Alfred Hitchcock goes out with the last laugh - to a joke that, more or less, only he would find funny. Perhaps, himself — and his wife, Alma. 

“Family Plot,” about a fake psychic that crosses paths with real serial killers, is an old man’s afternoon daydream of parlor grotesquery. The film is just perverse enough to cause an eyebrow raise. But, not enough to get grandpa’s Viagra prescription reduced. 

The movie dialogues best in Hitchcock’s filmography with “The Trouble with Henry.” Where “Henry” was quaint and comfortably claustrophobic in its rural idyll, “Plot” is aggressively odd in the hijinks that unfold within its Californian limbo. 

The film is almost too courteous to be camp. Compared with its immediate forerunner,…

Action! - The Master & The Fan: Hitchcock's Bumping Road To Mastering Suspense

And with this intricate crime drama laced with cheeky humour, we bring our Master of Suspense marathon to a close, although I have a film and Hitchcock adjacent later today as you can see on the schedule. And, as you can see, it was a tough journey, but by the second half, when I got to the best films, I could see why many deem him one of the greats.
The cinematography and acting in this film were excellent. I liked some of the humour, especially anything about Barbara Harris as this fake psychic, and her interaction with Bruce Dern was some of the best in the film…

Hitchcock's swansong is a film out of time. There's a quaint charm to it but quaint charm isn't what I typically look for in a thriller from the mid 70s - this is the same year in which Scorsese gave us a blistering deconstruction of masculinity and contemporary society with Taxi Driver, Lumet put out the incendiary satire Network, and Brian de Palma was lighting his own telekinetic touchpaper with Carrie. It's almost as if cinema was passing Hitch by at this point in time; Family Plot, on the face of it, is an unadulterated throwback to a simpler age both psychologically and aesthetically. Certain aspects though, like the use of rear projection for the in-car scenes, are surely a…

Alfred Hitchcock's final film is this is this little mystery thriller. Sure its not up there with the films at the top of great director's filmography, but it's a good fun time in its own right. Family Plot focuses on a pair of intersecting scams, as a fake psychic and her taxi driver boyfriend end up on the tail of a jewelry dealer turned kidnapper. Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris make for a pair of likable leads, while William Devane and Karen Black are decidedly dastardly at the other side of the plot. The whole thing comes off as rather lighthearted, but it carries this well with an execution that highlights the absurdities while playing up the humorous moments. The…

From the legendary director of Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho & The Birds comes the final feature film of his great & glorious career. And though it is no match to any of the aforementioned classics, it delivers as what it is in the first place: a dark comedy.

Family Plot tells the story of two couples; one consists of a fake psychic & a cab driver who together make up as petty con artists while the other couple kidnap rich people for ransoms. The plot concerns the search of a missing heir that brings the petty criminals in conflict with the smooth professionals leading to some…

Alfred Hitchcock is a guy who I wish could of have lived forever. In 1976 we got the last film of his esteemed career, Family Plot, but I'd have loved to have seen what he could have come up with with as much as filmmaking has advanced since then. Familiar themes grace the screen as the story is focuses on a couple of con artists trying to locate a missing heir while dealing with kidnappers. It's nowhere near his best, but it is still a solid film. Barbara Harris and Bruce Dern our the main stars of this one which is wonderful, because I'm a huge fan of Dern, and I love seeing him play the part of protagonist.

This…

Even though it might have a lighter tone than many of Hitchcock's movies, Family Plot makes the most of it by using it's charm and fun spirit to it's advantage.

The cast is really fun too, Barbara Harris does a good job here playing the psychic with abilities, but the other three member of the central cast, William Devane, Karen Black and Bruce Dern, are also a blast here.

But as you can probably guess the main force here is Hitchcock himself. Family Plot isn't really a comedy per se, but like I said earlier, he does use that lighter tone here and manages to do a good job at combining that feel with the mystery/suspense that we're used too…

English Version below

Hitchcocks Cocktailrunde die Vierzehnte (14)

Story: Hört mich an, ihr Geister jenseits der anderen Seite.
Hört mich an, ihr aus dem Grabe Entstiegenen.
Hört mich an, ihr Erben des Familienvermögens.
Hört mich an und zeigt euch, auf mich warten 3500 Finderlohn.

Suspense: dreieinhalb von fünf: ich stibitze euer Vermögen und beklaue diesen und jenen und selbst wenn irgendwelche zwielichtigen Gestalten hinter mir … hinter uns her sind.

Hauptdarsteller: Ich soll schreien?! Ich soll mich beruhigen?! Ich solle Vernunft verwalten?! Ich, ich, ich … Ich bin Bruce Dern und nichts dergleichen werde ich machen.

Die Frau: Spürt ihr diese Aura? Diese Aura die uns besucht? Diese Aura eines unserer
Liebsten auf der Suche nach Frieden? Die Aura ……