Years ago, I had an argument with my late father over the importance of letterboxing widescreen movies on 4:3 TV screens. He hated the black bars, but I used the exact above shot from my Criterion laserdisc (with a handy CAV freeze frame) to illustrate the point.
Pop passed away last week, so I had to smile when I saw Jeff post this. Thanks, bud, It's a favorite frame for me, too.
Posted by Carl LaFong at February 1, 2009 11:03 PM
Masterful. From a movie that's practically a how-to book on sweeping action sequences, this solitary, stationary shot never fails to get the biggest laugh.
Goes without saying Hitch was a genius, but this is beautiful. I love the way it starts off-center and becomes perfectly symmetrical again. This is probably my favorite film ever, and I hate how much I have to defend it.
A ridiculously entertaining scene in a ridiculously entertaining film from a director whose films were almost all ridiculously entertaining. Sorry for the repetition, but it's true.
Never slap a word like "auteur" on a director like Hitchcock. The title may be warranted, but it will scare casual fans away from his films. Tell a kid that he was "Stephen Sommers before there was a Stephen Sommers" if you have to, but do whatever you can to turn people onto these wonderful movies.
Wells to Marty Melville: The biggest laugh in North by Northwest is always in that U.N. lounge when Cary Grant rises and slightly pivots after pulling the stray knife from Lester Townsend's back, and a photographer snaps his picture -- a closeup of an alarmed man holding a knife as if he's just stabbed someone. That's the biggest howler by far.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells at February 2, 2009 7:00 AM
comment #11
Jeffrey Wells says ...
Wells to T. Holly: Only you know what you're talking about, or how SXSW has anything to do with that NXNW shot. You never let people know what's going on in your head. It's always a "what?...always a head-scratcher.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells at February 2, 2009 7:16 AM
Only one regret....sometimes I wish Hitch had
allowed Grant to deliver the line Lehmen wrote
for him during the Rushmore finale....as Valerian bears down on him with the knife...."I'm beginning to think you don't like me...."
"Tell a kid that he was "Stephen Sommers before there was a Stephen Sommers" if you have to, but do whatever you can to turn people onto these wonderful movies."
Comparing Alfred Hitchcock to Stephen Sommers might be the most offensive thing I've ever read in a Hollywood Elsewhere post (lol).
Nordling, you'd be surprised. I'm 27, and you have no idea how many of my peers say things like "it's slow" and even worse that Cary Grant is "wooden". Some of them even like a few Hitchcocks and still think these things.
comment #1
T. Holly
says ...
Not SXSW; everyone found out tonight if they got in or not, yihah!
Posted by T. Holly
at February 1, 2009 10:37 PM
comment #2
Kristopher Tapley
says ...
Favorite Hitch.
Posted by Kristopher Tapley
at February 1, 2009 10:59 PM
comment #3
Carl LaFong
says ...
Years ago, I had an argument with my late father over the importance of letterboxing widescreen movies on 4:3 TV screens. He hated the black bars, but I used the exact above shot from my Criterion laserdisc (with a handy CAV freeze frame) to illustrate the point.
Pop passed away last week, so I had to smile when I saw Jeff post this. Thanks, bud, It's a favorite frame for me, too.
Posted by Carl LaFong
at February 1, 2009 11:03 PM
comment #4
Marty Melville
says ...
Masterful. From a movie that's practically a how-to book on sweeping action sequences, this solitary, stationary shot never fails to get the biggest laugh.
Posted by Marty Melville
at February 1, 2009 11:45 PM
comment #5
BurmaShave
says ...
Goes without saying Hitch was a genius, but this is beautiful. I love the way it starts off-center and becomes perfectly symmetrical again. This is probably my favorite film ever, and I hate how much I have to defend it.
Posted by BurmaShave
at February 1, 2009 11:47 PM
comment #6
Nordling
says ...
No one should have to defend a Hitchcock (except for FAMILY PLOT, maybe).
Posted by Nordling
at February 2, 2009 3:05 AM
comment #7
Floyd Thursby
says ...
"That plane's dustin' crops where there ain't no crops."
My favorite scene from my favorite film.
Posted by Floyd Thursby
at February 2, 2009 5:18 AM
comment #8
Rich S.
says ...
A ridiculously entertaining scene in a ridiculously entertaining film from a director whose films were almost all ridiculously entertaining. Sorry for the repetition, but it's true.
Never slap a word like "auteur" on a director like Hitchcock. The title may be warranted, but it will scare casual fans away from his films. Tell a kid that he was "Stephen Sommers before there was a Stephen Sommers" if you have to, but do whatever you can to turn people onto these wonderful movies.
Posted by Rich S.
at February 2, 2009 5:50 AM
comment #9
coxcable
says ...
If the entire history of cinema was destroyed in a fire, you could build it all back with that scene right there.
Posted by coxcable
at February 2, 2009 6:29 AM
comment #10
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Wells to Marty Melville: The biggest laugh in North by Northwest is always in that U.N. lounge when Cary Grant rises and slightly pivots after pulling the stray knife from Lester Townsend's back, and a photographer snaps his picture -- a closeup of an alarmed man holding a knife as if he's just stabbed someone. That's the biggest howler by far.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at February 2, 2009 7:00 AM
comment #11
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Wells to T. Holly: Only you know what you're talking about, or how SXSW has anything to do with that NXNW shot. You never let people know what's going on in your head. It's always a "what?...always a head-scratcher.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at February 2, 2009 7:16 AM
comment #12
moviemaniac2002
says ...
Only one regret....sometimes I wish Hitch had
allowed Grant to deliver the line Lehmen wrote
for him during the Rushmore finale....as Valerian bears down on him with the knife...."I'm beginning to think you don't like me...."
Posted by moviemaniac2002
at February 2, 2009 7:45 AM
comment #13
cinefan
says ...
"Tell a kid that he was "Stephen Sommers before there was a Stephen Sommers" if you have to, but do whatever you can to turn people onto these wonderful movies."
Comparing Alfred Hitchcock to Stephen Sommers might be the most offensive thing I've ever read in a Hollywood Elsewhere post (lol).
Posted by cinefan
at February 2, 2009 8:28 AM
comment #14
BurmaShave
says ...
Nordling, you'd be surprised. I'm 27, and you have no idea how many of my peers say things like "it's slow" and even worse that Cary Grant is "wooden". Some of them even like a few Hitchcocks and still think these things.
Posted by BurmaShave
at February 2, 2009 8:38 AM
comment #15
Emmanuel_Goldstein
says ...
That's a great scene no doubt, but "Notorious" is way better than North by Northwest...
Posted by Emmanuel_Goldstein
at February 2, 2009 8:40 AM
comment #16
TheCahuengaKid
says ...
Wasn't the "Cropduster Scene" shot somewhere outside of Bakersfield. Anybody know?
Posted by TheCahuengaKid
at February 2, 2009 9:45 AM
comment #17
dangovich
says ...
Love the movie--Grant's strange closeness with his mother foreshadowed Normarn Bates--but isn't there a more efficient way to kill a guy?
Posted by dangovich
at February 2, 2009 10:00 AM
comment #18
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says ...
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