Grant on the Run in Hitchcock Classic!

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2003)

'North by Northwest' is the ONE Hitchcock movie no film lover's collection should be without. Suspenseful, funny, sexy, exciting, it works perfectly on so many levels that the film just gets better and better with repeated viewings.
The story is really quite simple; a successful New York ad executive (Cary Grant, in superb form) is mistaken for an American espionage agent by a group of Soviet spies (led by the ruthlessly suave James Mason, and his aide, a youthful yet sinister Martin Landau), and a cat-and-mouse cross-country chase begins, culminating on top of Mount Rushmore. Along the way, Grant is ridiculed by his mother (Jesse Royce Landis, who is hilarious, if actually YOUNGER than Grant), seduced by double-agent Eva Marie Saint (in the sexiest role of her career), chased across a cornfield by a lethal crop duster (in one of the greatest scenes in film history), and recruited into the intelligence community (represented by future 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' boss, Leo G. Carroll), while Bernard Herrmann's unforgettable music punctuates each scene.
Yes, the film has it's faults and a few technical gaffes, but for sheer excitement and fun, you can't top 'North By Northwest'. Hitchcock and Grant both considered this to be one of their favorite films, and it has become a classic!