North by Northwest

[JonathanLB]

I just started my AFI project today, seeing all of the top 100 films on AFI's "100 years, 100 movies" list. I started with A Bridge Too Far, which I thought was excellent. Definitely one of the better war films I have seen and remarkably well paced for a film that runs nearly three hours. I swear I've just recently seen movies that seemed longer and were a full hour or more shorter, lol.

The entire movie didn't look outdated at all; in fact, I think it's way better than Saving Private Ryan in every single way imaginable (and it has a plot, unlike SPR). I love modern war movies, but I definitely think A Bridge Too Far holds up well with any of them.

I then saw North By Northwest. Well, I thought it was a very good movie. I definitely liked the directing (Hitchcock) and the acting is great, plus I thought the plot was good and it moved at a good enough pace for a film just more than two hours long.

But still, I thought it was a 3.5 star film. It was definitely my definition of a "very good" movie, but what makes it the "40th greatest movie of all time?" Frankly, I've seen about 5 better movies this year alone and we're only in April. I am just curious if there is something about the movie that is supposed to be remarkable that I would not know because it was made a fair amount of time ago. I love Psycho, love The Birds, two other Hitchcock films, and they are both four star movies to me, but I am not sure what makes North By Northwest "excellent," let alone one of the greatest films of all time. Anyone want to help me here who has seen it? hehe.

Although the plot was definitely good, I've seen it done before many other times, so was this like the first time or something? I mean, I have not seen too many old movies, so obviously any other movie I saw could technically have copied this film, but I'm pretty sure that plot is pretty typical in a lot of stories that are older. I'm not sure, but if the film came out in theaters today I would say it was very good, but calling it one of the best movies ever would seem as foolish to me as saying that Panic Room is one of the best films ever. Both were very good with very good camera techniques and strong plots, but nothing too innovative or unique, nothing that would merit using the word "great" for either...

Don't get me wrong, though, so far so good with the AFI list. Both films were well worth seeing and I really liked each of them. I think the AFI list is a great list of almost all good movies, even if they wouldn't make my top 100, they at least are well worth watching and range mostly from good to excellent (3 to 4 stars).

[CMJ]

I love "North by Northwest"! I would say it's a definite 4 star film..but I'm not sure it would make my top 100 films ever list either. For my money Hitch's best film is "Vertigo", but I could list about 15 of his films that are great without any hesitation. The guy was a genius.

[JonathanLB]

He has a lot of films on that top 100 list then, I didn't realize Vertigo was his either.

I have not seen a huge number of his films, but I think it's a crime that The Birds didn't make their list yet North By Northwest did. Oh well, I look forward to seeing the rest of his films.

This is really convenient, you know we have quite a large video collection (tons of VHS stuff) and I looked through what we have last night and found about 20 of the 100 AFI films, so that saves me a bit in rentals! Haha. A few on DVD even, like The Wizard of Oz, Doctor Zhivago, Gone With the Wind, and Pulp Fiction (duh, hehe).

Well anyway, I definitely thought North By Northwest was a very good movie, but I'm guessing it won't be one of my top Hitchcock films...

I'll have to get Vertigo soon, now I'm interested, hehe.

[darth_mcbain]

I too love North by Northwest. I think it would make my top 100 movies, but I don't know if it would be as high as 40. I agree that it is not the only movie that follows that type of plot, but so what - things just come together in that movie. I love the cameo by Alfred Hitchcock missing the bus... :)

Jon, I didn't realize that the Birds didn't make that list... I think that is a crime. I don't know which I like better, as North By Northwest and The Birds are vastly different movies, but they are both incredible films and I'm surprised the Birds didn't make it.

[ReaperFett]

A Bridge too Far is a class film

[Jinn Fizz]

North by Northwest is my favorite Hitchcock film, partially because I've had a lifelong crush on Cary Grant. The fact that my brother got to meet him many years ago still makes me so jealous to this day....

I also love Psycho and The Birds. Hitchcock was a genius.

[Figrin D'an]

One word:

Vertigo


:D


I'm with CMJ... I think Vertigo is Hitchcock's best film. I love some of his other work, but Vertigo is just amazing.


Great great film.

[Jedieb]

North by Northwest is one of my favorite films. To paraphrase Hitchcock, the film has very little to do with chasing down a piece of microfilm, it has to do with Cary Grant looking as cool as possible and being irresistable to women. The strength of the film is not the plot, but the pacing, visuals, and performances. Just look at the cast, Grant, Landau, Mason, all of them first rate. The build up to crop duster scene is an example of Hitchcock's incredible ability to use great visuals to tell a story. There's a reason why you hear so many contemporary directors lavish praise on Hitch whenever his name is brought up. NBNW was so good and so memorable that it's place on AFI's list was a given. The ranking doesn't really matter much, to me that's kind of irrelevant.

[CMJ]

Yeah Jonathan...I seem to remember Hitchcock having the most films out of any director on the list. It's also amazing how many of his great films AREN'T on the list. As I stated earlier, I could rattle off film after film of his...and I'm sure not even half made the AFI list. The man was definitely one of best director's to ever grace the face of the earth.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Hitchcock was the best director ever in my opinion also Vertigo is my favorite film by him, I also liked Stangers on a Train and Psyho, but I still haven't seen all of his films, one day I need to do som renting of some of his films I haven't seen.

[CMJ]

The most underrated Hitchcock film is "Shadow of a Doubt". I was a big fan of his, but never saw it till one of my film classes. Wow...that is a terrific movie! It's one of his best IMHO.

[Jinn Fizz]

Oh yeah, and don't forget Rear Window!!!! :)

[CMJ]

Well..yeah, but "Rear Window" is considered one of his best. It isn't forgotten like "Shadow" is.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Thanks CMJ have to go see if I can find that one.

[Jinn Fizz]

Originally posted by CMJ
Well..yeah, but "Rear Window" is considered one of his best. It isn't forgotten like "Shadow" is.

Quite right, I'd just suddenly realized no one had mentioned Rear Window at all and so I just had to throw that title out there. :)

[JonathanLB]

I think you can tell that many people have borrowed ideas and styles from Hitchcock. I would definitely say that David Fincher probably admires his work and seems quite interested in camera tricks just as Hitchcock was. Of course they are both great storytellers too, but I see that (the style) as an added bonus.

The Birds has so many incredible shots, what was it like 400 trick shots at the end or something?

Hitchcock appears, apparently, in every one of his films in some way or another and yeah I noticed that in North By Northwest, but only after watching the documentary ;)

I have probably only seen three of his films, so I will make it a point to see all of his movies as soon as I can, probably by the end of June. First, the AFI list, though, I cannot get distracted from that, which will give me a few more of his (I think Vertigo and I know Rear Window and Psycho all made it).

I should be done with my AFI reviews by June 1, or May 31st more accurately. Could be a few days earlier, but it just depends because I have to keep up with new releases both in theaters and to DVD.

My pace is keeping me away from basically doing anything else. I will have seen 10 hours of film today and reviewed for the rest of my waking moments pretty much, besides a bit of chit chat on AIM here and there and this post (which is one of my only ones to a forum today).

It takes 3.5 hours to see each film and review it on average, though it varies wildly. A film in theaters that is 1.5 hours long only takes about 2.15 hours at most to complete, then, but a film that is 2.5 hours long with extra features on its DVD can easily take 4 hours to go through. Joy Ride was a 4.5 hour project. A.I. was about a 5 hour project. So, seeing three movies per day and reviewing them plus running my humor site and working out a bit and eating and sleeping is really remarkably hard! Lol. I'm not complaining of course, though, this is fun...

I'm watching Ben-Hur now, or not now, but I'm on the intermission and about to go back to finish it. I just had to take a quick food break and I was going to check on something else here with the site.

I think Ben-Hur would definitely make my top 30 to 50 list, I don't really know exactly, but it is just excellent in every way. I had seen it before but didn't exactly remember it all, been a while. It is just a superior film in every respect from acting to music to cinematography, and on the DVD, it doesn't really look old either. It's just that good.

I am actually really surprised it is about #72 or something on their list (I think that is right). I would even put it higher on my list, and it is one of the most acclaimed films. I think it deserved a spot in the top 25...

I like North By Northwest more after seeing that documentary feature too, really brought me into the movie even more. Not that it changes my rating/opinion, but it definitely is a very good film. At the time, too, there was no Bond and it would probably be pretty close to a James Bond film, or at least it seems to me like it has a lot of similarities. I can imagine it being quite a hit.

So tomorrow I gotta take an AFI break and try to see Serendipity (ugg, hope it doesn't suck) and if I can get them (they were checked out last time), Life As A House and Donnie Darko I think it is called (I dunno, some dang thing that came out on DVD recently). I bought and saw Spy Game today but haven't reviewed it or Bandits which I saw yesterday, so I kind of have trouble seeing it all *and* reviewing it all. Tomorrow I'll catch up. Plus I have to rent Mulholland Drive to review the DVD and kind of figure out what I wanted to say about the movie since I never did review it.

Yikes! And 5 new DVDs come out next Tuesday. But after that there is only one main release on April 23 and one on April 30, phew.

[CMJ]

"Shadow" is probably Hitch's most deeply layered film. We spent 2 classes breaking it down...more than any other film in my Analysis class.