Known as Part of the Paranoia Trilogy from Director Pakula, it is perhaps the the Third Tier only because the other Two are so Good; "The Parallax View" (1974) and "All the President's Men" (1976).Jane Fonda (Best Actress Oscar) and Donald Sutherland lead a Good Cast with Roy Scheider and Charles Cioffi contributing to the Film's Mood. Moody it is. Gritty Realism Framed in a Foreboding Feeling of Early 70's NYC with its Counterculture, Drugs, and Freewheeling Philosophies. Pakula knows that there are Villains about, from the High-Rise to the Gutter and They bring with Them an Atmosphere of Dread.Dark in Subject Matter and Visualizations, it's a Creepy Affair using the New Found Freedom of Non-Code Hollywood "Letting it all hang out.". Subjects only Previously Hinted are In Your Face and Central to the Theme. Gripping in its Truth Telling and Combined with a Neo-Noir Style make this one of the more Memorable Offerings in the Time Period. It's a Time when All Hell was Breaking Loose from the Conventional with Expected Degrees of both the Positive and the Negative. This Fine Film Explores both Ends of the Spectrum.

A small-town detective (Donald Sutherland) searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute (Jane Fonda).Jane Fonda won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film. And she is alright, and still receives such great praise. But come on... Donald Sutherland! That guy turns everything he touches into gold. Perhaps one of the most under-rated performers of the 20th 9and 21st) century.This is a great detective story with twists and turns. Alan Pakula is not a name that many people know, and I have to wonder why. He consistently made great films. Yet, you rarely hear anyone sing the praises of "Klute" or "The Parallax View". Shame on you, movie lovers!

Six months after the disappearance of one of his employees boss Peter Cable (Charles Cloffi) hires a private investigator John Klute (Donald Sutherland) to investigate his disappearance. However, John's only links to the employees disappearance are some seedy letters and a call-girl Bree Daniel (Jane Fonda) who has a connection to the missing person.Klute is one of those films that does hook you in at the start (as indeed any good mystery film does), but sadly it's an example of a film where I found myself gradually losing more and more interest as it trundles along. The film is very poorly paced and simply isn't exciting, suspenseful or compelling enough to make it truly stand out from the crowd. The film is OK when it focuses on the mystery, but loses focus far too often with some unnecessary scenes - examples of this include Bree's psychiatry sessions and although they offer insight in to her as a person they also seem to focus on her feelings towards Klute. To me, it would have been better if more time would have been focused on the mystery at hand as opposed to their clichéd and contrived romance. I note that Jane Fonda won an Oscar here and whilst I don't mean to discredit her (I did think she was very good here), I couldn't help but feel that she perhaps stood out more here because of how poor everyone else was - Donald Sutherland was lifeless here and I'm unsure whether this is his fault or down to how the writers have asked him to portray his character, but either way he was dull. I wasn't expecting a crazy performance here, but I thought that there may have been a bit of a rapport or a bit of chemistry between Sutherland and Fonda, but it just wasn't there and it left the film feeling a bit flat and unfulfilled.As I've mentioned the mystery element is OK, but it isn't what I'd call compelling or edge of your seat, but it has just about enough going to make it worth watching (although I thought the final act was terrible). The only other really good thing about this film (other than Jane Fonda) was Michael Small's score which did help to create tension and suspense where the script was failing to deliver the same.Klute is a film that pretty much does everything right, but it always felt like it was doing it in a half-hearted way. Aside from Fonda's performance and Small's score everything else felt rather mediocre and distinctly average across the board.

Jane Fonda as the call-girl/wannabe actress Bree Daniels, with a superb hair-do and a (mostly) take-no-s*** personality is the reason to see Pakula's Klute, despite being named after the male main character. It's such a performance - and a character - that is risible and powerful in its confidence, dynamic, occasionally frightened, occasionally VERY sexy, volatile, and gives a lot in those psychology sessions that are basically to the camera/us. She looks like she's constantly THINKING even as she is reacting with a cutting remark or a cut-the-BS moment. And when she makes that talk-seduction of the old man, it's one of the most memorable moments in any 70's film.Sutherland is very good as well, though he has the trickier role as he has to downplay everything as the straightforward cop. The final monologue is gripping and intense from the villain, and yet it's one of those handful of villain monologues that really not just hold up over time, but show up so many others in its wake. It's terrifying in how simple the actor speaks the words and Fonda listens. Klute isn't all great, but it's all of a cool, rocking-but-eerily-jazzy 70's period piece too (think of it, in a way, as the East-Coast sister to Dirty Harry).I wish the plot were just a little stronger, but as a film that relies on its characters it fares quite well. Luckily, Gordon Willis - on the film that likely got the ball really rolling with his nickname "The Prince of Darkness" - is there to make things look unique in the noir-frame of the style. It's so dark you might be left in the dark... until you're not.And Roy Scheider is here, intermittently only (sadly) as a pimp. Chief Brody as a pimp. Need I say more?