The Parallax View

par·al·lax

-noun

1. The apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer.

2. Astronomy. The apparent angular displacement of a celestial body due to its being observed from the surface instead of from the center of the earth (diurnal parallax or geocentric parallax) or due to its being observed from the earth instead of from the sun (annual parallax or heliocentric parallax). Compare parallactic ellipse.

3. The difference between the view of an object as seen through the picture-taking lens of a camera and the view as seen through a separate viewfinder.

4. An apparent change in the position of cross hairs as viewed through a telescope, when the focusing is imperfect.

American Psychological Association (APA):

parallax. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved March 04, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parallax

I always wondered what that word meant, let alone in relation to this movie. This would have come in handy during those damn SAT's I took so many years ago. It would have brought my scores up a bit. As for what my scores were...Well, you can just figure that out on your own.

"The Parallax View" is a thriller from 1974 that was directed by Alan J. Pakula and stars Warren Beatty. I saw it as a double feature with another Pakula thriller, "Klute." I even remember my mom asking me to record this on the family VCR back in the 1980's. I did succeed in getting the whole movie on tape as opposed to all those car races my dad and my brother asked me to record for them from time to time. We do have Tivo now, so I don't have to do any of that anymore. Anyway, it's a good thing I didn't see this movie right away when I recorded it for my mom. They probably edited it down and cut all the good parts out.