Jane Fonda's first Oscar-winning role, in Alan Pakula's “Klute” (1971), is acknowledged a great performance. (So was her first nomination for the 1969 “They Shoot Horses, Don't They”)
For no apparent reason, the film was named after its detective (played by Donald Sutherland), but it should have been titled after its heroine, Bree Daniel, a tough New York call girl. Bree may be a victim of her circumstances, but she also enjoys the power she possesses over her clients.
Like other films of the era, “Klute” also makes an explicit association between the two traditional female professions, acting and prostitution. When Bree complains to her analyst that she has had no luck as an actress, the latter responds, “What's the difference You're successful as a call girl, you're not successful as an actress.”
