The Parallax View

Political thrillers can be very much hit or miss events, some try so hard to be clever that they baffle the audience causing them to abandon the movie; The Parallax View is not one of those movies. Made in 1974 it was the movie that cemented Warren Beatty as a Hollywood legend, proving that he was not just a one trick pony.

Rather like All The Presidents Men, The Parallax View is a dark and chilling thriller that begins with the assassination of a political figure. Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) is a reporter who worked on the story of the assassination and ever since has been chasing one conspiracy theory to another. Out of the blue and many years later Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) a one time lover of Frady appears at his apartment in a state of distress. Lee tells Frady that 6 of the people who were present on the day of the assassination have all met with untimely death and that she believes herself to be the next victim. Frady has memories of Lee’s often erratic behaviour, considering this to be a cry for help. The next day Lee’s body is found and Frady begins to look at the bigger picture trying to track down the remaining survivors from the assassination.

The Parallax View is an incredibly unusual thriller, unusual in the sense that in a time where Hollywood was being very wary about what they put on film, The Parallax View is very un-Hollywood of that period, being incredibly dark and controversial in its political standpoint; adding fuel to the already controversial fire it then aligns itself with a real life assassination the 1968 killing of Robert F. Kennedy. The movie is unquestionably brutal offering a bloody murder at the start and a series of other disturbing deaths to follow up.

The Parallax of the movie’s title is a secret organisation which Frady must infiltrate in order to help his investigation; the specifics of the organization are kept very much cloak and dagger throughout the movie allowing the viewer to decide its own conclusions about who and where the organisation situates itself.

I won’t lie and pretend the story is complex, it’s not although it creates a very good impression of depth. I think it’s the sinister aspects of the movie, and the many questions that it asks; many of which it somewhat unfairly fails to answer, that keep the movie moving along at a brisk pace. When you look at the movie with bigger eyes, you realise that it’s quite a vacuous piece of filmmaking using lots of early 70’s influences to push the film forward. During the mid section of the movie there is a piece of aversion therapy combined with light brainwashing shown in the form of a series of images and words (used in many movies since) in order to convert people to Parallax’s viewpoint, this sequence carries on for nearly 10 minutes creating some rather heavy packaging of the movies central section, you could say that rather like the character in the movie, it tries the same thing on the viewer.

There is a reasonable ensemble cast in the movie with the late great Hume Cronyn taking up second lead, William Daniels best known from the show Magnum PI, and Kenneth Mars; all of which were enjoying reasonable success in that time period. Warren Beatty provides in my opinion one of his better performances, Beatty’s appeal intrigues me because when you look at his career as an actor it’s pretty threadbare with only 22 movies to his bow (most of the early ones he offered small roles) and a scattering of TV work; somehow Beatty has managed to make himself a legend for 5 decades without actually doing very much often going as long as 7 years between movies. As Frady Beatty is convincing as a onetime wash up hack reporter looking for that next big story only to frequently deliver blanks. Charming, womanising, and ultimately very shallow you wonder how much of Beatty’s real personality is in Frady, bearing in mind that Carly Simon hints that her song You’re So Vein was a homage to the star.

The Parallax is quite a sexist piece really with only one female actress appearing in the first 20 credits of the movie, and all females in the movie either being used for sexual reference, or displayed as being a bit ditzy, in the case of Lee Carter. I find it quite unusual for a movie to be so male lead, unless it’s a war movie.  

Onto why I recommend this movie and why I personally believe it’s one of the best political thrillers of all time. Director Alan J. Pakula delivers a massive theatrical image, first of all the shots are incredibly creative using unique filming aspect completely unfamiliar at that time. There are some of the most beautifully filmed long distance shots I have ever seen in a movie, one highly notable scene being at a dam; while the beauty is there so is the terror. The movies story is crucial, but easy to follow; you don’t at any time get caught out in thinking the movie is cleverer than you. But most importantly the movie really disturbed me, I guess similarities with real life events at the time I first saw the movie some 15 or so years ago) made me for the first time realise that the people employed for our protection might not be all they seem. Secondly the movie burned its imagery and its story into my mind, when it finished I felt a little cold and uneasy, a shocking end arrived unexpectedly and rather suddenly. A movie that leaves you considering its many messages long after the credits roll in my opinion has to be something noteworthy.

The Parallax view is available on the high street as well as online for around £10, while the DVD has no special features it does have a reasonably sized poster illustrating the movies original artwork promoting the picture 24 years ago. Protected by a classy cardboard outer case if you like movies that shape how the movie industry now looks then The Parallax View is a movie you can’t afford to miss.