274. Rear Window

Rear Window
1954
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

This is a great film and definitely one of my favorites.  I don't think I have ever met someone who has seen this movie and not liked it; it is just that good.

All right, so if you haven't seen this movie yet I don't know what you have been doing with your life.  Actually, you were probably having a life instead of just sitting in the dark watching films like I do.  In any case, I will still give a brief summary.  James Stewart plays a journalist who is stuck in his apartment after he breaks his leg.  To entertain himself, he watches the neighbors across the street.  He enjoys his creeping until he sees something suspicious in one of the apartment buildings.  DAH DAH DAH!

The acting is, of course, fabulous.  Even I am into Grace Kelly and I am straight.  The mystery is just part of the fun; watching the other neighbors is just as interesting.  Everyone enjoys people watching (though maybe we normally don't take it as far as sitting in front of our neighbors' window with binoculars) and Hitchcock developed a kind of ecosystem of humans in the apartment complex.  A fascinating, exciting film.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

I visited where the movie was shot at Paramount Studios!

#48 in AFI's top 100.

HITCHCOCK RADAR: Winding clock in apartment, around 30 minutes in.

Inspired by the real life murder case of Patrick Mahon.