MovieChat Forums > Family Plot (1976) Discussion > One of the things I like about this film...

One of the things I like about this film...

posted 14 years ago by ugotit-1
2 replies | jump to latest

The humour is excellent! I know that Hitchcock incorporated some type of humour into all his films but I think FAMILY PLOT has the most humour out of all his movies. I couldn't stop laughing during the car chase scene. That scene was filmed brilliantly(despite the use of the cheap blue screen). It has the perfect mix of humour and tension. The humour being Barabara Harris and Bruce Dern's performances and the tension being all the cars rushing towards the screen. And I also love William Devane's delivery of his line: "This is indescretable!" It's interesting that Hitchcock decided to make the tone of the film light when the original novel by Victor Canning was very dark and macabre, but frankly that was perfect! I'll admit that FAMILY PLOT is no REAR WINDOW or PSYCHO but it's certainly better than TOPAZ or TORN CURTAIN. My appreciation for this film continues to grow.

We all go a little mad sometimes...

[–] etsis 14 years ago

I agree. It was his best since The Birds. I found Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Frenzy to be dull, dull, dull and dull.

[–] ecarle 13 years ago

I like Frenzy best of the whole bunch from Marnie on...but Family Plot comes next.

And, as I noted in a nearby post, I am personally convinced that Hitchcock -- aged and sick and really in a state of mind where he should have retired -- made the light and funny "Family Plot" specifically to make sure that the brutal and sick "Frenzy" was NOT his last film. Hitchcock couldn't know exactly when he was going to die, but he knew he didn't feel very well. He moved heaven and earth physically to get Family Plot completed.

And it is amazing -- and a testimony to Hitchcock's still-sharp creative mind -- that he took the dark "Rainbird Pattern" (in which almost all the major characters get killed) and turned it into "Family Plot"(in which almost none of the major charcters get killed -- in fact, it is a lesser character who dies, by accident.)

The runaway car scene is the comedy high point of Family Plot, but Adamson and Fran's building exasperation as Madame Blanche invades their world near the end is its own irony-deadpan kind of funny. When Adamson pushes the button and the garage door opens to reveal Madame Blanche blocking his car...its a big laugh even as it is quite suspenseful. Also funny: all of the bickering between Lumley and Madame Blanche for the whole film(that's why the runaway car scene is so funny: they could die, but they are STILL bickering!)...and the FBI interview with the exapserated millionaire kidnap victim.

Hitchcock only made two films in the seventies: Frenzy and Family Plot, in that order. They were made almost four years apart; you could go to high school between their releases.

But I think, together, they are a great swan song for Hitch, a one-two punch of humor and suspense(Frenzy IS funny in parts), one dark and one light.