REVIEW DATE:3:24:9:9
If I'm not mistaken, and I'm usually not, Warren Beatty was just nominated for the movie Bullworth. I sat the Oscars out this year for reasons outlined in my first Contribution to the Breakdown so don't ask me if he won or not. What I do no is that, in 1974, he stared in one of the best little conspiracy theory movies I have yet to see. Not that I've seen that many of them, but lets get on with it.
Now, I'm not usually disposed to political conspiracy movies. It's not that they're a bad genre, mind you (they're nothing I would put on Dr. Psy's Big Wheel o' Pain), its just that the genre isn't diverse enough for my taste. Its that whole "seen one, seen 'um all thing". That's why The Parallax View jumped out at me: its originality.
Besides, its not as if giant monster movies are shining examples of a melting pot, themselves.
The
Parallax View (an ironic name, since the word "parallax" means
"something that looks different from two points of view") begins promisingly
enough when Senator Carol (Bill Joyce) is killed within ten minuets of the opening
credits. So endeth the shortest political career in movie history.
A committee finds that the terrorist (who fell of the roof of a quite tall building after killing the senator) acted alone, and that there is no evidence of a greater conspiracy.
Yeah, right. Where have we heard this before? At least, that's the question Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) asks himself. Joe is one of those reporters who's always stepping on law enforcement's toes and doing whatever it takes to get the story. When a tearful friend (who's name I didn't write down. Bad Psy *slap**slap*) tells him that 11 other people who were present at the first assassination have all been rubbed off, its kind of like flashing a big ass red sign that has "BIG STORY THIS WAY" printed across the top in large, red letters. KINDA LIKE THIS!
Joe is, at first, a bit skeptical about his friends theory. Okay, so he gives her a tissue and just sends her on her marry way. A scene later she's lying on a morgue table. Conspiracy? No way, really? Fired up by this new development Joe goes to his editor (Hume Cronyn), and requests permission to take the assignment. As often happens in movies like this, he's turned down flat. Big surprise. Not letting that stop him Joe just goes out on his own.
Through the rest of the movie Joe gets mixed up with a strange corporation called the Parallax Corp (see? the title and the movie all come together). Parallax, Joe soon discovers, hires and trains assassins for hire. Boy, guess all those gangsters in our public schools do have a promising future after all.
Pretty cool, huh? Sounds interesting, huh? You've never heard of this movie, have you? Well, let me tell you The Parallax View has all the things you might be looking for in a conspiracy theory movie. X-files creator Chris Carter would definitely love this movie (considering he's ripped parts of it off for his show, he might already love it). The story (written by David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr., who would go on to write the 1976 King Kong) is tight and circular, all the little lose ends are tied, and all tracks are covered. I didn't have to go "huh" once during the whole show, and that's saying something considering the kind of crap I've reviewed over the past few months.
Warren Beatty is quite the little actor here, and considering he's the only person who's performance I can truly remember I would have to call him the best actor in the cast. Okay, I remember one other actor, goes by the name of William Daniels. Heard of him? He was quite the actor in the 1980's, but according to the book Video Hounds Golden Movie Retriever he doesn't seam to have worked much since 1989. Pity, he disserved more recognition then he got.
Kinda like this movie now that I think about it. I didn't expect much, yet I got a movie that really should get more credit then it does. Go out and rent The Parallax View, it isn't a slam, bam, action movie, but it deserves your cash more then any number of slam, bam action movies I could name.
RATING (OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)
GIVE THIS MOVIE MORE CREDIT, DOCTOR'S ORDERS.