BEFORE: Continuing with my tribute to TCM's Tribute to Jane Fonda.
AFTER: This also represents the third film in a row for which Jane Fonda was Oscar-nominated - she won for both this one and "Coming Home".
It's a murder mystery that manages to get by for most of the film without any suspects at all, largely due to the investigator running into one dead end after another - something tells me that this may more closely resemble actual detective work than your typical film, however. Sometimes in a Hollywood crime film the pieces come together just a bit too well. The real world is probably more messy and complicated.
The other thing that slows the detective down is getting involved with the call girl who might have been the last person to see the missing man, who might also have received some obscene letters from him. Which seems a little weird, that the man is both missing, and possibly also stalking someone at the same time. I don't know, perhaps people in the 1970's might have dropped off the grid once they got a taste of the NY underground sex scene?
There's more to it, of course, but the main focus of the film is the relationship between the P.I. and the call girl. She's also an amateur actress, and she doesn't seem to need the money, so the implication is that she's got one foot in the sex-trade world just for the thrill, or because it's her subsitute for a real relationship. Through her therapy sessions, we learn a bit about the troubled psyche of a sex worker, who might be on the cusp of having her first real non-paid-for relationship.
Paranoia, self-doubt, feelings of emptiness or numbness, it's all in line with the emotions one might expect from someone who's suffered years of abuse. After years in a degrading job, one might expect to suffer fears over one's own self-worth. Yet at the same time, the character comes off as someone who can easily control and manipulate men, so it's a complex situation.
Also starring Donald Sutherland (last seen in "Cold Mountain"), Roy Scheider (last seen in "Naked Lunch"), Charles Cioffi, Dorothy Tristan, with cameos from Jean Stapleton, Candy Darling, Veronica Hamel, Sylvester Stallone (somewhere in a disco, last seen in "Cliffhanger").
RATING: 5 out of 10 fetishes
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