cult film freak: WARREN BEATTY STALKED IN ALAN J. PAKULA'S 'THE PARALLAX VIEW'

Warren Beatty in THE PARALLAX VIEW Year: 1974 Rating: ***1/2

Critically beloved TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD director Alan J. Pakula's political thriller before ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN titled THE PARALLAX VIEW opens with a doomed would-be senator taking Seattle's Sky Needle elevator to what will become his final speech...

A candidate described as being too independent for his own good, here's a political thriller that attempts pleasing both sides of the aisle, which is surely and sadly a thing of the past...

Warren Beatty in THE PARALLAX VIEW

With mainstream action from a bar fight to a car chase to an exploding boat, maverick reporter Warren Beatty investigates the continual witness deaths by (most likely) the rudimentary assassination...

And from the edgy beginning to a frantic finale, Beatty wields his usual laidback style around the more animated likes of Hume Cronyn as his stern yet likeable, working-class editor; veteran baddie Kelly Thordsen as a crooked small town sheriff; William Daniels as this film's possible Deep Throat...

From the famously weird montage in THE PARALLAX VIEW

And last but not least, a shady Walter McGinn (whose final role would be Al Pacino's brother in JOHNNY DEERFIELD), introducing Beatty into the PARALLAX Corporation...

Along with a bizarre montage ranging from The Great Depression to Hitler to concentration camps whilst ironically shifting back and forth to happy hippies... this is meant for hypnotic indoctrination, a kind of icebreaker for what's basically a School for Assassins...

Bill McKinney strolls with mild villainy in THE PARALLAX VIEW

And right when our timid hero goes undercover as one of the students, about to embark upon the first mission, he keeps getting distracted, following "real killer" Bill McKinney around liken to a standard detective flick...

Meanwhile director Pakula tells a nice tight story with big sets and gorgeous widescreen cinematography as the camera remains an impartial observer (or spy) and yet, in the process, with all the running around, he ultimately lets the more intriguing premise get away.