KLUTE

Alan J. Pakula has crafted some truly powerful thrillers. “Parallax View”, “All the President’s Men” and “Klute” are his best, and now, finally, “Klute” is available on dvd from WARNER BROS.  Donald Sutherland plays the title role, as a detective from a rural area in Pennsylvania, trying to solve a closed case of a missing man, by traveling to New York.  The missing man was writing a call girl in the big city, named Bree,(Jane Fonda) dirty letters.  Throughout the film, Pakula allows the viewer to see that all his characters are searching for something, perhaps unobtainable. There’s more than just a “person” missing here.  Pakula contrasts the various similarities of everyone’s professional and personal loneliness in a manner, typically unexamined before this film.  It’s a dark film, but it’s also a great one! 

When Bree blames her psychiatrist for her problems, the shrink tells her, accurately, that she can’t work miracles.  It’s unfair to expect miracles overnight. Everyone in this film is confronted with dark truths, and all of the characters, like real human beings don’t want to admit their faults.  Klute and Bree are drawn to one another, but have real problems being honest about their feelings.  The film doesn’t patronize the audience, even though it knows better than the characters in front of them. 

While it’s a great character story, with the exception of the “sudden”, contrived ending, it’s also a real nail-biter as well!  We also get to see a great cameo performance by none other than Roy Scheider!

WARNER BROS. has presented the film with its proper widescreen aspect ratio and 16:9 enhancement.  It’s a pristine image, with perfect contrast in even the darkest scenes. Colors are intentionally restrained, but with depth.  There virtually no grain. 

The Dolby Digital mono is fine, but there is some background noise when dialogue is absent.  The eerie score is presented with a nice range of fidelity.

The theatrical trailer and a promotional, but extremely dated  featurette is offered.