Review for North By Northwest
Digg It!
Ok, ok, so Blue Velvet actually beat North by Northwest by a single vote. But my video store didn't have a DVD copy of Blue Velvet somehow, so I went with North by Northwest. If anyone has a copy of Blue Velvet I could borrow, I'll watch it this weekend.
This film was an absolute blast. The scenery was almost as much fun as the film, from the colorful hotel rooms to the obviously staged woods to house at the end, the sets were amazing. Cary Grant was the definition of cool. As a friend of mine said the other night, "George Clooney has built an entire career out of being Cary Grant." And Eva Marie Saint is stunningly beautiful, with that certain edge that makes women ten times sexier. Smart, powerful, and sexy, I have a hard time thinking of an actress in Hollywood today that could have pulled that character off. The other character I really liked was the super creepy villain played by Martin Landau. What was up with that dude? What a psycho.
I loved the classic scene on the prairie. "That's funny, that plane's dustin' crops where there ain't no crops." And of course Cary Grant runs from a plane without ever breaking a sweat or running out of breath. I also enjoyed the scene at the art gallery, where he made an ass of himself to avoid being killed, though I wasn't sure why he didn't try to get away from the cops as well.
No real negatives to talk about. Thought the movie coulda been about 15 minutes shorter, but I still enjoyed all of it. I thought the Mount Rushmore scene was a little hokey. Apparently, they were really gonna shoot at Rushmore, but got found out and the Park Service wouldn't let them, so they had to build a fake Rushmore and promise to not walk on the faces. In any event, that scene was a bit silly, though I'm really just nitpicking here.
All in all, a great film. I even watched the 30 minute extra about the filming of it, which I rarely do, because I wanted to learn more about the film. I'm sure I missed some vague nuances, and will at some point treat myself to watching it again to try to pick them up. Great film. B+.
Ticket Seller: Something wrong with your eyes?
Roger: Yes, they're sensitive to questions.
Your friend makes a strong analogy there about Grant and Clooney; I'd never though of it.
Darth, you're the movie man around here. Your thoughts on this film?
My favorite Hitchcock film is "Vertigo". It was panned when it first came out but now the AFI has it in the top 10 movies of all time. "North By Northwest" is the most entertaining movie Hitchcock made. Interesting tidbits: when Hitchcock was asked did his movies have any symbolic scenes he said "No....except the ending of North By Northwest" Grant pulls Eva up to his bed and than it shifts to the train entering the tunnel. Martin Landau was a pal of James Dean in New York of the early 50s. He went to Hitch: "The motivation for my character is he's jealous of Eva's character for James Mason's affections" "Proceed, Mr. Landau". The original title was "The Man On Washington's Nose" Overall on my top 100 list.
Speaking of Clooney being this Century's Cary Grant...naaaa! But I saw "Michael Clayton" on Sunday and it's a good flick. Clooney and Tom Wilkenson have a good shot at Oscar nominations.