Director: Alan J Pakula
Writer: Andy Lewis, David E Lewis (Screenplay)
Starring: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider, Dorothy Tristan, Rita Gam, Nathan George
Plot: A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.
Tagline – You’d never take her for a call girl. You’d never take him for a cop.
Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Tense Thriller
Story: Klute starts when a man goes missing with one of the last people to see him alive being a New York prostitute Bree Daniels (Fonda) a woman that is trying to get into acting, she has had many clients through the years and has now started unsettling phone calls. Detective John Klute (Sutherland) is still trying to get to the bottom of the missing persons case, which sees him returning to Bree for more information.
As Klute spends more time learning how Bree operates, he starts to meet the other people in the sex underworld of New York city including her former pimp Frank Ligourin (Scheider) and fellow prostitute Arlyn Page (Tristan), with each leading him to the answer in his missing persons case.
Thoughts on Klute
Characters – Bree Daniels is the New York prostitute that has been trying to become an actress, she has stop taking as many tricks as before and is the key witness in a missing persons case, she is being watched over by Klute who starts to help her see life in a different light, one which makes her happy, though she is always fearing about how he will judge her for her past. John Klute is a detective trying to locate a missing person, he keeps watch over Bree become romantically involved with her, he shows her a different way to see life, while seeing how this underworld operate. Frank Ligourin is Bree’s pimp that is always trying to get the best for his women, no matter what that means for the women, if they get paid, he gets paid.
Performances – Jane Fonda is wonderful in this leading role, she brings the upfront confidence you would expect from a call girl, with the ability to show change through the film. Donald Sutherland is brilliant too, he keeps his character straight down the line like he needs to through the film. the rest of the cast are flawless and let the leads take the center stage throughout.
Story – The story here follows a police detective that spends time with prostitute that might hold the answers to a missing person only to find himself involved in a bigger mystery about who she is. We do spend plenty of time following Bree and seeing how she operates her off the record career and how she is trying to go straight, while being stalked, we get the unsettling feeling that she is going through during the film. seeing how the investigation unfolds is interesting because we see how he doesn’t worry about how many different illegal activities he finds himself going into. This is a tense thriller that does keep us on edge just to see what will happen next to the characters.
Crime/Mystery – The crime side of the film does show us how the prostitute world operates and how the answers for the case will come from what Klute learns.
Settings – The film is set in New York City which will is always a busy city for any crime story to unfold in.
Scene of the Movie – First meeting with Frank.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It doesn’t seem to give us enough clues to what happened to the missing person.
Final Thoughts – This is a thriller that does keep us guessing to just what will happen next and what is going on in this world.
Overall: Intense Thriller.
Rating
