Editing The Parallax View (section)

==Critical reception==
At the time of its release, ''The Parallax View'' received mixed reactions from critics, but the film's reception has been more positive in recent years. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 87% based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critics consensus says, "''The Parallax View'' blends deft direction from Alan J. Pakula and a charismatic Warren Beatty performance to create a paranoid political thriller that stands with the genre's best."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/parallax_view |title=''The Parallax View'' |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=June 15, 2024 |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927213902/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/parallax_view |url-status=live }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]] the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Parallax View |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-parallax-view |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=2021-01-01 |archive-date=2020-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115053911/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-parallax-view |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film three out of four stars upon its release. While Beatty offered a good performance in an effective if predictable thriller, Ebert said the actor was not called upon to exercise his full talents. Ebert also noted similarities to the 1973 film ''[[Executive Action (film)|Executive Action]]'', but said ''Parallax'' was "a better use of similar material, however, because it tries to entertain instead of staying behind to argue."<ref name="ebert">{{cite news |date=June 14, 1974 |last=Ebert |first= Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19740614/REVIEWS/811039998/1023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112091545/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19740614/REVIEWS/811039998/1023 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 12, 2008 |title=''The Parallax View''|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |access-date=October 1, 2009 }}</ref> In his review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Vincent Canby]] wrote, "Neither Mr. Pakula nor his screenwriters, David Giler and Lorenzo Semple, Jr., display the wit that [[Alfred Hitchcock]] might have used to give the tale importance transcending immediate plausibility. The moviemakers have, instead, treated their central idea so soberly that they sabotage credulity."<ref name="canby">{{cite news|last=Canby|first=Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=EE05E7DF173DA62CA34A4CC6B679988C6896&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes|title=''The Parallax View''|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 20, 1974|access-date=October 1, 2009|archive-date=January 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121155933/https://www.nytimes.com/reviews/movies|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Joseph Kanon]] of ''[[The Atlantic]]'' found the film's subject pertinent: "what gives the movie its real force is the way its menace keeps absorbing material from contemporary life."<ref name="slate2">{{cite news|last=Simon|first=Art|date=July 21, 2017|title=In The Parallax View, Conspiracy Goes All the Way to the Top—and Beyond|url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/07/the-parallax-view-is-a-70s-paranoid-classic-about-evil-corporations-and-political-assassinations.html|work=Slate|access-date=September 20, 2020|archive-date=October 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031124803/https://slate.com/culture/2017/07/the-parallax-view-is-a-70s-paranoid-classic-about-evil-corporations-and-political-assassinations.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's [[Richard Schickel]] wrote, "We would probably be better off rethinking—or better yet, not thinking about—the whole dismal business, if only to put an end to ugly and dramatically unsatisfying products like ''The Parallax View''."<ref name="schickel">{{cite magazine|last= Schickel|first=Richard|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943929,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222052324/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943929,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 22, 2008|title=Paranoid Thriller|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date= July 8, 1974|access-date=October 1, 2009}}</ref>

In 2006, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' critic Chris Nashawaty wrote, "''The Parallax View'' is a mother of a thriller... and Beatty, always an underrated actor thanks (or no thanks) to his off-screen rep as a Hollywood lothario, gives a hell of a performance in a career that's been full of them."<ref name="nashawaty">{{cite magazine|last=Nashawaty|first=Chris|url=https://ew.com/article/2006/07/12/parallax-view-and-other-great-beatty-roles|title=The Parallax View and other great Beatty roles|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=July 12, 2006|access-date=October 7, 2022|archive-date=October 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013015902/https://ew.com/article/2006/07/12/parallax-view-and-other-great-beatty-roles/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Alexander Kaplan at ''[[Film Score Monthly]]'' wrote, "Beatty brought his relaxed, low-key charm[,] making his character’s fate even more shocking, while the supporting cast provided ... memorable performances, including Paula Prentiss’s heartbreakingly terrified reporter[.] ... Pakula observed that Frady 'imagines the most bizarre kind of plots, (but) is destroyed by a truth worse than anything he could have imagined.' The film’s ending ... suggests that Parallax may have been onto Frady the whole time, another subversion of his heroic status. Even the hero’s name is unheroic, 'Joe Frady' suggesting a mocking mixture of ''[[Dragnet (franchise)|Dragnet]]''’s [[Joe Friday]] and the schoolyard taunt [']fraidy cat.'"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/parallax_view.html |title=The Parallax View |website=[[Film Score Monthly]] | date=2010 |access-date=May 29, 2023 }}</ref>

The motion picture won the Critics Award at the [[Avoriaz#Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival|Avoriaz Film Festival]] (France) and was nominated for the [[Edgar Award|Edgar Allan Poe Award]] for [[List of Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay winners|Best Motion Picture]]. Gordon Willis won the [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography|Award for Best Cinematography]] from the [[National Society of Film Critics]] (USA).

Reviewing films depicting political assassination conspiracies for ''[[The Guardian]]'', director [[Alex Cox]] called the film the "best JFK conspiracy movie".<ref>{{cite news|last=Cox|first=Alex|date=November 19, 2013|title=''The Parallax View'': a JFK conspiracy film that gets it right|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/19/the-parallax-view-kennedy-assassination|work=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=September 20, 2020|archive-date=October 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031152039/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/19/the-parallax-view-kennedy-assassination|url-status=live}}</ref> Film critic [[Matt Zoller Seitz]] has called it "a damn near perfect movie".<ref>{{cite tweet |author-link=Matt Zoller Seitz |user=mattzollerseitz |number=309891733985058816 |date=March 8, 2013 |title=THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974). Dir: Alan J. Pakula. DP: Gordon Willis. A damn near perfect movie. }}</ref>