Klute
Dir: Alan J. Pakula
1971
*****
A gloriously stylish 70's thriller from Alan J. Pakula, his first of what is now known as the Paranoia trilogy (followed by The Parallax View and All the President's Men). There is so much to enjoy here, in my opinion it revived and in many ways reinvented the Noir thriller for the 1970's, a decade whereby neo-noir excelled and is yet to be beaten, in my personal opinion. It's Jane Fonda's best performance in my opinion (I'm not counting Barbarella) and it was such a great choice of film for Donald Sutherland to pick after the brilliant M*A*S*H to really show his range as an actor. Its influence is obvious, everything from the composition, structure and dialogue can be seen in today's thrillers (or at least the good ones). There are so many little things here to also enjoy, a little camera trick here, a sound effect there (I particularly liked the Candy Darling cameo). Everyone likes a twist ending, but only the really great thrillers keep it subtle.