Hitchcock

I remember growing up loving the quirky black and white show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. When The Twilight Zone got a little too weird for me I could always fall back to the fat man in the tailored suit to weird me out without keeping me up at night. However  I never really wondered about the Boss Hog look alike and his personal life. I can’t imagine how cool it would be to live with someone that was genuinely this crazy. Today we have people that try way too hard to be quirky simply because it will get them laid; see Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, or any other stupid pop artist out right now. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few true nutcases out there in the form of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Tom Cruise but none of them brought the consistent artist quality quite like Hitch. Which leads me to the movie’s best and corniest joke “You can call me Hitch, and hold the cock!”. Yes!! With jokes like this, how can I not love this movie?

So the movie starts out like the TV show Hitchcock Presents with  a shocking murder scene followed by Hitchcock appearing on screen to set you up for what’s to come. He is played wonderfully by Hopkins, who for his sake I hope was wearing fat suit. But this movie is about Hitchcock’s inspiration for his most popular movie Psycho. And as it seems to be the case with most of Hollywood’s successes, this movie was almost never made. It takes you through his struggles to convince a major studio to financially back it, even though he had released 41 films at the time, to his quest for a decent writer, and finally to his fights with the Censorship board. This was one of the movies’ most interesting exchanges as it gave you some insight to how uptight this country was. It amazing we even get to see a woman’s shoulder, let alone Scarlett Johansson swinging in the air topless. Ok, ok this hasn’t happened yet but I can dream can’t I? Speaking of Scarlett, she’s a thousand times hotter than the real Janet Leigh but does a decent job portraying the actress who in a rather professional manner put up with Hitch’s obsession to find the perfect blond. 

This obsession causes a strain on his relationship with his wife and creative partner Alma Reville, played by Helen Mirren who is sure to get an Oscar nomination for this role. There is one scene in particular when things comes to a head between her and Hitch, where it seemed like there was about to be another murder but this time with her  taking out Hitch. She is able to balance supporting her husband yet at the same time allowing herself to enjoy the attention of another man without making you hate her for it. 

Now so far this all sounds like the typical biographical movie with nothing truly special about it, until they take you into the mind of Hitchcock and how he forms this weird connection with his murderers.  He has daily conversations with these imaginary or dead characters and actually allows them insight to his personal life. I won’t go into too much detail but it makes more sense within the context of the movie.  Also the director shows you through Hitchcock’s trademark silhouette how he seems to always be watching or sneaking up on his actors, friends, or family members. Again, it sound s awesome yet creepy to always be around this guy. 

The movie is only 90 minutes long and it makes you want to go out and rewatch all of his classics with a greater appreciation around the process that was involved in the making of them.  I rate this movie as FRESH and suggest you go see it.