Klute

Summary

“Don’t feel bad about losing your virtue. I sort of knew you would.”

In the early Seventies, our nation was swept up in the Vietnam War, the presidential election of Richard Nixon, and the Watergate scandal. The era came on the heels of the notable assassinations of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy. The Manson murder trials were taking place and receiving media attention on a daily basis. Our nation was swept up in this maelstrom which left an entire generation feeling disenfranchised. One filmmaker that captured the zeitgeist brilliantly was director Alan J. Pakula. 

With his “paranoia” trilogy (Klute, The Parallax View, and All the President’s Men,) Pakula managed to put his finger on the pulse of the nation and the sense of distrust felt throughout the country. This culminated in his only nomination for Best Director with All the President’s Men which perfectly captured the Watergate story on film in 1976. In the last couple years, fans of the director have been lucky to see the Criterion Collection restore and release the first two films in the paranoia trilogy. All the President’s Men had been released on Blu-ray by Warner Bros in 2012.

Klute was the first of the three pictures in the trilogy. Starring Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda, it was a critical and commercial success. Jane Fonda won her first Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the street smart and savvy call girl Bree Daniels. The film was shot by legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis. Over the years it has held onto its relevance and its classic status. 

As the film begins, a group of friends meet for dinner at the home of Pennsylvanian executive Tom Gruneman. By all accounts, Gruneman is considered a fairly normal family man until his disappearance. The police find an obscene letter at his office at work. They interrogate his wife to find out if she knew that her husband was having an affair with anyone. The letter had been written to a prostitute in New York City named Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda.) One of the other executives that worked with Gruneman, Peter Cable, enlists the help of private detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland.) Klute was as thunderstruck as everyone by Tom’s disappearance, because he considered Tom one of his closest friends. Klute heads to New York to gather information. He rents an apartment below Bree Daniels, taps her phone, and begins following and observing her. Bree is an aspiring model and actress who enjoys the sexual freedom of her profession. She also visits with a psychiatrist frequently about this unhealthy behavior which she knows puts her in harm’s way. When Klute confronts Bree and shows that he has information about her illegal activity, she agrees to answer some questions. She can not say if she recognizes Gruneman from a photo, but she does say that a John from two years earlier had been violent with her. Klute enlists her help to try to find Gruneman by navigating through a world of high class call girls, pimps (including a great Roy Schneider,) and drug addicts. In the meantime, someone is calling Bree and playing an obscene recording of her. As they continue investigating, it becomes apparent that Bree’s stalker may also be a killer.

Klute is a really enjoyable thriller. The film is simultaneously a strong feminist story featuring a strong female lead (even if her circumstances are self imposed and unfortunate) and also an effective detective film. The liberal ideas about sexuality and female empowerment aid the film immensely. This was truly a thriller for the time and place it was filmed – New York and the Seventies. Alan J. Pakula used the fantastic cinematographer Gordon Willis to drape the film in shadows which lends the film an almost noir feel. I love Gordon Willis’s work, and his collaborations with Alan J. Pakula feature some of his finest moments. Klute is visually exciting and still looks fantastic fifty years later. At the time, some cinematographers found issue with Willis’s techniques, but I feel that time has proven Willis’s ideas were simply ahead of their time. His eye for architecture and willingness to obscure objects in the frame sets his work apart from others in that era. 

Pakula directs the film with a steady hand. His actors give great performances under his careful direction in each sequence. The film also benefits from a truly unique score by Michael Small that is difficult to describe, but very effective. It is hard to even call it music, but it works very well at creating an aura of intrigue and suspense. Films like Rian Johnson’s Brick owe a great deal to the unique soundtrack of the film.

Jane Fonda won her first Academy Award for her performance as Bree because the role called for vulnerability and a willingness to put oneself out there. Fonda delivers a great performance in the film. Her hairstyle in the film and clothing proved to be influential and popular across the country. Donald Sutherland is great in the role of John Klute. Sutherland is at his most understated here and it serves the role well. Sutherland is at his best when he plays intelligent characters, and the role suits his style of acting well. I also enjoyed the small but memorable performance by Roy Scheider as a high class pimp.

Overall – Klute is a really well made film that satisfies in nearly every department. Alan J. Pakula was a wonderful director and this was just the beginning of a his streak of memorable films. I love how thoroughly experimental Klute was while still delivering a fairly straightforward story. Recommended.

Video

Criterion has provided the film in 2.35:1 aspect ratio and has taken their transfer from a new 4K scan. The following text appears inside the provided booklet:

“This new digital transfer was created in 16-bit 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative, under the supervision of camera operator Michael Chapman. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film’s DRS, while Digital Vision’s Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, and small dirt.”

The new 4K transfer by Criterion is pretty remarkable. Fine detail is fantastic. Clarity is greatly improved over any prior releases. Gordon Willis’s cinematography is unique in that it allows so much darkness to fill the frame. This was his trademark style and also what makes his collaborations with Alan J. Pakula so interesting visually. This can cause grain to be noticeable at times, but I think the film looks fantastic in this presentation.

Audio

Criterion has provided a brand new lossless LPCM Mono track. Here is what the booklet says:

“ The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the two-inch magnetic tape that included monaural dialog, music, and effects stems. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.”

This LPCM Mono track sounds great. The score for Klute is just as interesting as its cinematography. The score by Michael Small is one of the most abstract for its time and its influence can be seen in films like Brick that use a similar approach. Criterion always do an exceptional job at removing any distracting elements and improving clarity, and they succeed in doing so here.

Supplements:

• Jane Fonda and Illeana Douglas – in this new video program, Jane Fonda talks with actress Ileana Douglas about her memories from working on Klute, her fondness for Alan J. Pakula, her triumphant Oscar win, and the sexuality in the film. It’s a well done interview.
• The Look of Klute – fashion writer Amy Fine Collins giscusses at length the stylistic choices made in the film that had a lasting impact on style in the Seventies. Most notable are the discussions of Fonda’s haircut and black dress.
• Television Interviews – 
• 1. Alan J. Pakula on The Dick Cavett Show – I love when Criterion includes interviews from the Cavett show, and this is a great one. Cavett is obviously a fan and very familiar with Pakula’s work, so this interview is insightful and enjoyable.
• 2. Jane Fonda and Midge Mackenzie – Fonda appears on an interview show with Midge Mackenzie for a fairly lengthy interview.
• Klute in New York – a vintage EPK
• Pakula – critic Annette Insdorf, Steven Soderbergh, and actor Charles Cioffi are featured alongside archival interview footage of Alan J. Pakula in this excerpt from an upcoming documentary. This is well made stuff and I would certainly be interested in watching the full documentary when available.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5 

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Klute is a great mystery film featuring strong performances, striking cinematography, and superb direction by Alan J. Pakula. The film remains interesting because Pakula bravely experimented with elements from both the score and cinematography and also promoted a strong feminist perspective within a detective story. It is a great reminder of how ripe the Seventies were for film. The new 4K scan from Criterion looks great and the special features are well worth your time. Highly recommended.