TOD: Favorite Hitchcock--
The very first Hitchcock I ever saw would have to have been his TV show in which he directed "Lamb to the Slaughter" starring Barbara Bel Geddes which has a great twist at the finale. (BTW that episode along with The Twilight Zone episode in which death-row inmate Dennis Weaver relives the same "last mile" scenario always stuck with me as kind-of nightmares or Gordian knots).
The very first Hitchcock movie I saw was on WOR's (NYC) "Million Dollar Movie" which used Tara's Theme as its theme intro. That movie was, of course, PSYCHO. I saw it more for the Saul Bass titles, the shower sequence and Herrmann's music. After having seen the movie umpteen times (and never tiring of it) I have grown to appreciate the artistry of working on a "shoestring" as Hitchcock set up his challenge in making this movie.
I have seen all of Hitchcock's movies that are available. My absolute least favorite Hitchcock is THE PARADINE CASE. I find it so boring, even though I want to like it. It's a toss up between that and JAMAICA INN, which I also want to like and can't for some reason. ( I would add I CONFESS here as well because I never "got" the overacting of Montgomery Clift. For me, he's a real acquired taste.)
My all-time most favorite Hitchcock movies would be NORTH BY NORTHWEST, VERTIGO and ROPE. For the first two, it was the Saul Bass titles and the Bernard Herrmann music that hooked me at first and then, like PSYCHO, after seeing them for umpteen times, loving the ride. My next level "down" (there really aren't any truly bad Hitchcock movies, just some that don't resonate with me) would include PSYCHO, THE BIRDS and THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (TTWH). TTWH was a lost cause on me for the first 2 or 3 viewings, but then I "got" the movie and find it a truly tongue-in-cheek black comedy. I don't think the casting could have been better, particularly with John Forsythe's droll leading man and his interplay with the charming Edmund Gwenn.
MARNIE almost makes that last cut, but the attempts at giving a Freudian "answer" to Tippi Hedren's character's behavior is just too pat for me and isn't really all that shocking after repeated viewings. I have always felt that MARNIE was the last real Hitchcock. I conjecture that his health was on a downslide after that film and that his Assistant Director Hilton Green took over much if not all of his remaining films following the Master's storyboards, etc. TORN CURTAIN is a movie that is less than the sum of its parts and its "punch line" could have been readily fashioned for the TV series that Hitchcock had. TOPAZ is interesting in parts, but again is missing the magic. John Forsythe is very good in the film, but it hasn't dated well. IF, as some say, PSYCHO was Hitchcock's answer to DIABOLIQUE, then FRENZY for me is Hitchcock's answer to PEEPING TOM, and it's a very unpleasant film to watch. It's obviously well-made and a Hitchcock stamp is on it, but it is not one I go back to that often. I don't think John Addison's music helps that movie either.
FAMILY PLOT for me is a real mixed bag. I'm not a big 1970s Bruce Dern fan. That is, if it's a 1970s movie and he's in it, he's typecast as a crazy or psychpathic loon, which gives the whole ballgame away. William Devane is a good actor, but he along with Karen Black are the "flavors" of the time and do not do the film justice as their very presence dates the picture. The story is good, but overall the movie has the cookie-cutter look of the Universal TV factory right down to the font used in the opening credits. I can't even recommend John Williams's score as I don't think it's any more memorable than some of his other thriller music pre-JAWS. Other than "(There's Got To Be A) Morning After" from THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE is the only part of Williams's score that is memorable, and I feel the same way about what he wrote for FAMILY PLOT, sorry to say.
Unfortunately, Hitchcock went out quietly with FAMILY PLOT as it feels like a third-generation copy of a movie he could have done so much better in the 1940s or 50s.
I apologize for the length of my post.
