KLUTE (1971)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Crime / Drama

Director: Alan Pakula

Cast: Donald Sutherland / Jane Fonda / Charles Chioffi

Plot

Pennsylvania private detective John Klute travels to New York City to try and find a missing friend.  There he becomes involved with call girl Bree Daniels, who is being stalked by a man who holds the secret to the disappearance.

What I Liked

Honestly, I was surprised at the on screen chemistry between Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.  I’m not sure why, but I never would have expected those two to be so believable together.  I haven’t seen too many movies with Fonda in them.  Really, I think “On Golden Pond” would be the only one I know I’ve seen the whole way through.  She does very well as hooker Bree Daniels, who – despite the title being the last name of Sutherland’s character – is really the center of the film’s plot.  The character is also impressively well written for the era, when prostitutes were either written as lovable harlots or pathetic victims.  Bree falls somewhere between the two and possesses an intelligence and psychological depth that makes her easily more interesting than straight-faced and straight-laced John Klute, the ostensible main character.  Not that Sutherland doesn’t do well playing the character.  His is a much more subdued performance, for a subdued character.

What I Didn’t Like

There’s a lot about this film that doesn’t work.  The music tries a little too hard to be eerie.  The whodunit suspense is ruined when the bad guy’s identity is revealed to the audience far too early.  And the relationship between Daniels and Klute – as well acted as it is – really only updates the old femme-fatale-meets-detective dynamic that has been a major staple in crime, detective, and noir movies since… well… since movies started having plots.

Most Memorable Scene

The film makes a great deal out of the fact that both Klute and the bad guy are recording Bree’s phone calls.  We are routinely see tape recorders and listen to her conversations.  Though her dialogue is no longer as shocking as it would have been back in the 1970s, what remains interesting is the concept of her privacy being invaded.  In today’s era of the internet, cell phones, satellites, and reality TV, you would think the idea of someone’s phone calls being recorded would have also lost its emotional sting.  Yet somehow the scenes where we watch tape rolling and hear Bree’s voice retain their original sense of discomfort and paranoia.

My Rating: 3 out of 5