This is a review of the 2004 Region 2 DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment. This product does, sadly, look its age: the sound is OK, the picture too, but the overall quality is pretty average. Unfortunately, there are few alternatives, if one wishes to see this interesting example of 1970s political paranoia.
American novelist Loren Singer had served with the Office of Strategic Services, the fore-runner of the CIA, in WW2. His insight into covert operations informed his subsequent writing. In 1970, he wrote a political thriller, ‘The Parallax View’, looking at a journalist investigating the deaths of witnesses to the assassination of a Presidential candidate, attributed to a lone gunman. The 1960s had seen the shooting of both President John Kennedy and his brother Bobby. Nearly 60 years later, the former still attracts much speculation regarding a possible conspiracy.
Several writers worked on the screenplay, but apparently, Robert Towne, who wrote the script for ‘Chinatown’(1974) did some uncredited re-working, at the behest of the star, Warren Beatty. Beatty, a long-time Democrat, was close to liberal Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern. He was also a friend of independent-minded Republican Senator John McCain, who was so detested by Trump; Beatty was a Pallbearer at McCain’s funeral. So it is no surprise to find him involved in this very political, very paranoid, conspiracy thriller. It mines a deep vein of such movies from the 1970s, some fiction ~ ‘The Day of the Jackal’(1973); ’Three Days of the Condor’(1975), others not ~ ‘All the President’s Men’(1976).
Beatty plays Joseph Frady, the slightly flaky investigative journalist who sets out to follow up clues about an assassination, much like the book. He is very good, giving a persuasive performance as a man with an uneven career to date, who may or may not be a reliable judge of the true facts. Particularly good is the veteran Canadian character actor Hume Cronyn, as Frady’s long-suffering, supportive newspaper editor, Bill Rintels. But Beatty really carries the film.
The script is intelligently written and punctuated with humour. The use of location is excellent, with stand-outs being Seattle’s Space Needle and the Gorge Dam on Washington’s Skagit River. There are several very exciting action sequences, especially those involving the tower and dam. The use of long lens shots gives a nice feeling of disquiet and of being watched. However, we felt that the pacing of the film was rather uneven, with some odd periods of ‘longueur’.
The film received a wide array of reviews on release, though today, it is generally highly regarded. Personally, and no doubt controversially, I felt that it was, to a degree, annoying smoke and mirrors. It looks clever and avante garde, but actually, the plot is lazy, full of scary ideas and nasty allusions, but without ever explaining itself. Any who-dunnit is easy to write, if you only have a body and no motive, no culprit. 3 disappointing Stars.
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Top reviews from other countries
D J Jackson: Passionate about Film.
MY VIEW: A MOVIE LESS THAN THE SUM OF IT’S PARTS.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 November 2020Verified Purchase
Andrew McSkimming
Great film given a poor DVD transfer.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 December 2017Verified Purchase
Technophobic
It's ok.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2018Verified Purchase
R H Warwick
A classic film, in my mind
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 April 2021Verified Purchase
WildIrishGuy
Warren Beatty's best role.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2020Verified Purchase
