Note: This is #36 in my 52 Classic Movies in 52 Weeks challenge for 2009.
The third the four Alfred Hitchcock movies on the list, I think I like North by Northwest the best (at the time of this writing I’ve already watched Psycho as well as Vertigo and Rear Window). This is probably because it’s got the most straight forward thriller-type plot and some pretty iconic scenes. Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is high power executive who accidentally gets involved with some goons, some spies, some microfiche, a MacGuffin, and and Abraham Lincoln’s enormous nose. The main drama and intrigue comes from Thornhill’s trying to figure out the nature of the mess he’s gotten into when some henchmen kidnap him in a case of mistaken identity and repeatedly try to kill him. Thornhill turns out to be more resourceful than anyone might have guessed (himself included), but he has help in the form of a mysterious blond bombshell (Eva Marie Saint) who turns out to be more than she first appeared.
As I said, the plot if pretty engaging and it moves along quickly. It’s essentially a spy caper, only with Cary Gran’ts everyman character sitting in for your typical James Bond lead (well, “typical” from the vantage of 2009 if not 1959). It’s a fun story, even if it’s not as meaty as the other films I’ve sampled from Hitchcock’s library.
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