Film Forum

(1971) Small town detective Donald Sutherland, journeying to NYC to seek a friend’s murderer, finds both were clients of high-priced call girl Jane Fonda – and then things get ominous. Ruthlessly stylized photography by Gordon Willis (Manhattan), and a partly-improvised (and Oscar-winning) performance by Jane highlight glossily Noir thriller. 35mm. Approx. 114 min.

Reviews

“Criminally underappreciated!”
– Benedict Cosgrove, Gothamist

“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.”
– Roger Ebert

“Hinges on the contradictions of autonomy and emotional commitment facing would-be independent women…  For once, a genuinely psychological thriller.”
– Time Out

“[Fonda] makes all the right choices, from the mechanics of her walk and her voice inflection to the penetration of the girl’s raging psyche. It is a rare performance.”
– Jay Cocks

“A movie resolutely of its moment that still surges with third-rail electricity. The dread and unease that suffuse the film seem rooted partly in anxiety over second-wave feminism, the cresting of which nearly coincided with the release of this movie, one that centers on its heroine’s profound ambivalence about growing emotionally attached to a man.”
– The Village Voice

“One of the strongest woman characters to reach the screen.”
– Pauline Kael

“Challenges the historically male preserve of the private eye story.”
– Forster Hirsch