The Parallax View

 Year:  1974

Director:  Alan J. Pakula

Screenplay:  David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on the novel The Parallax View by Loren Singer

Starring:  Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels, Paula Prentiss

Running Time:  102 minutes

Genre:  Thriller

Three years after a politician is murdered at the Seattle Space Needle, the witnesses seem to be dying of apparent accidents or natural causes.  Television journalist Lee Carter (Prentiss) who witnessed the murder is convinced that the witnesses are being deliberately killed, and that she is next on the list.  She contacts her ex-boyfriend, hard-bitten newspaper reporter Joe Frady (Beatty) for help.  Joe doesn't believe her at first, until Lee dies of an apparent drug overdose.  Joe starts to investigate and finds himself drawn into a complex and dangerous conspiracy, centred around the sinister Parallax Corporation.

 As American as apple pie

Based on the 1970 novel by Loren Singer, with an intelligent and sometimes darkly funny screenplay by David Giles and Lorenzo Semple Jr., The Parallax View is a surprisingly bleak work, with a genuinely shocking conclusion, but it still has all the ingredient of an exciting thriller: fights, chases (including an impressive car chase), and a desperate race against time.  Warren Beatty gives an impressive performance as the tough, but surprisingly vulnerable reporter, whose silver tongue and quick fists do little to top him quickly getting out of his depth.  Director Alan J. Pakula, who had previously made Klute (1971) and would go on to make All the President's Men (1976) creates an atmosphere of chilly menace.  Throughout the film there is this constant sense of a vast conspiracy, even the way the film is photographed, with many scenes being viewed from a distance, or from overhead, putting the viewer in the place of a spy observing the proceedings.  The film's most impressive set-piece is the striking assassin training sequence where a series of fragmented still images and words are flashed in quick sensation.  Following the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, not to mention Watergate and Richard Nixon, the 1970s were an era of bleak political thrillers, but the theme of paranoia, alienation and conspiracy still feels very much of the moment.  

The Parallax View
  

Rope

 Year:  1948

Director:  Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay:  Hume Cronyn, based on the stage play Rope by Patrick Hamilton

Starring:  James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Joan Chandler, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Douglas Dick, Edith Evanson

Running Time:  80 minutes

Genre:  Thriller

New York City:  Two students, Brandon (Dall) and Philip (Granger), murder their friend David (Dick Hogan) for no other reason than the thrill of it.  After hiding the body in a large antique chest, they throw a party to which they invite David's family and friends, as well as their former teacher (Stewart).

Based on a 1928 stage play by Patrick Hamilton, which was itself loosely based on the notorious 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case, this is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most experimental films.  Aside from the opening credit sequence, the entire film is set within the confines of Brandon and Philip's palatial New York apartment, and it is filmed to appear as if it is almost one continuous take.  The camera moves are impressive, although due to the fact that the cameras of the time could only hold a maximum of ten minutes worth of film, the camera frequently has to move close into the backs of people's jackets or furniture in order to hide the edit when the film had to be replaced.  This was the first of three films that James Stewart made for Hitchcock and he was critical of the film, commenting that the "really important thing being rehearsed here is the camera, not the actors," and stating much later that "it was worth trying... But it really didn't work."  Hitchcock himself dismissed the continuous take technique as "a stunt."  The film's main set of the apartment's living room is impressive, with a large window looking out over a steadily darkening New York City skyline, all of which was achieved in the studio.  While the film isn't entirely successful, it is an entertaining thriller.  The suspense comes not from David's fate, or the identity of the murderers, the film opens with the murder and the hiding of the body, but on when and how the "perfect murder" will unravel.  The film was very controversial on it's original release, possibly because of the strong homosexual subtext, the fact that Brandon and Philip are in a relationship is made pretty much as blatant as it could be in a mainstream movie in 1948.  For the most part the film manages to be more than just an innovative experiment, with sharp dialogue, strong performances, and the steadily building tension.  However, there are points where the technique overrides the content and your left admiring the camera work, rather than being involved in the story.

What a swell party: Farley Granger, James Stewart and John Dall in Rope