What's so great about REAR WINDOW?
To my mind, this is Hitchcock's finest film: terrific suspense, great actors (James Stewart, Grace Kelly) and that wonderfully voyeuristic, vicarious premise: a laid-up guy with nothing but time on his hands spies on his many neighbors across the way and discovers that one of them has been murdered.
Why do I use the word 'vicarious'? Because we all know that, given the chance, we'd sure as hell do the same thing! And that's the charm of the film: by focusing on an every-man type like Stewart, in a situation all of us could relate to, Hitchcock and Co. absolutely make us believe in this story. Hell, 'our' character, in addition to being a voyeur who solves a murder, also gets to have Grace Kelly as his girlfriend! Who wouldn't want to relate to that guy?
I watched the first five minutes with my daughter today, pointing out all the little touches 'Hitch' uses to set up the story: it's the hottest day of the year; all the apartment building's windows are open; people sleep on the fire escape to escape the swelter; there's a dancer living across the way, and a love-lorn type, plus an unhappily married guy, a guy writing a song, a woman and her little dog.
But then the focus on Stewart begins: though he's shown reclining, he's not lounging like the others--you see, his leg's in a cast. Why? The camera lingers on a broken camera on a table; then an all-too-close up photo of a wreck in a car-race; and then a magazine cover. Simple: he's a professional photographer who was injured while taking pictures at an automobile race.
So much to tell the viewers, and yet so elegantly done with no dialogue.
Touches like this litter the film: the songwriter gets his inspiration and the melody dissuades the love-lorn girl from suicide; Grace Kelly absconds with the dead woman's wedding ring, flashing it to Stewart from the woman's apartment; Stewart uses his flash to blind the murderer and avoid becoming the man's next victim.
And it's all done in 2 hours on, basically, one set, with only about six people having any lines of dialogue in the entire film. The photography is great, too--that really saturated Technicolor of the fifties almost becomes a character in itself (it's the best-looking of all of Hitchcock's color films).
If you haven't seen it, and you want to see what old-fashioned, G-rated, classic movies were like--and want to discover how much more sexy and suspenseful they could be than modern films--then rent or Netflix it today.
And after that one, get Strangers on a Train, my other favorite Hitchcock film (it's a close call between that and North by Northwest, but Strangers gets the nod for its more twisted and cynical plot). You won't be disappointed. In this case, it's absolutely true that "they don't make 'em like this anymore."
To my mind, this is Hitchcock's finest film: terrific suspense, great actors (James Stewart, Grace Kelly) and that wonderfully voyeuristic, vicarious premise: a laid-up guy with nothing but time on his hands spies on his many neighbors across the way and discovers that one of them has been murdered.
Why do I use the word 'vicarious'? Because we all know that, given the chance, we'd sure as hell do the same thing! And that's the charm of the film: by focusing on an every-man type like Stewart, in a situation all of us could relate to, Hitchcock and Co. absolutely make us believe in this story. Hell, 'our' character, in addition to being a voyeur who solves a murder, also gets to have Grace Kelly as his girlfriend! Who wouldn't want to relate to that guy?
I watched the first five minutes with my daughter today, pointing out all the little touches 'Hitch' uses to set up the story: it's the hottest day of the year; all the apartment building's windows are open; people sleep on the fire escape to escape the swelter; there's a dancer living across the way, and a love-lorn type, plus an unhappily married guy, a guy writing a song, a woman and her little dog.
But then the focus on Stewart begins: though he's shown reclining, he's not lounging like the others--you see, his leg's in a cast. Why? The camera lingers on a broken camera on a table; then an all-too-close up photo of a wreck in a car-race; and then a magazine cover. Simple: he's a professional photographer who was injured while taking pictures at an automobile race.
So much to tell the viewers, and yet so elegantly done with no dialogue.
Touches like this litter the film: the songwriter gets his inspiration and the melody dissuades the love-lorn girl from suicide; Grace Kelly absconds with the dead woman's wedding ring, flashing it to Stewart from the woman's apartment; Stewart uses his flash to blind the murderer and avoid becoming the man's next victim.
And it's all done in 2 hours on, basically, one set, with only about six people having any lines of dialogue in the entire film. The photography is great, too--that really saturated Technicolor of the fifties almost becomes a character in itself (it's the best-looking of all of Hitchcock's color films).
If you haven't seen it, and you want to see what old-fashioned, G-rated, classic movies were like--and want to discover how much more sexy and suspenseful they could be than modern films--then rent or Netflix it today.
And after that one, get Strangers on a Train, my other favorite Hitchcock film (it's a close call between that and North by Northwest, but Strangers gets the nod for its more twisted and cynical plot). You won't be disappointed. In this case, it's absolutely true that "they don't make 'em like this anymore."
posted by I. Michael Koontz | 11:50 AM
3 Comments:
Have to agree- Rear Window is Hitchcock's finest. I think North by Nothwest should be in second place though.
BTW, the Coralville Barnes and Noble tells me they can only order your book in the large print edition. What's up with that? We're not that old yet, are we?
Actually, the book should be available in regular print--they are probably confusing my publisher's large print "Thorndike Press" line with their OTHER fiction line, "Five Star."
Don't worry--if you order the book, it will come in regular-sized print.
The only reason N by NW is 2nd is because of Eva Marie Saint--I simply can't buy her as an FBI agent. It's also a bit gimmickier than Strangers, and not as dark. And, IMO, there's no performance in any Hitchcock film as memorable as Robert Walker's in Strangers.
Regardless, all three are terrific films and, really, my favorite among them changes frequently.
Wow,impressive response time! Retail could learn a lot from you... And I have to admit, Strangers is fiercely good, but I'm a sucker for Cary Grant.
Will check again with the book. Thought I might have better luck at Prairie Lights...any excuse for a visit. Looking forward to an intriguing read- perhaps it will be quoted on a water tower someday!
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