Klute (1971)

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers:

Andy Lewis (written by) and
David P. Lewis (written by)

Release Date:

25 June 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

One man is missing. Two girls lie dead. ...and someone breathing on the other end of the phone. [USA Theatrical]

Plot:

A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.

Plot Keywords:

Call Girl | Stalking | Detective | Prostitute | Letter

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jane Fonda	...	Bree Daniels
Donald Sutherland	...	John Klute
Charles Cioffi	...	Peter Cable
Roy Scheider	...	Frank Ligourin
Dorothy Tristan	...	Arlyn Page
Rita Gam	...	Trina
Nathan George	...	Det. Lt. Trask
Vivian Nathan	...	Psychiatrist
Morris Strassberg	...	Mr. Goldfarb
Barry Snider	...	Berger
Betty Murray	...	Holly Gruneman
Jane White	...	Janie Dale
Shirley Stoler	...	Momma Reese
Robert Milli	...	Tom Gruneman
Anthony Holland	...	Actor's Agent

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:M | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | France:Unrated | USA:X (original rating) | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1971) | Sweden:11 | UK:18 (video: 1988) | USA:R | Canada:18A

Filming Locations:

Filmways Studios - 246 East 127th Street, East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Gus Productions

Trivia:

According to her autobiography, Jane Fonda hung out with call girls and pimps for a week before beginning this film in order to prepare for her role. When none of the pimps offered to "represent" her, she became convinced she wasn't desirable enough to play a prostitute and urged the director to replace her with friend Faye Dunaway.

Goofs:

Continuity: Bree's surname is inconsistent (Daniel or Daniels) throughout the entire movie. The end credits read Daniel.

Quotes:

Peter Cable: I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm so deeply puzzled. I've done terrible things, I've killed three people. Really, I don't consider myself a terrible man, no more than-than others. See, Tom Gruneman had discovered me. We were here on business together and he found me and Jane McKenna in my hotel room...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "American Dad!: The Best Christmas Story Never (#2.9)" (2006)

A Classic Film-Noir With Awesome Performance of Jane Fonda

In Pennsylvania, when his old friend, the laboratory engineer Tom Gruneman (Robert Mili), vanishes, detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is hired by Tom's colleague Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) to search for him. The unique lead is an obscene letter written by Tom to a call-girl in New York called Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda), and Klute moves to the Apple city to investigate the disappearance of Tom. Klute blackmails Bree to help him to find other prostitutes that might have been with Tom using some tapes of her phone calls that he had secretly recorded. They realize that some is stalking Bree, while Klute falls in love for Dress, and she has some sort of feeling that she can not understand for him.

In 1971, Jane Fonda was a muse worshiped by many teenagers like me, and I was particularly following her work through the sexy and cult sci-fi "Barbarella" and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They", an excellent adaptation of Horace McCoy's novel of the same name that had impressed me a lot. "Klute" was considered erotic in those times and the scene where Dree fakes an orgasm while looking at her watch was a sensation. Later I saw this movie many times on VHS, and now I have just bought the DVD.

"Klute" is really a classic film-noir, one of my favorite movies ever, with an engaging story with thriller, crime and romance, magnificent direction and stunning performances of Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland in the role of very believable characters. Jane Fonda deserved the Oscar perfectly playing a very complex character, strong and insensitive with her clients, fragile and confused with love. It is amazing how this movie has not aged and how much I like it every time I see it. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Klute, O Passado Condena" ("Klute, the Past Condemns")