Customer Reviews

Klute

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

From the opening frame to the closing shot, "Klute" is a compelling, adult thriller and character study. It seems to get better with every viewing. When Pennsylvania business executive and family man Tom Grunemann goes missing, friend and detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) agrees to take on the case. His only clue is prostitute Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda) in New York who was associated with a prostitute Grunemann had known and who is at the brunt of harassment calls possibly from Grunemann. As Klute watches Bree, the killer is watching. Although Bree is struggling to leave "the life" (aspiring to act), she is simultaneously drawn to the money, autonomy and emotional control it provides. Klute is brought deeper into Bree's world of prostitution, paranoia and drugs and unexpectedly he penetrates her emotional walls.

"Klute" is definitely Jane Fonda's showcase and she is fantastic, netting the Oscar that year against the odds. This may have been her "breakout" role at a time when she was notoriously unpopular because of her involvement in Hanoi, but she has turned in numerous fine performances over the years in films ranging from "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" to "On Golden Pond." As Bree Daniels, she has a complex character who, as she attests, had some college, and who is vulnerable yet acerbic, impenetrable yet exposed. Whether speaking with her therapist, walking jauntily down the street or turning a trick, Bree as embodied by Fonda is fascinating to watch.

Some mention that the "thriller part" is weak because you know the identity of the killer. I would disagree. Knowing the identity of the killer is part of the suspense. In this claustrophobic world of shadowy stalkers and anonymity, it's like knowing the bomb is under the table, as Hitchcock once said. The claustrophobia and isolation also are deeply reflective of both New York and the character of Bree Daniels, revealing the irony of her "freedom." Surveillance tapes also figure largely in this film and were a big thing in the 70's. They would also figure largely in Watergate.

Aside from Fonda and Sutherland, the supporting players (including Roy Scheider and Jean Stapleton) perfectly embody their roles and add to the authenticity, and there is also a great tingly soundtrack by Michael Small. It's one of the finest films to come out of the 70's. I also get a kick out of seeing Fonda reading "Linda Goodman's Sun Signs" which was a rage in the 70's. Let it all hang out, baby!

Oh come on, any movie where Roy Scheider plays a PIMP is good in my book!

Actually, I tend to rent these older films and then take a couple weeks before I watch them. I was a bit reluctant heading in to Klute, but was hooked from the opening credits. I think I liked the same things that people disliked about it. There is a certain uncomfortable weirdness that permeates through this film, that was not in the least bit accidental. Donald Sutherland plays his part to the hilt! I loved those scenes where he wouldn't say anything at all. I get the impression, that we are so used to a certain style of dective films these days (lots of acrobatics and explosions and shooting) that we fail to appreciate subtle films such as this. I've never been a fan of Jane Fonda. I've really had no impression of her whatsoever. This film, however, really changed that. She was FULLY deserving of her Oscar for this role.

Anyway, I highly recommend this film. Buy it. Now!

Klute represents the seventies rebirth in films as directors took charge and the studio system diminished. A gritty, psychological exploration into character, form and space, Klute remains one of the best this genre has to offer. Note Pakula's attention and utilization of space and subtext. It also represents one of the finest performances of any actress from that time period. Jane Fonda's untouchable in this film. The levels she develops in this role are amazing. A reviewer questioned the Irish accent she uses while auditioning to play Joan of Arc in a play. In answer to that, Klute was filmed when Irish actress Siobhan MacKenna was receiving praise for her performances (including, yes, one as Joan of Arc onstage utilizing an Irish accent).
This DVD is a solid transfer. I would have bought it in pan and scan just to have it for my collection but thank God it's in letterbox. I would have liked it if the credits had allowed a more complete listing for Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland's filmography (Alan J. Pakula and others credited don't get filmographies). I also would have loved if this edition had a commentary track. (Pakula is deceased but they still could have gotten Fonda & Sutherland to do a commentary track.) That said, the documentary on the filming (which is really more of a promotional film) was interesting to watch. The trailer offers historical insight. I first saw Klute, many years after it's release, on television. I'd never seen the trailer but often wondered how the studio sold this film to the public. In cookie cutter fashion: an indepth exploration of soul, mood and character gets reduced to a check list of sex, drugs and thrills.
The film remains one of the best to come out of the seventies and a wonderful addition to any DVD collection.

Alan Jay Pakula was one of the most promising talents to emerge in Hollywood in the '70s, displaying a keen eye and a strong sense of character arising from an interest in psychology...

Klute's plot - in which the title character (Donald Sutherland) is a small-town detective who was hired privately to investigate somebody's disappearance, and Bree Daniels is the highly-paid New York city call girl who may or may not know something about it - is the last interesting element in the film...

What is interesting and memorable about 'Klute' is the delicate come off of Bree's character as she tentatively enters into a relationship with John Klute, who just met a type of woman he has never previously experienced, but who he finds fascinating...

'Klute' is not really the detective's picture... The character on whom the audience focuses is that of the intelligent call girl, played by Fonda...

Jane Fonda shows a complete understanding of her character, presenting Bree as a methodical call girl whose confident outward persona is nothing but a suitable mask to cover her true vulnerable identity... She is a high class hooker who finds difficult to accept a relationship which she considers a threat to her independence...

As the film develops we see that the opinion of her helpful analyst is not strictly correct... Bree is a woman who cannot allow herself to be dominated by men, much less given herself to them... Her defense is her expertise as a sexual actress... Since she is skilled in manipulating the fantasies of her clients, (she takes drugs and likes being in control), she does not allow them to gain control over her by giving her pleasure... So when she felt a special attraction to John Klute, she attempts to sabotage her relationship with him... She wanted to corrupt the decent man, to prove that he is really like the 'others' she knew...

All along, the tough image she presents is balanced by glimpses of her true loneliness and a 'cry' for something like a normal life... For this reason the importance of the lone cop and private eye in her life...

Accompanying him on his investigation, she begins to see her world through his highly moral eyes... She realizes that it is uglier than she had dared to recognize as true... In effect, she shows her what her fate will be if she does not finally learn to give herself to someone...

Her progress toward a solution of the enigma of her personality, parallels his improvement in the solution of the criminal mystery he is investigating... The simultaneous answer to both 'problems' makes Pakula's 'Klute' a distinctive film...

Fonda's eloquent and brilliant performance was one of the decade's best...

It shows us a sympathetic portrait largely from the feminine point of view... The film works fruitfully as a study of voyeurism (the killer as the cop's alter ego) and leads us deep into the world of New York call-girls, pimps and drug addicts, but never needlessly violent or brutal, with intelligent compassion and honest humanity... John Klute emerges as a whole human being rather than a robot programmed to shoot and hit...

'Klute' is an exception to the sex-and-violence tendency of the Seventies...

I've watched Klute about 6 to 7 years ago and to this day it is the most memorable film I've ever watched. The film is beautifully shot and the grittiness of 70's New York is amazing. Of course there is the acting and Jane Fonda blows away any contemporary actress today and maybe even tomorrow.

Every scene she is in completely different from the last, the beginning scene where she looks at her watch when with a trick has become a film classic. Also, the scene in the garment factory with Mr. Goldfarb was incredibly hypnotizing and seductive, let's not forget the scenes in her psychiatrist's office, or auditioning for Joan of Arc in a brogue accent. It is beyond comprehension that any of the actresses in the year she won the Academy Award stood a chance in besting her.

Last but not least the soundtrack!!! The song "take it higher" that played when she escaped to the disco looking for her pimp was beyond funkaahhh!! Let's be honest folks they don't make movies like this anymore, totally based on nuance and intelligence.

I've met a lot of people who don't think Jane Fonda can act. This is one of the Fonda films I tell them to watch upon hearing this, followed closely by "Coming Home" and "Julia." Frankly, upon seeing these films, I thought she had more talent than Dad Henry or brother Peter or niece Bridget (the dna for acting ability must be very strong in this family). Fonda plays Bree Daniels, a prostitute in 1970s New York City, and you see every gritty detail of her handling her profession. Making her life more dangerous is that she is threatened by a stalker/serial murderer (this villain role was not overdone at the time this film was made in the early '70s). This film does not glamourize prostitution which so many later films have attempted to do. One thing you will notice right away is how distinctive her voice is in this film and I've come to notice that most of the great actresses have these fabulous screen voices. The late Alan J. Pakula directed the film. He was an extremely talented writer-director-producer whose work I've missed since his passing. Donald Sutherland is a detective who comes into the stalking case and he does a very solid job throughout including kindling some romantic interest with the Fonda character (they did have a real life affair during the making of the film so the chemistry between them really works). However, it is Fonda who dominates the film from start to finish since this is Bree Daniels's story.

Klute is one of my favorite films of all time.It ranks right up there with "The Parallax View" as Allan Pakula's best film.Donald Sutherland gives a superb performance as the low-key sensitive cop, Klute, and Jane Fonda is wonderful (as always).The film is brilliant in so many ways. It is very visually striking, perfectly acted, great musical score, I cannot say enough about this movie. It is a quintessential American film that along with so many others from the 70's: Deliverance, The Parallax View, The Conversation, Night Moves, and from the late 60's, Point Blank, was unjustly left of AFI's top 100 movies list.

I waited nearly 30 years to see Klute the right way, with my attention undiverted by calamitous circumstances as it was when I tried to see it when it was new. Did it survive my long-held belief that I had mostly missed a sexy, well-done film? By all means. Is it dated? Well, someone says that a dishwasher costs $200 and there isn't a cell phone in sight. If anything dates it, it is the quality and psychological depth which is rare in a commercial film these days. The writing, direction and acting are superb. The camera angles are aesthetic. The violence and nudity are more felt than shown. There is an honest sexuality about it that just isn't available in today's releases. This is one of those movies that turns you into one of those people who says, "They don't make things like they used to."

All sorts of junk comes out on DVD each week, yet an amazing film such as this one remains unavailable. Jane Fonda's performance as Bree Daniels is downright hypnotic; it should be required viewing for anyone who wants to act. Donald Sutherland has a far less showy role, but he's quite effective as the moral center of the film. The atmosphere conjured up by director Alan Pakula is thoroughly chilling, yet more than a little arousing as well (who wouldn't want to spend a couple of hours in that wild hippie disco Bree visits?). In a time when so many thrillers have no sense of mood or style, it's refreshing to revisit a classic. And yes, it does need to be seen in widescreen: I've looked it both versions, and the letterboxing is essential for preserving Pakula's scene composition. Another good reason for a DVD release!

Jane Fonda gives an amazing performance in "Klute" in essence this is what Meg Ryan tries to play "In The Cut" an adult
character who is very seductive yet mysterious. Where "In
The Cut" and Meg Ryan failed, Fonda and stars Sutherland and
Roy Scheider succeeded in this entertaining thriller.

Fonda plays a high price call girl who performs some
unusual sex acts for clients, however a couple of murders
happen and she becomes a suspect for the real killer.

Fonda absolutely lets herself go as an actress playing a character caught in a world of drugs and sex. She wants to get
out of what she is doing yet can't shes addicted. When she
becomes the target of the investigation for a missing man,
Bree Daniel (Fonda) realizes something has to give.

Enter John Klute (Sutherland) her knight in shining armor so
to speak who protects Bree yet wants her to open up about
her clients seeing as perhaps someone knows about this missing
person.

Roy Scheider is absolutely great as the tough uncaring pimp
for Bree , Frank Ligourin. Just like Fonda he also comes out
of his shell as actor who is known for playing the good and is
playing the bad guy like a pro.

The DVD supplements are great too including the rare trailer
giving some insight into the plot without giving too much away and a rare documentary.

This documentary filmed in 1971 details the making of the film including interviews with the actors, the location in New York (way before the Sept 11 attacks) and story.

The documentary is rare, you won't see anywhere but the DVD.

I watched the DVD for the film and loved it. Check it out