Klute (1971)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  Some of the best cinematography ever - I love the look of this film. Maybe Jane's finest turn. As a suspense thriller however, it's just OK.

• Aditya G

  
  With a strange name like "Klute" I wondered what's in store, considering all I knew was that this was an early Alan J. Pakula film and the first of his informally known "Paranoia trilogy".… More
  With a strange name like "Klute" I wondered what's in store, considering all I knew was that this was an early Alan J. Pakula film and the first of his informally known "Paranoia trilogy". [img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2NE9h08ul3c/TnDcxZtMEPI/AAAAAAAACAw/-0itAs0ODlU/vlcsnap-2011-09-14-22h15m24s66.jpg[/img] Things start to happen immediately as the credits begin to roll, and we soon come across the situation around which "Klute" is centered. Tom Gruneman, a Pennsylvania executive has disappeared without a trace, under mysterious circumstances. It is after six whole months of wasted efforts and no outcome on part of the police, that Gruneman's friend and colleague Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) entrusts the responsibility of investigating the disappearance to Tom's family friend, John Klute (Donald Sutherland). All he has, to start with, is an obscene letter, apparently written by Gruneman to a New York prostitute named Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda). With the Bree Daniels link, Klute begins his investigation hoping to reach Gruneman. But Klute soon realizes that things aren't gonna be easy, as it becomes difficult to get the reluctant Bree to talk. Bree is a call-girl but is clearly not enjoying it. She wants to be an actress, but doesn't seem to be getting a break. In the midst of all this she is haunted by the constant feeling of being stalked. She feels she is being followed around, even gets blank calls in the wee hours of the night! Obviously in a troubled state of mind, she visits a shrink from time to time and reveals her deepest fears to her. [img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-anNqSehGmwU/TnDcwwpy61I/AAAAAAAACAs/2izmrtMWOfc/vlcsnap-2011-09-08-20h43m51s34.jpg[/img] The film then delves upon Klute's investigations and Bree's personal problems as it moves along its steady and gripping screenplay. Does he finally uncover the mystery of Gruneman's disappearance? Is there more to it than he can ever handle? "Klute" reminded me of Francis Ford Coppola's terrific psychological drama "The Conversation" on many levels. Although "Klute" came out before "The Conversation", one can't help but notice the astounding similarities in the "atmosphere" of both the films. The film is slow-paced, there is considerable focus on surveillance and the use of tape-recorded voices, the constant paranoia of being followed and watched all the time, along with other things. Of course, that said, the two films are completely different in terms of plot and central theme. [img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fxc7_sZ95P8/TnDcwswJ8DI/AAAAAAAACAk/nKq6YoreU68/vlcsnap-2011-09-08-20h48m36s68.jpg[/img] This is only Pakula's second film as director and he does a fantastic job with the material at hand, the screenplay written by Andy and Dave Lewis. It is great to see Donald Sutherland underplay his character of Klute, thus making his performance quite memorable. Jane Fonda is superb in her Oscar winning role as the troubled call-girl wanting to quit. The always dependable Roy Scheider appears briefly in an important role as Frank Ligourin, Bree's former pimp and makes sure he makes a mark in whatever little screen time he gets! Michael Small's enigmatic music is creepy and at some point reminded me of some B-horror films but that is actually a compliment as the music suits some of the more nail-biting moments shot in the dark. However I must admit that while the film is built up in a pretty solid fashion up to its climax, the final few minutes are a tad disappointing...but maybe it's just me; perhaps I was expecting a bit more from this film and hence ended up feeling somewhat underwhelmed! Nonetheless, credit must be given where it is due, and this film is surely a must-see for lovers of old school mysteries and whodunits! Score: 8/10.

• Drew S

  
  What probably read as a pretty uninteresting story is brought to stunning, sanguine life by Alan J. Pakula. The plot is thin and unsatisfying, and I don't think I'll ever truly get Donald Sutherland's complete disinterest in everything he gets cast in, but the center of… More
  What probably read as a pretty uninteresting story is brought to stunning, sanguine life by Alan J. Pakula. The plot is thin and unsatisfying, and I don't think I'll ever truly get Donald Sutherland's complete disinterest in everything he gets cast in, but the center of the film is rightly Jane Fonda's high-class hooker Bree. Watching her move through this bizarrely cryptic, sinister world is captivating; she digs her talons into the psychology of this angry, intelligent woman and doesn't let go. It is a full, consummate performance, fabulous and yet oddly underseen work. She is clearly the center of Pakula's aesthetic; I found his mise-en-scene to be something of a representation of Bree herself, enigmatic and obscured but in some ways very forthcoming. The gruesome parts are easy to see, but everything else feels hidden away. If you're looking for a subtly stylish, quiet thriller with one instance of excellent character work, Klute will fit the bill. It isn't perfect, lacking dramatic impact and not fully scaffolded by all involved, but its visual clout is clear.

• AJ V

  
  I really liked Fonda and Sutherland together in this movie. It combines a detective movie and one of those falling in love with a call girl movies. It's a good movie.

• Conner R

  
  Such a great movie and one of the best thrillers to ever exist. While it's mainly a story about Bree Daniels, call girl extraordinaire, it has an ever so subtle disturbing tone. Part of that is due to one of the creepiest scores of all time, nothing is more unsettling than piano… More
  Such a great movie and one of the best thrillers to ever exist. While it's mainly a story about Bree Daniels, call girl extraordinaire, it has an ever so subtle disturbing tone. Part of that is due to one of the creepiest scores of all time, nothing is more unsettling than piano keys strung together with a grown woman singing "la la la". What also makes it so convincing as a thriller is the devotion and time spent with the characters. You care about the people being terrorized and are all the more sensitive to them being harmed. Jane Fonda truly deserves every bit of praise she gets for this role, it is without a doubt one of the all time greatest female performances. There's so much depth and layers in Bree, one of a kind.

• First L

  
  Klute tries to be a throwback to the old detective noir stories of the 40s, as filtered through the lense of 70s hyper-realism and the result is something that draws from the worst aspects of both. This film has also convinced me finally and irreparably that Jane Fonda is one of the… More
  Klute tries to be a throwback to the old detective noir stories of the 40s, as filtered through the lense of 70s hyper-realism and the result is something that draws from the worst aspects of both. This film has also convinced me finally and irreparably that Jane Fonda is one of the worst actresses of her generation. She is the J-Lo of the 70s. J-Fo and J-Lo share much in common: neither is a well-rounded actress, but they each have one or two strengths on which they've managed to base an entire career. I enjoyed precisely one of Fonda's scenes in this movie, as she sits in the psychiatrists' office and helplessly decribes being in love with (Klute) and not understanding what it is she's feeling. It's a well-written scene of surprising emotion. The rest of the film rips open the seedy underbelly of prostitution, pimps and junkies, or at least I'm sure it did to 1970s eyes. To modern eyes, the film seems a little quaint. And dull. Dreadfully dull. The realism of 70s films (from Cassavetes' Killing of A Chinese Bookie to Altman's Nashville) have a tendency to bore me, with their incessant fascination with tedious and mundane activities (sometimes things are best left to a montage, rather than a ten minute, single-shot take of, for example, a man walking down the street and hailing a cab). We get the gyst of it, no need to elaborate further. In the case of Klute, the film-making is the point, not the story. In fact, there's very little story to speak of. A man goes missing, a prostitute is receiving obscene letters from an anonymous person that is believed to be the missing man, and Klute is hired to find out if it is indeed him. Klute goes to New York and in the process of his investigation, and despite all rationality, begins to fall for the prostitute. I think Donald Sutherland is a very good actor, but here he's given nothing to do, he stands around with a blank look on his face for most of the film, and his character is virtually all but silent. Fonda's character is indifferent to him at first, but slowly realizes she's in love with him. Why she feels this way or why we should care, I don't know. We're expected to have some emotional attachment to Fonda, but I can't exactly figure out why. The movie is intended to be a sort of thriller, but there's absolutely nothing thrilling or suspenseful here, save the last ten minutes. Eh. Maybe I'm just too picky when it comes to films: I like it when films are about something or have a point of view, or they make me feel a certain way or they have interesting characters. When it comes to this particular film, I guess I just don't get its appeal. And you know what? I'm fine with that.

• Ken S

  
  Beautifully dark in both image and theme. Fonda and Sutherland are both amazingly natural and vulnerable. Gordon Willis' cinematography is breathtaking.

• Michael G

  
  Klute looks great but as a thriller and as a story its pretty weak. Maybe I've seen too many others like it to realize this is the great uncle (if not granddaddy) of them all. Sutherland's performance is subdued and low-key and Jane Fonda's performance is definitely the… More
  Klute looks great but as a thriller and as a story its pretty weak. Maybe I've seen too many others like it to realize this is the great uncle (if not granddaddy) of them all. Sutherland's performance is subdued and low-key and Jane Fonda's performance is definitely the highlight. Klute works better as a character study than a thriller but in the end it just didn't age very well. As a whole don't look for too much but this movie's a must for fans of great performances.

• Tim S

  
  Gordon Willis' cinematography and the actors bring this thriller to another level.

• xGary X

  
  Interesting character driven thriller featuring Jane Fonda's insecure call girl verballing jousting with Donald Sutherland's unusually sensitive detective investigating a missing person. A little short on action, but clever, insightful and edgy.

• Dean M

  
  Jane Fonda had a great performance as a prostitute - looked sexy in this 1970's film.

• Brian R

  
  Alan J. Pakula's "Klute" tries to be a dark thriller but isn't really dark at all. The picture mainly focuses on a call girl named Bree(Jane Fonda) who is also trying to find a new way in her life by going to acting lessons and applying to be a cosmetic model. The… More
  Alan J. Pakula's "Klute" tries to be a dark thriller but isn't really dark at all. The picture mainly focuses on a call girl named Bree(Jane Fonda) who is also trying to find a new way in her life by going to acting lessons and applying to be a cosmetic model. The best scenes in this picture is when the Fonda character is talking to her shrink about her profession as a call girl. Fonda's character explains her story with blunt honesty but deep down she looks a little bit unhappy with her profession and her lonely lifestyle. Donald Sutherland's character is a private detective looking for a man who has not been noticed in quiet sometime, his leads lead him to the Fonda character and sooner or later their realationship slowly starts to build. "Klute" is a somewhat good film. The cinematographer Gordon Willis uses a lot of very dark shadows so its difficult to tell where the action is going, furthermore the Klute character is real low key and uninteresting, not much is said about him except that he is PD, looking for a man who hasn't been seen in a few years. The cool thing about the Klute character is his stiff appearance and the cool 1970's tapping devices he's got kept in his small flat apt. Overall Jane Fonda steals the whole show and I guess if she didn't make her character charismatic or engaging enough critics might have called this picture "Poop".

• Robert F

  
  A taut thriller with a great score composed by Michael Small.

• Sunil J

  
  I was kinda mixed on the fact that we knew who the bad guy was from pretty early on but it had a lot of style and Jane Fonda was really good in it.

• James B

  
  Jane Fonda is captivating in this well acted drama!

• alan j

  
  great lead actors in Fonda and Sutherland, this is a whodunit but flawed as the killer's identity is revealed a bit to soon..before then. it is a thriller and sets a spooky mood up until the end...

Read all 16 featured audience ratings