Review of Klute (1971) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013

Directed by Alan J. Pakula, this was the first part of his "paranoia trilogy", which would be followed by The Parallax View (1974) and All The President's Men (1976). This is a tense and mysterious detective film, it's a tale of obsession that Hitchcock would have killed for, but it has hints of what was to come from Argento and De Palma.

But it has two great leads and a good story. Private detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) has been hired by executive Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) to investigate the disappearance of company chief Tom Gruneman (Robert Milli).

There's not much to go on, but one clue is an obscene letter in Gruneman's office, addressed to Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda), who works as a prostitute in New York City. Klute moves into the basement of the apartment block Bree lives in, bugging her flat and tapping her phone.

After finally confronting Bree, Klute asks if she remembers Gruneman, but she cannot remember him, although she'd taken a beating from someone two years before, and there's someone watching Bree and Klute.

It's a very good thriller, but it does require your fullest attention, as nothing is what it seems in this film, and it is a good time piece of what New York was like back then as well, but it helped get Pakula, who had gone from producing to directing, firmly on the map.