Classic Trailer Rewatch: 1970s Conspiracy Thriller ‘The Parallax View’

In honor of this year’s Election Day in the US, have a look at one of our favorite conspiracy thrillers. The Parallax View, directed by the great Alan J. Pakula, originally opened in theaters June 1974. It’s one of many conspiracy thrillers from the 70s about how the US government is super shady and caught up in all kinds of sneaky operations. It’s about a reporter’s investigation into a secretive organization, the Parallax Corporation, whose business is political assassination. 3 years after witnessing the murder of a senator atop Seattle’s Space Needle, reporter Joseph Frady digs into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the event—and stumbles into a labyrinthine conspiracy far more sinister than he could have imagined. Warren Beatty stars with Hume Cronyn, William Daniels, and Paula Prentiss. I had never seen this movie until the Criterion re-release a few years ago, and it blew me away. Its been stuck in my mind ever since. The unsettling secrecy of everything, the visuals, the never-ending maze he is in. Criterion adds: “The Parallax View’s coolly stylized, shadow-etched compositions by the acclaimed cinematographer Gordon Willis give visual expression to a mood that begins as an anxious whisper and ends as a scream into the void.” Exactly. // Continue Reading ›