If you liked this movie, you should also see: Rosemary's Baby (1968)Diva (1981)Blue Velvet (1986)Chinatown (1974)Dirty Harry (1971)
Six months after the disappearance of Tuscarora, PA businessman Tom Gruneman, his boss, Peter Cable, and his wife, Holly Gruneman, hire Tom's best friend, private detective John Klute to find out what happened to Tom, as the police have been unable to do so, and despite John having no expertise in missing persons cases. The only lead is a typewritten obscene letter Tom purportedly sent to Manhattan actress/model/call girl Bree Daniel, who admits to having received such letters from someone, and since having received several obscene telephone calls as well. The suggestion/belief is that Tom was one of Bree's past johns, although she has no recollection of him when shown his photograph. Bree tricking is more a compulsion than a financial need. In their initial encounters, John and Bree do whatever they can to exert their psychological dominance over the other, especially as Bree initially refused to even speak to him. Despite their less than friendly start, they embark on a personal relationship based on emotional need, but it is a relationship Bree tries to sabotage because of those same issues which causes her to turn tricks. As they follow the leads through Bree's call girl world, they know they're getting close to finding the truth when someone starts to use psychological torture on Bree. They believe the key to Tom's disappearance is a john who once tried to kill her a few years earlier, but who as a person she doesn't remember. The questions become whether John and Bree can discover his identity and stop him before he tries to kill Bree again, and if they can whether there is an immediate future for them together.