MovieChat Forums > The Parallax View (1974) Discussion > Why?

Why?

posted 17 years ago by jambot33
7 replies | jump to latest

I enjoy a good conspiracy movie, but this one just seemed pointless. We never find out why the corporation is killing people, we just watch Warren Beatty run around confused for two hours. There are pointless car chases, pointless fist fights, the whole thing is pointless, overlong, slow, boring and pretentious. I waited patiently for some kind of story to kick in for the whole duration of the film. It didn't. Just no reason at all for the unconvincing series of events.

Yeah, I get it, he was supposed to be the confused patsy they pin it on. I think we all saw that coming with about half an hour to go (the coma inducing final sequence), but it could have been done to better effect, while at the same time feeling like a complete, finished film. Arlington Road would be a good example.

What a waste of time.

[–] theskylabadventure 17 years ago

You clearly missed the point. The whole point of the movie is that (if these things exist) it is impossible to get to the bottom of things, to find out what's behind it.

A lot of people found the movie slow, I dont understand it. I didn't find it slow in the least, I was engrossed. And overlong? It's under 100 minutes.

As for pretentious, would you care to enlighten me as to the pretence. Would it not have been far more pretentious for the film to try and be clever by having some tired explanation for the whole thing?

The unexplained ending is a cinematic device hardly ever used - especially in American cinema - I think it makes the film. And we do find out why the corporation is killing people - money ('a finders fee' as the guy puts it). They are just like any other recruitment agency, exept they recruit killers.

Think of less as a conspiracy movie than as a social drama about the state of America politically post Nixon (the level on which most 70s American cinema works best - that's why it's the greatest period of American cinema in my opinion). It is, after all, meant to be allegorical.

[–] jambot33 17 years ago

I see what you're saying about allegory, but some things are impossible to get to the bottom of? That's a little depressing and I don't believe it. The zaniest schemes imaginable are only thought up by people, so it must be possible for others to discover. It just seems lazy and unsatisfying, like whoever devised the story didn't bother filling in the details.

It is still possible to create all the other factors; uncertainty, social drama, while giving a peak at the likely truth, but still leave you guessing. I would cite JFK as another example of where this has been done effectively.

On the point of tired, didn't it seem incredibly formulaic and hackneyed to insert the bar fight and car chase and the way things keep exploding (or trying to explode) around Beatty? It's almost as if, to beef things up at the last minute, they've thrown in some extra flash which really doesn't do anything for the story. Not that there is much of a story. I can just imagine some producer saying "you know what this needs, a car chase, and a boat. Oh, and blow up the boat," Now that's tired.

As for pretentious, it's Warren Beatty I'm talking about, which he certainly is. Maybe it's just personal. He annoys me, in this film and many others. He just gets too preachy sometimes, admittedly, so does Costner towards the end of JFK, which I don't like. Stick to the facts, I'd say.

[–] ScopeWatcher 10 years ago

Warren Beatty pretentious? Yeah, OP, that's definitely a personal view. As for myself, after years of resistance it was THE PARALLAX VIEW that finally made me appreciate Beatty ... and highly.

Even though this is now an old thread, I'll add that the action elements complained about here -- bar fight, high-speed car chase, lucky escape from death aboard boat and airliner explosions -- gradually build a sense of faith in our main character as a capable, resilient action hero with skills and craftiness to match his shadowy antagonists.

So when ultimately even this resourceful hero suffers such a shattering fate going up against Powers That Be, we are crushed to recognize that the rest of us have no hope left.

That's "why."

[–] the-terrible88 10 years ago

There seems to be a trend in these boards to call pretentious those movies that people don't understand or/and confuse them. It is probably the most loosely used term in here it's frustrating. Thatt's what I get from the description of the original poster.

[–] yatzo376 10 years ago

I still don't understand Beaty's hair.

[–] the-terrible88 10 years ago

Ah, but who can?

[–] elephuntingun 10 years ago

I thought Beatty's hair was pretentious.

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