Post by petrolino on Dec 22, 2017 22:16:25 GMT
The mystery thriller 'Klute' deals with the perplexing case of disappearing Pennsylvanian chemical company executive Tom Gruneman (Robert Milli). His potential widow Holly Gruneman (Betty Murray) learns of a dozen or more obscene letters that her husband allegedly sent to high-class call girl Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda) but she rejects the notion. Detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) sets out to investigate.
'Klute' is often referred to as the first film in Alan Pakula's groundbreaking paranoia trilogy, followed by 'The Parallax View' (1974) and 'All The President's Men' (1976). Jane Fonda portrays prostitute Bree Daniels who's looking to kickstart a mainstream acting career but considered a closed book by casting agents. Donald Sutherland is eerie investigator John Klute who floats like a ghost. The story deals with roleplay for adults decades before the current global cosplay revolution. Its frank address of social attitudes and sexual proclivities during an era of mass addiction and widening mistrust remains pertinent.
"What is it about Jane Fonda that makes her such a fascinating actress to watch? She has a sort of nervous intensity that keeps her so firmly locked into a film character that the character actually seems distracted by things that come up in the movie. You almost have the feeling, a couple of times in "Klute," that the Fonda character had other plans and was just leaving the room when this (whatever it is) came up. The movie is about a skilled, intelligent, cynical, and personally troubled New York call girl who does not, for once, have a heart of gold. She never feels anything when she's with a man, she tells her shrink, but she does experience a sense of professional pride when she's able to satisfy a client. And some of her clients have very complicated needs, which challenge the girl's imaginative acting ability. One old garment industry tycoon, for example, has spent all his life making clothes. But he fantasizes an idealistic sort of pre-World War I existence in Europe, in Vienna maybe, and the girl describes it to him in quiet, warm images while she disrobes. He never touches her."
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
Donald Sutherland & Jane Fonda in 'Klute'
"I like to get business out of the way at the beginning, that way we don't have to think about it, then we can - [inhales] - just have a good time. Mmm, I like your mind. So - [chuckles] - Chicago. {PAUSE} Is this the bed?"
- Bree Daniels
Jane Fonda
Bree is tired, anxious and unsettled as she lies awake in her own bedroom at night. She's secretive and withdrawn in public yet confident and assertive when dealing with some of her nervy clients. Scenes of masked pleasure are lensed through dark channels by cinematographer Gordon Willis. Chris Newman's intricate sound design is married to composer Michael Small's shivery score which sends ascending and descending clusters of notes upon converging musical pathways. Pakula gained the participation of active revolutionary Rosalind Cash, catwalk model Veronica Hamel and aggressive street artist Shirley Stoler during production. Rogue musician Sylvester Stallone cut a rug as a drug-fuelled disco dancer. There's a handy cameo from factory scenester Candy Darling.
"He was happy to talk about music but he loved to talk about writers: his songs are peppered with references to Norman Mailer, Byron and philosophy. "He went through a Thomas Mann phase, which was almost unbearable, but even in those conversations he managed to make me laugh," says Carl Hiaasen. "Warren expected you to keep up with him [intellectually]," says Crystal Zevon. "He sought people who could meet him on that level – the Carl Hiaasens and the Paul Muldoons. But these people are solid, grounded people with families, and that's what Warren always craved, even if he didn't always act like that." Zevon was born in 1947 in Chicago, the son of a young Mormon woman and a middle-aged Russian-Jewish immigrant gangster. (Warren later commemorated this improbable match in the delightful Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded, a song with a jolly rhythm but lyrics that tell of imminent doom.) The family moved to California when Warren was young and his parents split up just as he was discovering a talent for classical music. Initially, Warren lived with his mother and her new partner, but his stepfather never hid his hatred, calling him "a pansy" because he wore glasses and played the piano, and his mother didn't intervene to protect her son. So Warren, enraged, fled to his father. "Warren's father was a gruff little guy who probably killed people, but he was there for his son. But then, this was a guy who gave his son a prostitute for his 14th birthday!" says Crystal, with a roll of her eyes. "Warren's unstable childhood affected him a lot in later life. As an adult, he could never be satisfied – he was always seeking more, whether it was drinking, sex or women. There was always a part of him the craved stability, but also ran away from it. You hear his whole history in the songs." Zevon devoted himself to music from a young age with some success – one song, He Quit Me was included on the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy when he was 22 – and he was slowly gaining a reputation within the LA music community as a control freak and, quite possibly, a genius. He was hired as a musician for, of all unlikely bands, the Everly Brothers in the early 70s, by which point he had a son, Jordan, with his girlfriend Marilyn, and was just about to fall for Crystal who was then with a friend of Zevon's, guitarist Waddy Wachtel. The two of them broke up with their partners and in 1974 they married. "It was pretty instant that first time we saw each other – it was fast, romantic and happy," smiles Crystal. "A lot of people ask me: 'Would you do anything differently if you could go back?' But I couldn't give any of it up, even though parts of it were really painful – maybe as much as it was really joyful. But it was a great love."
- Hadley Freeman, 'Warren Zevon : The Man Behind The Demons'
- Hadley Freeman, 'Warren Zevon : The Man Behind The Demons'
Sylvester Stallone & Andy Warhol
'Nighttime In The Switching Yard' - Warren Zevon
Jane Fonda celebrated her 80th birthday with a party yesterday, raising a cool $1,300,000 for charity. Music came courtesy of Carole King and James Taylor. Fonda said there's a lot she'd like to do before she's done.
“The sense of entitlement that to be a real man you have to grab women and paw women and assault women and knock up women is the underlying problem here. Men do it because it makes them feel like real men. It shows that they have power, and whether you’re at the top of your game in Hollywood or a young kid in Appalachia, that toxic masculinity is gonna affect how you treat girls.”
- Jane Fonda
