Hey, everyone. I watched a good movie this evening and I thought that I would tell you about it.
It may have fell through the cracks for you, as it has for me. Despite the fact that I was a movie buff at that time, as well as today, I have never seen the film, until tonight on Turner Classic Movies. It came to the big screen, lo, these many years ago. 1971, to be exact. It was a time of mini-skirts and war in southeast Asia. Jane Fonda had an eye-catching presence in both. She stars as Bree Daniel, an aspiring actress in New York who makes ends meet by being a call girl. She is not a street walker but a highly paid professional of the evening.
A supposed former client of Bree's has gone missing. The man, Tom Gruneman (Robert Mili) has supposedly been sending the call girl creepy letters, but since they are typewritten, it is hard to prove he wrote them. Gruneman is figured to be dead, but his wife hires John Klute (Donald Sutherland) to investigate the disappearance. Of course, the strait-laced detective begins with the kinky Bree.
As the pair strike up an uneasy relationship, it becomes obvious that Bree has someone following her besides Klute. She is receiving sinister phone calls as well. Frankly, the detective himself makes a reasonable suspect as he is spying on the lady, himself.
Bree is a master manipulator, as John Klute quickly learns. Klute has taken a room in her apartment building and claiming fear has driven her, she winds up at his door in the wee hours, intent on wee fun with this wee guy.
Jane Fonda did a very nice job in this film, as did everyone. She dominated the film somewhat, to the extent that she won an Oscar for her role. It was richly deserved. I refuse to tell you too much and spoil the ending, but let me pose a few trenchant questions.
1) Will Bree become John Klute's woman?
2) Is there any hope for a Private Investigator and a not-so-private woman? About love, I mean. Hope for the white picket fence and the whole enchilada?
3) Is Tom Gruneman really dead? Should we have the Mayor of Munchkinville to pontificate like in the Wizard of Oz and say that Tom is "Really, really, really dead"?
4) Can Klute and Bree survive a sadistic killer and expose him?
5) Can the proper Pennsylvania detective hang onto his virtue in the Big Apple?
Find the answer to these questions and more, if you watch this good, older movie.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
P.S. Don't snigger too loudly at some of the prices that are quoted during the movie. After all, it was 43 years ago. Gas was 29 cents a gallon.
P.S.S. The commentator for the film mentioned that Fonda visited an actual morgue during the shooting of the show so that she could gain a feel for the scene depicted there. It was after this that she conceived a life-long dedication to women's protection from abuse.
It may have fell through the cracks for you, as it has for me. Despite the fact that I was a movie buff at that time, as well as today, I have never seen the film, until tonight on Turner Classic Movies. It came to the big screen, lo, these many years ago. 1971, to be exact. It was a time of mini-skirts and war in southeast Asia. Jane Fonda had an eye-catching presence in both. She stars as Bree Daniel, an aspiring actress in New York who makes ends meet by being a call girl. She is not a street walker but a highly paid professional of the evening.
A supposed former client of Bree's has gone missing. The man, Tom Gruneman (Robert Mili) has supposedly been sending the call girl creepy letters, but since they are typewritten, it is hard to prove he wrote them. Gruneman is figured to be dead, but his wife hires John Klute (Donald Sutherland) to investigate the disappearance. Of course, the strait-laced detective begins with the kinky Bree.
As the pair strike up an uneasy relationship, it becomes obvious that Bree has someone following her besides Klute. She is receiving sinister phone calls as well. Frankly, the detective himself makes a reasonable suspect as he is spying on the lady, himself.
Bree is a master manipulator, as John Klute quickly learns. Klute has taken a room in her apartment building and claiming fear has driven her, she winds up at his door in the wee hours, intent on wee fun with this wee guy.
Jane Fonda did a very nice job in this film, as did everyone. She dominated the film somewhat, to the extent that she won an Oscar for her role. It was richly deserved. I refuse to tell you too much and spoil the ending, but let me pose a few trenchant questions.
1) Will Bree become John Klute's woman?
2) Is there any hope for a Private Investigator and a not-so-private woman? About love, I mean. Hope for the white picket fence and the whole enchilada?
3) Is Tom Gruneman really dead? Should we have the Mayor of Munchkinville to pontificate like in the Wizard of Oz and say that Tom is "Really, really, really dead"?
4) Can Klute and Bree survive a sadistic killer and expose him?
5) Can the proper Pennsylvania detective hang onto his virtue in the Big Apple?
Find the answer to these questions and more, if you watch this good, older movie.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
P.S. Don't snigger too loudly at some of the prices that are quoted during the movie. After all, it was 43 years ago. Gas was 29 cents a gallon.
P.S.S. The commentator for the film mentioned that Fonda visited an actual morgue during the shooting of the show so that she could gain a feel for the scene depicted there. It was after this that she conceived a life-long dedication to women's protection from abuse.
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