I’m not sure what attracts me more in The Parallax View: Warren Beatty’s flawless charm, the genuine sense of menace throughout the picture, or Pakula’s breathtaking direction. In terms of tone, Pakula manoeuvres from dead-cool suspense to straight-up fun, without blinking.

Somewhere early in the film, Beatty’s character Frady takes on a local redneck who turns out to be the deputy. It’s an odd combo of tough physical action, and a touch of vaudeville. Only in the seventies.

Movie With A View

[Spoilers] Pakula often frames his shots with large, angular shapes. The characters often drown, or disappear in them. In this film, it may well be a metaphor for the way the System consumes us. The individual is powerless.

A first example appears immediately in the Seattle opening sequence. In a nail-biting sequence, we witness the assassination of a popular senator, on the top of the Space Needle.

A metaphor for the way the System consumes us. The individual is powerless.

Can you imagine a chase on top of the domed Space Needle roof? Well, that’s what you get, in wide shots.

Mind-blowing.

If you wish, you can find a number of parallels with Chinatown (also released in 1974). In a scene that reminds of the water dumping in Chinatown, Frady visits the scene of a suspicious death with the sheriff.

Pakula frames the men with a long lens in a wide shot, against the backdrop of the dam. Suddenly, it opens and the white water thunders out. Spectacular.

The first half of the movie is a lot of fun to watch. The fun suitably comes to an end at the mid point.

You may have figured out that I am a sucker for mid points. This one is a mofo in its own league. To understand it, I need to tell you about a Russian who died nearly half a century ago.

The fun suitably comes to an end at the mid point.

Hitch And Lev

Film students know about Lev Kuleshov, or at least the effect named after him. If you saw Koyaanisqatsi, you saw eighty-six minutes of pure Kuleshov. Let me enlighten you.

The Kuleshov effect says that your perception of an image is coloured by what you see before or after. It’s essentially the principle of editing. It’s what people mean when they say “That was out of context”. Give anything context, and its meaning will change… Or it will GET meaning.

Lev Kuleshov showed the photo of an expressionless face to an audience, three times. First, in conjunction with a plate of soup, next with a woman on a divan, and finally with a coffin. The audience raved about the acting, believing the expression subtly changed from hunger to desire, to grief.

The Kuleshov effect says that your perception of an image is coloured by what you see before or after.

Hitchcock fans may remember how Hitch would look into the camera, squinting. Next follows footage of a woman with a baby, and Hitch smiling. He’s a kind old man. But when the woman and baby are replaced by a woman in bikini, Hitch becomes a dirty old man. That’s the power of Kuleshov effect.

At the Mid Point of The Parallax View, Frady gets to see his own mini-Koyaanisqatsi.

Kuleshov On Steroids

True to Kuleshov, this is not really a scene you can watch out of context. My apologies if you never saw The Parallax View. You will have to now (and I will guarantee you won’t regret it).

The mid point of this film is testimony to Pakula’s brawn. He put a six minute sequence with a barrage of still images at the centre of the film. Not only does it show he had balls, but he also had clout with the studio. There must have been some talk about this scene at Paramount before it made the final cut.

So before you watch it, I will give you a little context.

There must have been some talk at Paramount
about this scene before it made the final cut.

In his investigations about the murder of the senator, Journalist Frady traced suspicious documents back to a corporation that seems to recruit and train assassins. He infiltrates the ‘Parallax’ company. Next, as part of an induction test, he is made to watch this video.

During the video, his responses to the images are measured. Because we know that Frady doesn’t fit the profile of a murderer, some tension lies in the fact that this sequence may unmask him as a fake.

Just sit back, Nothing is required of you, except to observe the visual materials that are presented to you. Alright?

We hope you’ll find the test a pleasant experience.

-Karel Segers

https://ozzywood.wistia.com/medias/e65m0p5pqh?embedType=iframe&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=901

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Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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Joel Schumacher

An adolescent in the 1980’s, I felt as if St Elmo’s Fire, The Lost Boys and Flatliners were made just for my generation (and a bit for Kiefer Sutherland, too). Because of their relatively high concept, some of these medium budget movies had a massive impact, and director Joel Schumacher could just keep going on. He was given the Batman franchise with the Akiva Goldsman scripted Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, which weren’t necessarily great movies, but they still made their blockbuster budgets back. Well, just.

St Elmo’s Fire, The Lost Boys and Flatliners
were made just for my generation.

With Tigerland he entered more serious territory, and put Colin Farrell on the map as a lead actor. Its budget and shooting schedule would be a challenge for any indie director.

Schumacher has always been flexible in the material he picked. Teen angst, fantasy, war or thriller, he usually delivers a satisfying and cinematic result.

Joel Of All Trades

For more anti-hero examples, check out Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth, a project that rested on Hitchcock’s shelf for a long time. With Schumacher at the helm, and favourites Farrell and Sutherland (only briefly) in front of the camera, the script was updated and delivered to the screen with dazzling style and dialogue, belying its humble budget. With Colin Farrell as yet another anti-hero example in the role of Stu Shepard, I have always found Phone Booth an inspiration, and a true celebration of audience-driven independent filmmaking.

I have always found Phone Booth an inspiration,
and a true celebration of audience-driven independent filmmaking.

Schumacher – now in his seventies – has remained agile, moving with the taste of the times. Some of his more recent credits saw him join the dignitaries on the directing stable of Netflix’ House Of Cards.

City Of Demons

In Falling Down (1993), recently retrenched defence worker William “D-Fens” (Michael Douglas) goes out of control on a sweltering day in L.A. It shows Schumacher just as comfortable shooting on the streets of New York in Phone Booth, as in the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, where our anti-hero’s tragedy plays out. In fact this is one of my favourite nineties movies when it comes to portraying the city of angels, often using gorgeous long lens shots, against an ominous soundtrack. Only Michael Mann would top this two years later with Heat.

This is one of my favourite nineties movies
when it comes to portraying the city of angels.

Los Angeles may be cinematically sexy in this movie, it is surely not a happy city. Protagonists and antagonists all fight their own demons. Robert Duvall plays the proverbial fin de carrière cop, who will catch the baddy at the end. However, before the hero vs. anti-hero finale in the climax, he will pay a heavy price.

Falling Down starts from an interesting premise, in that the hero is not the protagonist. Central to this movie is the anti-hero of D-Fens, played by Michael Douglas, who turns in a landmark performance.

The Devil’s Advocate

D-Fens is the devil’s advocate. Why do we empathise with this anti-hero? Because he represents the disgruntled Angelino who is mad as hell, and he is not going to take it anymore. Only, D-Fens’ anger is of the not-so-pc kind.

In our movie moment, a Korean store owner refuses to break a dollar for his customer’s phone call, and D-Fens explodes like a nail bomb in slow motion. As his rage builds, D-Fens reveals his revenge strategy against this city… The poor dude won’t die at his hands. But he will suffer. While taking the shop down, D-Fens hurls insult after insult at the poor shopkeeper, who is hiding behind the counter.

The poor dude won’t die at his hands.
But he will suffer.

The shopkeeper, who now believes D-Fens is after his money, tells him to take it. D-Fens replies:

“You think I’m a thief? Oh, you see, I’m not the thief. I’m not the one charging 85 cents for a *stinking* soda! You’re the thief. I’m just standing up for my rights as a consumer.”

Plummeting Down

This is an important scene in the movie, as it feels like the first watershed in the anti-hero’s steep downward descent, referenced in the movie title.  The scene opens with the Korean topping up the till, proving he definitely doesn’t lack small change. However, he may be sick of customers entering his shop without buying. So don’t push his buttons… Which leaves us with the dramatic question for this scene: “Who of these two men is more p***ed off?”

– Karel Segers

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Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

‘There’s no way that I could ever compare a movie of mine to the films that formed me… people say you’re a master at times… but the beauty of it is that you never really know. Part of the fun and the fear and the anxiety of it is that you find out as you go along.’

In a fast-paced interview, Martin Scorsese (Wolf Of Wall Street) talks about why he doesn’t want to watch his own films, and the mastery of filmmaking.

If you liked this, check out more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking. And if you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let us know in the comments. Thanks!