I hereby present a few selections from a long list—Marathon Man. 3 Days of the Condor. Soylent Green. The China Syndrome. All the President’s Men…. And The Parallax View. All U.S., 1970s films. All running a conspiracy narrative. It was a time of endemic distrust. Corporations/Government bad.. Individuals (preferably middle-class/lower middle-class) good.
But there’s a problem. The word ‘Parallax’ refers to the changes in an object’s apparent position depending on where you stand. So, everything—morals, ethics, regulations, rules—is relative, there are no absolute truths, no indelible laws. Can an individual really be good? Can a hero ever really win?
This world that The Parallax View (1974). The film follows down-on-his-luck reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) as he investigates the assassination of a U.S. senator, which was officially blamed on a lone gunman (think JFK in Dallas). Frady discovers that other witnesses to the assassination are dying, and he uncovers a conspiracy involving a background organization called The Parallax Corporation. He infiltrates the corporation by enrolling in their training program, only to find a huge conspiracy really is afoot.
Warren Beatty is at his befuddled best—a character he parlayed to stardom, beginning with Bonnie & Clyde (1967) and peaking the following year in Shampoo (1975). He’s a good man who is terribly alone and unprepared for the sophisticated, urban forest. If regarded from a different angle (isn’t that what ‘parallax’ is all about?) Pakula drops enough breadcrumbs to suggest that it may be Frady (Beatty) who is nuts.
Director Alan J. Pakula made Parallax just three years after—his masterpiece—Klute. There are obvious thematic similarities. And as both films feature the work of composer Michael Small and cinematographer Gordon Willis, there’s an odd duality, as if these films have some kind of family bond. Watch them together. In particular, Willis’ cinematography gives it that beautiful grittiness that sustains so many 1970s films —a journalistic quality.
In the end, The Parallax View asks a lot from viewers. The trouble is that it doesn’t appear to be sure of what it’s asking. Often, ideas come at you as if delivered from the mouth of a precocious sophomore who just discovered the Warren Commission. If we can’t trust anyone or anything, can we trust a film?
#theparallaxview #warrenbeatty #warrencommission #alanjpakula #conspiracy #dallas #klute #gordonwillis #michaelsmall #janefonda #shampoo #goldiehawn
Let's Play Something Else 