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 | 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 | Prostitute | Letter | Detective

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
Fred Burrell	...	Man in Hotel
Richard B. Shull	...	Sugarman (as Richard Shull)
Marc Malvin	...	Asst. Prod. in Adv. Agency
Rosalind Cash	...	Pat
Jean Stapleton	...	Goldfarb's Secretary
Jan Fielding	...	Psychiatrist's Secretary
Antonia Rey	...	Mrs. Vasek
Robert Ronan	...	Director in Little Theatre
Richard Russell Ramos	...	Asst. Dir. in Little Theatre (as Richard Ramos)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jerome Collamore	...	Custodian (uncredited)
Candy Darling	...	Discotheque Patron (uncredited)
Kevin Dobson	...	Man at Bar (uncredited)
Veronica Hamel	...	Model (uncredited)
Richard Jordan	...	Man kissing Jane Fonda in night club (uncredited)
Margaret Linn	...	Evie (uncredited)
Tony Major	...	Bill Azure (uncredited)
Harry Reems	...	Discotheque Patron (uncredited)
Joe Silver	...	Dr. Spangler (uncredited)
Sylvester Stallone	...	Discotheque Patron (uncredited)
Ellen Stretton	...	Woman at Bar (uncredited)
Lee Wallace	...	Nate Goldfarb (uncredited)
Mary Louise Wilson	...	Ad Agency Secretary (uncredited)

Directed by
Alan J. Pakula

Writing credits
Andy Lewis		(written by) and
David P. Lewis		(written by) (as Dave Lewis)

Produced by
C. Kenneth Deland	....	executive associate producer
David Lange	....	co-producer
Alan J. Pakula	....	producer

Original Music by
Michael Small

Cinematography by
Gordon Willis

Film Editing by
Carl Lerner

Casting by
Alixe Gordin

Art Direction by
George Jenkins

Set Decoration by
John Mortensen

Costume Design by
Ann Roth

Makeup Department
Irving Buchman	....	makeup artist
Bob Grimaldi	....	hair stylist
Paul McGregor	....	hair stylist: Miss Fonda (as Paul Macgregor)

Production Management
Ed Fay	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William C. Gerrity	....	assistant director (as William Gerrity)
Dwight Williams	....	dga trainee (uncredited)

Sound Department
Christopher Newman	....	sound (as Chris Newman)

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Chapman	....	camera operator
Sherman Kunkel	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Gary Muller	....	second assistant camera (uncredited)
Robert Willoughby	....	special still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Irene Bowers	....	assistant film editor
Angelo Corrao	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Michael Small	....	conductor
Jack Sheldon	....	musician: trumpet (uncredited)

Other crew
Barbra Bjorkman	....	script supervisor
Arthur Eckstein	....	title designer
Mary Hughes	....	production assistant
Mary Cross	....	double (uncredited)
Ralph S. Singleton	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Bill Stern	....	publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Gus Productions
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1974) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Master (2008) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Bros. Finland (1971) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1971) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1983) (1995) (1999) (Finland) (TV)
• TV3 (1988) (Finland) (TV)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

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) | Peru:18 | 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:

Jane Fonda's Best Actress Oscar acceptance speech for this movie was one of the shortest in movie history: "Thank you...thank you very much members of the Academy and thank all of you who applauded. There's a great deal to say and I'm not going to say it tonight, I would just like to really thank you very much."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Bree and Klute return to Bree's apartment from the market, the phone rings. Klute lifts the receiver halfway through the third ring whereupon the sound of the bell abruptly cuts off (rather than resonate a couple of seconds as it did during the first two rings), revealing the phone's ring as a studio recording.

Quotes:

Bree Daniels:[having sex with a john] Oh my angel! Oh my angel!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Sneak Previews: Fade to Black/The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith/The Idolmaker/Every Man for Himself" (1980)

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")