North by Northwest (1959)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writer:

Ernest Lehman (written by)

Release Date:

17 September 1959 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A 3000 MILE CHASE . . . That blazes a trail of TERROR to a gripping, spine-chilling climax !

Plot:

A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

Plot Keywords:

Punch Into Camera | Biplane | Oedipus Complex | Director Cameo | Running

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 3 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Cary Grant	...	Roger O. Thornhill
Eva Marie Saint	...	Eve Kendall
James Mason	...	Phillip Vandamm
Jessie Royce Landis	...	Clara Thornhill
Leo G. Carroll	...	The Professor
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Mrs. Townsend
Philip Ober	...	Lester Townsend
Martin Landau	...	Leonard
Adam Williams	...	Valerian
Edward Platt	...	Victor Larrabee
Robert Ellenstein	...	Licht
Les Tremayne	...	Auctioneer
Philip Coolidge	...	Dr. Cross
Patrick McVey	...	Sergeant Flamm - Chicago Policeman
Ed Binns	...	Captain Junket (as Edward Binns)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (USA) (complete title)
Breathless (USA) (working title)
In a Northwesterly Direction (USA) (working title)
The Man in Lincoln's Nose (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR | Dolby Digital | Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 (2008 re-release) | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #19156) | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Netherlands:12 (re-rating) | Sweden:15 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:A (1959) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (2000) | Argentina:13 | Australia:G (1959-1998) | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Peru:14 | UK:PG | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Mystery" in June 2008.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Thornhill complains that he only has one suit for his stay in Chicago, yet when he heads out into the prairie he has a different colored suit on. Director Alfred Hitchcock claims it was actually the same suit that looked a different color due to film color-matching techniques.

Quotes:

Eve Kendall: I'm a big girl.
Roger Thornhill: Yeah, and in all the right places, too.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Like Night and Day (1998)

Soundtrack:

It's a Most Unusual Day

I finally get how great it is: Hitch infuses his wrong-man caper with ironic movie language and reality-be-damned escapism and suspense.

Its Hitch's most briskly entertaining movie, and one of his most comic, adventure-caper type movies, largely thanks to the persona of Cary Grant. But its also one of his most suspenseful - in the fact that Grant is being recognised as someone else, and that he may be put in jail for someone else's crime.

I've finally come to realise just how great North by Northwest is. The reason you should love Hitchcock is he put entertainment upfront. Hitchcock was not interested in whether this or that would happen in real life: he was interested in what would make the most entertaining scene for the movie. North by Northwest is a peak in this regard. The dialogue and situations intentionally throw reality to the wind - the double-entendre dialogue in the love scenes is not supposed to be the way people talk!

If you said to Hitchcock "as if he'd keep driving" or "as if she'd do that" - he would just laugh at you and say you've missed the point. This is 100% movieland, and once you get used to the fact, and that this is not a fault in the film, but done intentionally, you'll love it. Its expressionistic - everything happens in movie language: the people laughing at Grant in the elevator, the way he keeps driving drunk near the beginning, the way he grabs the knife and everyone stares at him after someone's been stabbed.

It flirts with the idea of identity. I thought it was interesting how Grant first is dismissing, then incredulous that people should be calling him by another name; then, as the tries to find out who this guy is, he enters the hotel room of this new identity, then he puts the suit on, and finally he identifies himself as George Kaplan.

A succession of fantastic, memorable scenes, a great leading man in Grant, and one of Hermann's essential Hitch scores make for a movie i can put on at any time.

10/10