by David C. Terr

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Title: North by Northwest

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Martin Landau

Release Date: July 28, 1959

Running Time: 136 min

Genres: Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

Commentary
North by Northwest is my favorite Hitchcock movie. Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed dozens of great movies throughout his career, most of them centering around an innocent man being wrongfully accused of a serious crime, usually murder. North by Northwest is no exception to this rule. The movie is exciting, scary, suspensful, and romantic all at once. In addition, the acting and the cinematography are both superb.

Plot Summary
A Madison Avenue advertising agent Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken for a nonexistent government agent named George Kaplan. The mixup leads him to a very dangerous spy named Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), who tries to kill him by pouring bourbon down his mouth and framing him with drunk driving. Later Roger is framed for murder of a UN diplomat. Roger ends up getting into more and more trouble, including an attempt at his life by a crop-dusting plane in a cornfield, which tries to run him over. Eventually Roger catches on to what Phillip is up to and ends up at his home near Mt. Rushmore. The movie ends with a thrilling chase on Mt. Rushmore.

Cultural Significance
North by Northwest is the earliest movie I know concerning Soviet espionage and the Cold War. By the 1960s, there were dozens of movies on this subject, most notably the James Bond films. North by Northwest has many elements in common with James Bond movies, including espionage, danger, a beautiful heroine, and travel to exotic locations.

Movie Clips

Here's the original trailer.

Here's the scene in which a plane tries to kill Roger.