculate part of the reason is the title, which does not lend itself to being easily remembered. Even after seeing the film and understanding the significance, it does not seem the best choice o really grab someone's attention.But anyway, lots of action and twists and turns. Some mystery. And a great big conspiracy that is pretty much impossible, but for the sake of a good story is worth suspending your disbelief for.

This movie is as bad as most T.V. series of that time, the worse Columbo plot is a master piece compare to this movie (with all my respect to Columbo). The film is naive, full of holes and unnecessary scenes of flying cars and fights type Starsky and Hutch. The movie start as a bad action film then suddenly turns "dark" "experimental" and "intelligent". The acting and production are as bad as can be, in fact is so bad that is almost enjoyable as a comic film. Unless you are on the mood for a bad bad movie this is not worth to watch. If you are fan of The Charlie Angels, or The million dollar man you are gonna love it.

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.