Feature:
North by NorthwestDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Notable Cast: Cary Grant, Martin Landau, Eve Marie Saint
Original Release: 1959
Language: English
Running Time: 136 Minutes
After an 8 month stint
near the top of my Blockbuster queue I finally got around to pushing this one to the top. As a Hitchcock film with three nominations from the Academy I knew it had to be, at the very least, decent. Checking in at #55 on the American Film Institutes 100 greatest films of all time certainly doesn't hurt either. By all accounts, it should be a good one to try out for my first non-expository post.
- Enter Cary Grant almost immediately. He's quickly revealed as Roger Thornhill, a busy advertising executive with plenty on his plate (most of which appears to be dumped off on his secretary.)
- Right before diving into a martini with friends at the Oak Room, Roger decides to send a telegraph. It is here our first villains are spotted. Unsavory looking fellows that put a gun in Roger's ribs before we even get started. He is escorted to a swank mansion where our main conflict begins. The two thugs' boss apparently thinks our hero is a government agent of sorts and can not be persuaded otherwise. Not hard to see where this is going...
- The dialogue to this point is quick paced and could be characterized as banter. Grant is flippant in the face of danger and every villain has a different accent. The higher up the chain of command, the more British they sound.
- The plot to knock Thornhill off is actually pretty nifty. 1) Get him sloppy drunk by force feeding him bourbon. 2) Plop him into the drivers seat of a Mercedes convertible as he mutters what I think are bar songs. 3) Drive the car off the edge of a scenic highway on the Atlantic Coast. What they didn't count on is that Thornhill is an excellent drunk driver/fighter (probably from experience) and manages to pilot the car far enough to get pulled over by the Glen Cove police department...
- On the phone at the station "Mother, these two men poured a whole bottle of bourbon into me... (mother responds on the phone)... No they didn't give me a chaser." This scene is quite good. Grant plays a very funny drunk.
- Thornhill leads the police back to the mansion where we discover our villains are brighter than they look. Everything hidden, everything clean, and the lead man is addressing the United Nations.
- Now that the dialogue has slowed a bit, it's quite clever. Little jokes thrown in here and there, usually supporting characters taking shots at Thornhill.
- Thornhill finds his way to the hotel room of the agent, Kaplan, that he has been mistaken for and he digs himself in deeper by answering a phone call from the bad guys. They meet by chance in the elevator, but are surrounded by other people. When they reach the lobby, Thornhill cleverly slips away top the UN to meet the man who is speaking at the UN.
- Beautiful direction from Hitchcock. Thornhill meets his man, Lester Townsend, who is not the villain and reveals that nobody should be at his house. Thornhill shows him a picture of who
is at his house and Townsend acts as if he's seen a ghost. Turns out it's his own because he has just received a knife to the back. The plot thickens as murder is thrown into the mix.
- The Chase begins: Thornhill is accused of the murder and sets out to escape. He heads to the train station and manages to evade policemen and sneak on a train where he gets an assist from the gorgeous Eva Marie Saint. Within 5 minutes he's having drinks with her and professes his desire to "make love" that she seems like she has no problem with. Then they manage to give their names, which is the proper order of things if you ask me. Ms. Saint is Eve Kendall (which she pronounces Ken Doll) and Thornhill lies convincingly but is recognized. Eve is apparently down with the bad boys. Bad boys in red sunglasses...
- The police are now on board and Eve confirms for us all that she is indeed down. Putting on the act for the police and running a classic misdirection.
- I should note that the sexual tension and heavy use of suggestive language is unusually high for a movie from the 1950's. "And taste in women... I like your flavor" Thornhill as he rolls up on Eve and begins to suck on her neck.
- Thornhill exits the train and escapes posing as a porter carrying Eve's bags. Mass confusion follows as the police are tipped off and start to mug every porter in the station. They are, as expected, unsuccessful.
- Next stop the desert where, presumably, the most famous scene (and the basis for the promotional posters) will occur. Another man is inexplicably waiting for a bus in the middle of nowhere and points out that "That planes dustin' crops where there ain't no crops"
- And here comes the crop duster...
- This is a truly great scene. The duster tries to clip Thornhill with his prop, shoots at him, and even dusts him with pesticide. The scene climaxes when Thornhill stops a fuel truck and the duster crashes into it causing a huge explosion. This afford him the opportunity to steal a bystanders car and escape the desert.
- It should be noted that Grant has spent the entire movie in a classic gray wool suit with a gray-green tie. Ms. Saint started in an understated black skirt and jacket but has since slipped into a showstopping red and black cocktail dress that reveals a large portion of her back. I wish people still dressed like that on a daily basis.
- Thornhill and Kendall meet again in a hotel. Thornhill is beginning to figure out that Ms. Kendall is up to no good. His growing paranoia helps him discover that she has some sort of relationship with the baddies. He finds her at an auction with our villain and his right hand man where he directly confronts them and breaks down Ms. Kendall as a heartless whore in front of her man. Unfortunately he is surrounded by the bad guys.
- Thornhill uses the "commit a minor crime to stay out of bigger trouble" trick (punching an auction official in the face) and is escorted away by the police. They call him in and take him to the airport where he meets a man from an unknown government agency that asks him to go on masquerading as the non-existent Agent Kaplan to try and capture Mr. Vandamm (Our villain) in South Dakota at his home near Mt. Rushmore. He also reveals Ms. Kendall as a government agent. Grant executes a perfect "oh shit" face as he realizes he may have blown it with an incredibly hot and... ummm... "willing" woman.
- Thornhill takes a meeting with Vandamm in the shadows of Mt. Rushmore where he offers a deal. Let me take revenge on the girl and you can save your self. Kendall saunters into the scene and Grant grabs her, she pulls a gun and fires two into his chest. He falls to the ground, the music swells... and the first man on the scene is our agent from the airport. It was a clever ploy. The girl runs off, Thornhill is carted away, and the bad guys can't follow up because they "can't get involved."
- After a lengthy scene that basically explains everything that just happened for the slower crowd, Thornhill escapes from his fake hospital stay to head up to Vandamm's home on the mountain. The home seems almost out of place in the scenery and in the movie itself. A large modern looking construction jutting out over a hillside. A truly interesting choice.
- We witness what originally looks like Vandamm's right hand man shooting him; but that simply couldn't be the case. He's been nothing but a shadow the whole movie, and there is not enough time left to develop another character. Suspicion confirmed. It's the gun Kendall used on Thornhill - loaded with blanks.
- The next few minutes is all sneaking about trying to inform Ms. Kendall that she has been found out. He is successful but on his way out he is caught by the gun toting housekeeper. Too bad for her he realizes its the gun with the blanks and escapes to the woods with Ms. Kendall in tow. Ah, but look where they end up... a chase scene repelling down the faces of Mt. Rushmore. Much drama ensues and we are left with Thornhill in a struggle with a knife wielding man (Who he tosses over the cliff) and Kendall dangling from a ridge.
- Then ending comes out of nowhere. Thornhill is pulling her up the cliff, and one of the bad guys steps on his support hand. He is shot by our friend the government agent, a quip from grant about real bullets, and then the scene transforms into Thornhill pulling Kendall into bed on a train to presumably make good on all their flirting.
Aside from the fling-you-headlong-into-a-brick-wall ending, I'd have to say I liked this one. The action sequences are great and Grant is able to carry the non-action sequences with humor, grace, and charm. I can honestly say Hitchcock surprised me with a few of his plot moves and misdirection which is always something I appreciate. However, I don't know that I'd put it up in my upper-echelon. If I'm going to watch an older movie I almost always prefer westerns or war over crime and mystery. So, although it was a great movie, I am going to leave this one as a 4.0 due to personal preferences.
