This film is more gripping than most films today. A remake would be nice if a suitable cast could be assembled. It is similar to Arlington Road in some ways.
I've always liked it and highly recommend it to anyone seeking a great thriller.
True, but I'm generally against remakes of films. Most remakes I find redundant and didn't bring more than the originals. I also think perhaps the climate (social and political) and the entire change in pacing of movies would, in the case of The Parallax View, not be an improvement on the original if a remake was ever done. Also, Pakula was one of the biggest directors around. They don't make 'em like that anymore and it shows in the quality of many of todays movies.
Beatty himself did 2 remakes of movies. I think he did very well with Heaven Can Wait, slightly altering the story. I think he missed with Love Affair, as the earlier versions (yes, even the Cary Grant remake, which goes - like Heaven Can Wait - on the exceptions pile of good remakes) were both much better.
I wholeheartedly agree with your first sentence, but not your second one. 70's filmmaking was stellar.
shareParallax is great because it combines a.) The actual paranoia that had seized American society during the Watergate years; and b.) The directorial mastery of Alan Pakula. There's no duplicating it.
1.) The Lord loves a working man.
2.) Don't trust whitey.
Same here - good first sentence, then it goes awry. Films like these are LONG gone.
shareThey just don't make paranoia like they used to! This is number three on my list of the greatest paranoia thrillers ever made. Any fan of 70's movies can guess the other two.
I would be more interested in someone trying a new take on this genre than a remake. The closest thing I can think of to a modern equivalent of these films is the 'Bourne Thingy' films. There's a fundamental difference though, in that Bourne is a pro (of course he doesn't know it at first). What I love about the classic 70's PT is that the protagonist is always just a regular guy who happens to get sucked into a web of violence and deception.
The other big difference is that in the Bourne films, like most movies these days, the longest cut lasts about two seconds. Not good for those of us with attention spans. I especially dislike the way they cut fight scenes now. I think it's cheating. With cuts so short I could make even 'Riverdance: The Show' look like a fight to the death.
Other than Bourne this genre seems to have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Perhaps I'm overlooking something.
Yes, it's safe, it's very safe, it's so safe you wouldn't believe it.
Can I guess your other two?
The Conversation must be one of them, as it is one of the best films of the American 70s and one of the best paranoia/conspiracy film ever.
Is the other 3 Days of the Condor? All the President's Men? Blow Up?
The Conversation is a great movie, but it's so bleak I actually find it somewhat tough to watch. For pure escapist entertainment I prefer The Marathon Man, despite Laurence Olivier's somewhat over-the-top performance. You got the other one, Three Days of the Condor.
I have not seen All the King's Men or Blow Up. Should I?
Blow Up isnt American, so it is in another category.
But ATPM is also Pakula like Parallax, and well worth seeing in this vain.
I was going to add that perhaps the other one was INvasion of the Body Snatchers with Donny-boy Sutherland.
Damn I love the lapelled, mustachioed 70s, the Hackman Sutherland Beatty 70s, Hollywood's second golden age. With the Hayes code ending in 67, there is so muc h violence and sex, like we all had blue balls since 1937 and let it all out finally.
BTW, I thinhk the film that started the 70s was Point Blank in 67, by Boorman and with Starvin Lee Marvin. Awesome flick remade into the super mediocre Payback.
I believe you mean All the President's Men, rather than All the King's Men. There are two listings for All the King's Men on IMDb and neither of them was directed by Pakula.
shareJust couple more perfect seventies movies with that paranoid feeling, both really great, and should be sought out
1.CAPRICORN ONE
2.,from 78' SILENT PARTNER
the converstation! great movie and great guess. i got into it after seening the hbo documentary on john cazale.
im wondering why anyone hasnt guessed taxi driver? thats paranoia, right?
They just don't make paranoia like they used to! This is number three on my list of the greatest paranoia thrillers ever made. Any fan of 70's movies can guess the other two.
The only person who tried to make films like this was Clooney and even he seems to have stopped trying now.
shareMaybe Nolan, Fincher or Bigelow are perfect directors for that genre.
Like the thirties and forties, the seventies were ripe in their turnout of first-class and memorable classic films. They were not just great, but immortalized and set standards for films to come. They leave memorable impressions on audiences for years to come. They were not easily and instantly forgettable like so many of the films that are incessantly and automatically churned out of the Hollywood assembly line nowadays.
The films were about artistic expression and were alive, observant, exciting, spontaneous, inspired, full of fresh and bold ideas, and at times experimental; not of retreads, sequels, or remakes (though there were some). Filmmakers weren’t afraid of challenging themselves. At times, the films were intimately personal and some were rooted in meaningful commentaries. The plots were intricate, involving, rich, original, and complex. The characters were three dimensional, colourful, and memorable. The filmmakers were ambitious and aimed for high quality and personal standards, and not something substandard, mindless, derivative, and formulaic. The filmmakers were not trying to second guess what the masses will like. They weren’t aiming for the next monster money-maker, but rather the kinds of movies they themselves would like to watch.
The seventies were full of creepy and insidious thrillers like The Parallax View: Marathon Man, Three Days of the Condor, Klute, you name it.
"...sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.” ~ Cool Hand Luke
It's a good thriller, but derivative in a few key moments. The scene where a slideshow is used as part of Parallax's training is lifted out of "A Clockwork Orange". The closeup examination of the photos is taken from "Blow-Up". And there are cliched scenes like that bar fight. Even the last shot of the solemn judges announcing the fate of the protagonist is lifted out of the ending of the 1931 German film "M". "The Conversation", made around the same time, is a much better-made film on conspiracy theories.
I saw "Parallax View" in HD on Vudu and Amazon Prime, and the HD picture does look pretty good.
It is not a bad thriller at all but I felt too much of a remove from Beatty's character. The bar fight was extraneous to say the least, and why is this Parallax Corp. interested in killing senatorial candidates? Good performances, emotionally too distant for my tastes. Conversation was a hell of a thriller and far superior.
Jerry at the Movies
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNroTj2Yc4Hu70VjlEMEkw
But this movie wasn't good, I liked the look of it, I liked all the 70's nostalgia but the movie was terrible.
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