The Parallax View (1974) Alan J. Pakula.
Fantastic political thriller directed by Alan J. Pakula (who also directed
All The President's Men) starring Warren Beatty in one of his best roles
ever.
The movie's tagline says it all
"There is no conspiracy. Just twelve people dead."
When a senator is murdered on the campaign trail, the official conclusion
of a commission (not unlike the "Warren Commission" after the assassination
of John F. Kennedy) is, that this was the work of a lone gunman.
Yet, three years after the assassination, Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) is
visited by his ex-girlfriend and fellow reporter (Paula Prentiss) with an
update on how many of those who witnessed the senator's murder, died
before their time as well. Initially, Frady is skeptic. Yet, when his ex ends
up on a slab at the morgue not long after visiting him, he sets out on his
own investigation.
Other co-stars are Hume Cronyn, excellent as always, William Daniels
(who also starred with Beatty in Reds), Kenneth Mars and Walter McGinn
(who also starred in a similarly paranoid thriller "Three Days of the Condor")
as the representative of the mysterious Parallax Corporation.
In this scene Joe (Beatty) is bailed out by his chief editor
(Cronyn) after having been arrested on phony charges by the
police.
This is the classic scene on the plane. Pakula uses the
claustrophobic lack of space on the plane to its fullest and
Beatty proves what a fantastic actor he is in this very tense
scene with almost no dialogue.
The Parallax Corporation's recruitement agent pays Joe
(Beatty) a personal visit.
