The Parallax View
The Parallax View is a 1974 American political thriller film starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels, Kenneth Mars, Walter McGinn, Kelly Thordsen and Jim Davis in support. Produced and directed by Alan J. Pakula, its screenplay is by David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on the 1970 novel by Loren Singer. The story concerns reporter Joe Frady's investigation into a secretive organization, the Parallax Corporation, whose business is political assassination. The film over time has generated a more positive reaction from critics but on release the movie struggled to break even. The film is part of what critics have called "The Pakula Paranoia Trilogy", alongside the movies Klute and All the President's Men.
Plot
Seattle television journalist Lee Carter witnesses the assassination of U.S. senator and presidential aspirant Charles Carroll atop the Space Needle during a campaign stop. The suspected killer, a waiter, is killed during the pursuit. The real killer, disguised as a waiter, escapes. The assassination is officially determined to have been the work of a single man acting alone. Six witnesses die over the next three years. Carter fears she will be next, and goes to ex-boyfriend Joe Frady, an investigative newspaper reporter in Oregon, for protection; he turns her away. Shortly afterwards Carter is found dead; the death is ruled to be suicide from alcohol and barbiturate overdosing.
More details
| author | David Giler Robert Towne |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Seattle |
| director | Alan J. Pakula |
| editor | John W. Wheeler |
| genre | action political thriller |
| keywords | act alcohol atlanta barbiturate delivery boy disturb drown even flight attendant frame frameup hollywood burbank airport kill los angeles misguide newspaper office newspaper reporter oregon poison presumed dead pseudonym record recruit run scapegoat scapegoating single man small town space needle still photographs subliminal subliminal stimuli suspect television journalist train |
| musicBy | Michael Small |
| producer | Alan J. Pakula |
| productionCompany | Doubleday Productions Gus Productions Harbor Productions |
| publisher | Paramount Pictures |
| theme | conspiracy theories neo-noir political thriller psychological thriller |