Klute

KLUTE (18)

D: Alan J. Pakula

Warner Bros / Gus Productions (Alan J. Pakula)

US 🇺🇸 1971

114 mins

Thriller

W: Andy Lewis & Dave Lewis

DP: Gordon Willis

Ed: Carl Lerner

Mus: Michael Small

Donald Sutherland (John Klute), Jane Fonda (Bree Daniels), Charles Cioffi (Peter Cable), Roy Scheider (Frank Ligourin), Dorothy Tristan (Arlyn Page)

Donald Sutherland may be playing the title character in this gritty 1970s thriller, but it’s Jane Fonda who steals the show with an Oscar-winning performance.

Sutherland is John Klute, a private investigator hired to track down a missing person, last thought to have been a client of sex worker Bree Daniels (Fonda) before his disappearance, but she claims to have no knowledge of him leading them both down a rabbit hole that becomes increasingly deviant.

Sutherland gives one of his best performances as the virtuous detective, but Fonda is a force of nature here, completely taking the limelight from her leading man.

Made during an era where the restrictions of censorship were being pushed, Director Alan J. Pakula keeps the violence muted, as the inference of depravity is more than enough.

7/10