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Even if they've never seen it, chances are, most people can name this film. It's "the one where the airplane chases that guy."

Visited my grandparents recently, and borrowed a couple of movies from them, namely the Arnold Schwarzenneggar/Jim Belushi buddy cop film Red Heat (which I kind of liked) and North By Northwest, a movie I had never seen until now, something I'm sure must shock a lot of people.

My verdict? I loved it. I haven't seen Cary Grant in a lot of stuff, just Arsenic and Old Lace and that's about it, but I really enjoyed him as Roger Thornhill, the epitome of a "boring nobody" who gets mistaken for a secret agent (comparisons to If Looks Could Kill are already forming, and unfavorably so for Looks...), and, of course, James Mason as the bad guy was a hoot.

A lot of "classic" movies I've watched over the years haven't really lived up to their hype for me, but North By Northwest did, and in spades. Ironically, it's only the third Hitchcock film I've seen all the way through, the other two being The Birds and Rear Window, and all three have entertained me immensely. Some of the special effects in the movie were a bit hokey by today's standards (such as the really awful bluescreen effect of one of the goons falling off Mt. Rushmore at the end), but they didn't ruin my enjoyment of the plot at all.

So, does anyone else have any thoughts about Hitchcock's Cary Grant spy thriller with a twist?

You have'nt seen PSYCHO yet? AH!
 If you liked the intrige angle in NORTH by NORTHWEST,you would love both versions of the MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and TOPAZ...both excellent Hitchcok espionage thrillers!

Hoping not to reveal too much, I must say, NBNW's first 3 quarters are excellent! The un-ending suspense kind of does downhill after that. Rest assured, the rest of the film is still plenty pulse-pounding, despite not having all the paranoid skulking around that was present in earlier scenes. Vandamm seems a real cocky a***ole at times, but really the government seemed to be just as bad here.

The Birds is a horror classic with the same chilling level of suspense as North by Northwest, coming from a different, less-powerful-but-just-as-deadly antagonist. Rear Window is one of those that did not live up to it's hype for me. The "voyeur" (which was really kind of ruined by bland camera angles and Jeffries's constant droning narration) and the "suspense" (which was lukewarm at best) was totally mundane from start to finish, with the possible exception of the final "climax" of the bad guy coming unarmed into our quickly-recovering protagonist(who similarly chooses not to properly arm himself)'s room.

My only real problem with the movie is the non-ending. SPOILERS! (although why are we bothering?) I would've liked to have seen Roger exonerated for the Townsend killing, and also to see Vandamm follow the example of his henchmen and take a nosedive off Rushmore. Oh well. Still was a great movie.

There is a reason why hitchcock is regarded so highly even today, he was a damn good director and story teller. To be honest thouh I think one of the reasons this film was so good was carey grant's acting. Could you imagine James Stewart in the same role?

I have tried to get into this film a few times and just haven't been able to do it. It seems like I've seen the whole film in parts, but perhaps not. If I ever get to see it from the beginning maybe I'll get to liking it. I'm sure it's a very good film, but I just haven't found the handle on this one.

Here's the trailer tour by Alfred Hitchcock which I did enjoy.

[youtube=425,350]http://youtube.com/watch?v=HRfmTpmIUwo

You know, Hitch was a master showman.  You won't find a director in these times who could go in front of the camera to plug his own film.  Not only that but do it with such a dry wit and so tongue-in-cheek.  He was a great Hollywood personality.  It was a crime that the Academy never gave him a more than well deserved Oscar.

If you've never seen a Hitchcock movie, I highly suggest- Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...(honorable mention to Rear Window and The Birds)

Woot!  Week-long Hitchcock-fest on AMC this week!  Good place to see those Hitch classics you may have missed.

"Psycho" may be the better film, but I've always enjoyed this one more.