Alan J. Pakula makes absorbing thrillers by letting us study people we cannot quite trust. We value his patience with actors, even if that patience occasionally slows the drama.
Fi1m perspective
In Presumed Innocent (1990), Harrison Ford’s Rusty Sabich is a man we keep watching for a reason to trust him. Pakula gives us time to look and no assurance that looking will settle anything. We felt uneasy watching Ford because being allowed to study him brought us no closer to trusting him. Pakula is at his most absorbing here, allowing an actor to hold our attention without insisting that we like or understand the man he plays.
His directing career began with The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), before the thrillers that established his reputation. In Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974) and All the President’s Men (1976), suspicion spreads beyond individuals to the institutions around them. With cinematographer Gordon Willis, he found an effective way to make people seem isolated: deep shadows, selective lighting and buildings that dwarf them. The framing makes us notice how little control these people have over their surroundings.
The literary adaptation Sophie’s Choice (1982), with Meryl Streep, belongs to the other enduring part of his reputation: the care he took with performances. His use of rehearsal and improvisation helped actors build characters who were difficult to sum up. In Presumed Innocent, that care extends well beyond Ford. Brian Dennehy gives Raymond Horgan enough presence to hold his own, while Raúl Juliá’s Sandy Stern makes the legal talk worth listening to. Bonnie Bedelia’s Barbara Sabich rewards the same scrutiny as her husband.
Pakula’s screenplay with Frank Pierson, adapted from Scott Turow’s novel, gives those performances space, though the solemnity sometimes makes quiet scenes drag. There are also stretches when the supporting actors have to supply information, however carefully they have been cast. What keeps us interested is the question of how much blame Sabich might carry even if he has not committed the crime under discussion. Start with Presumed Innocent when a doubtful face and a patient conversation sound like enough for an evening.
Biography
Alan J. Pakula (1928–1998) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He studied drama at Yale University and began his career in Hollywood as a producer, notably on To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Pakula directed his first feature, The Sterile Cuckoo, in 1969. He became known for the "paranoia trilogy" of thrillers: Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1976). Other notable films he directed and often wrote include Sophie's Choice (1982), Presumed Innocent (1990) and The Pelican Brief (1993).
He received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture (To Kill a Mockingbird), Best Director (All the President's Men) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Sophie's Choice).
