The Parallax View–Alan J. Pakula’s political thriller starring Warren Beatty–marks the 50th anniversary since its 1974 theatrical release.

Up until last week, I had never seen the film. What piqued my interest in it was the influence of Alan J. Pakula films and other similar political thrillers on Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. Interestingly enough, it just happens to be the film’s 50th anniversary this year. It’s quite possible that I would have ended up watching the film regardless of the new dinosaur series.

Three years after Klute, Pakula releases the second installment of his Paranoia trilogy. All the President’s Men would conclude the trilogy in 1976. Pakula really takes it up a notch even as the film’s release came during the Watergate hearings. Over a decade after President Kennedy’s assassination and a few years removed from both assassinations of MLK Jr. and RFK in 1968, this is a film that leans into the paranoia of it all.

The gist of the film is that a reporter is investigating the Parallax Corporation, an secretive organization specializing in political assassinations. One of the first things we see in the film is the assassination of U.S. senator Charles Carroll (William Joyce). Much like the investigation into the 1963 Kennedy assassination, a committee finds that the shooter acted alone. However, the real killer is still out there. Just like that, it’s three years later when TV journalist Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) is visiting ex-boyfriend, investigative journalist Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty). Carter is fearing for her life because six other witnesses have shown up dead. She is soon becomes the victim of a drug overdose. Carter’s death leads Frady to investigate the previous murders.

As Frady’s investigation plays out, witnesses start dying or come close to it. After one of their deaths and his being presumed dead, Frady decides to apply to work at Parallax. He follows operatives and thwarts their work. During the films, final moments, another presidential candidate, Sen. George Hammond (Jim Davis), is murdered and people suspect Frady. Unfortunately, he gets murdered and framed during a later investigation.

Cinematographer Gordon Willis was very prolific during the 1970s. His interest in political thrillers is similar to that of filmmaker Alan J. Pakula, which explains why they work so well together. If you pay attention closely, you’ll notice how often they film Joseph Frady from a distance. It is almost as if he is being watched. The cinematographer has a flare for figures in spaces, which shows throughout his work in The Parallax View. When it comes to lighting and such, the assassination attempt early in the film works because we’re watching it happen from the outside. I don’t think it would work in the same way if filming inside the room. It also helps that they film with anamorphic lenses.

I almost didn’t even recognize a young William Daniels in the film as Carroll aide Austin Tucker until he opened his mouth. At which point, I instantly knew it was the Boy Meets World star because I could not forget his voice. I didn’t start watching Daniels in TV or film until the ABC series premiered in the 1990s.

Fifty years after its release, The Parallax View holds up as a political thriller depicting the 1970s paranoia.

DIRECTOR: Alan J. Pakula
SCREENWRITERS: David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr.
CAST: Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels, Kenneth Mars, Walter McGinn, Kelly Thorsden, Jim Davis, Bill McKinney, William Jordan, Edward Winter, and Paula Prentiss

Paramount Pictures released The Parallax View in theaters on June 14, 1974. Grade: 4/5

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