Film screening: The Telephone Girl and the Detective

USA, 1971 | 114 minutes | English | Hebrew subtitles

John Klute, a small-town police officer, comes to New York to find a missing person. His only lead is Bree Daniels, a neurotic escort who may be able to help him. Alan J. Pakula was a Hollywood producer who had despaired of finding directors for the films he wanted to produce and decided to do the job himself. He proved to be a phenomenon. Here, in his second film, he takes the detective genre and turns it into something entirely different—a nearly romantic drama about the developing relationship between two strangers, outsiders in the big city. It is difficult to shape such a romance, especially within rigid conventions, and Pakula builds the entire film around the presence and talent of his stars: Fonda and Sutherland, who bring opposing forces to the screen. The result, like all of Pakula’s films (“All the President’s Men,” “Sophie’s Choice,” and others), is a restrained and effective drama.