The Parallax View
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Year Released: 1974
Rating: 2.0
A poor attempt at a conspiracy thriller, with fluffy-haired Warren Beatty trying to uncover a secret operation that led to the assassination of a U.S. Senator (echoes of RFK abound). Ultimately self-destructive and hopelessly paranoid - its main concern is to invoke a sense of fear in the viewer instead of a need to be clear-headed, and if Oliver Stone wasn't making B horror films at the time I'd have sworn he had something to do with this. At least it functions as a warm-up for Pakula's well-edited, coherent and meticulous All the President's Men (where there actually was a conspiracy).
