The Parallax View (1974)

Director Alan J. Pakula was one of the premiere voices in the paranoid political thriller movement of the 1970s, helming such Oscar-winning classics as Klute (1971) and All the President's Men (1976), as well as the criminally underrated Warren Beatty vehicle The Parallax View (1974)! The three films form a sort of unofficial paranoia trilogy, though this particular film isn't nearly as beloved or well-regarded as those two. The film centers around Beatty's Joe Frady, a news reporter whose former girlfriend Lee (Paula Prentiss) witnessed the assassination of a presidential candidate in Seattle's Space Needle. Lee turns to Joe when other witnesses of the crime start turning up dead, though Joe manages to convince her she's simply being paranoid just before she too is murdered. Realizing that he may be sitting on the biggest cover-up in American political history, Joe begins to dig into the particulars of the assassination and starts turning up some dangerous evidence. As his investigation goes on and he gets closer and closer to what he thinks the truth might be, he begins losing touch with reality. Is Joe really seeing evidence of a massive conspiracy and cover-up or is he actually losing his mind? All will be revealed in The Parallax View! While the film itself is something of a minor "lower case m" masterpiece, it's completely devoid of any skin. The gorgeous Jo Ann Harris does appear on screen after having just put on a shirt, her perfect pokies making their presence felt, but sadly we don't get to see those babies in all their glory! Perhaps we'll have to try another View!