Hitchcock at his zenith

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2000)

In my opinion, North by Northwest is the high point in Hitchcock's career, a Mt. Everest of film making with another high peak on each side - Vertigo and Psycho.
This is one of the most perfect movies I have ever seen - full of plot twist after plot twist, the most interesting characters to ever grace the screen, and marvelous set pieces.
As soon as the movie begins, we are thrust into the life of Roger Thornhill, who we spend almsot every scene of the movie with. We know at once that he is a conniving adman, but under it all, he is a nice guy, and about the most sympathetic hero of any movie. The bad guys are as evil as they come, and Eva Marie Saint may not be Grace Kelly, but perhaps that makes it better. Audiences may not have accepted Grace Kelly in that role.
The setpieces.... so great! the Hotel, the UN, the TRAIN!, the auction scene, and Mt. Rushmore are all great, but none are quite as superb as the cropdusting sequence. I've seen the movie at least 5 times, and I never realized that it's kind of gratuitous until I read a comment about Torn Curtain and gratuitous characters/scenes. That's how well this movie works - everything seems right and nothing seems out of place. Even the one noticable blooper - the kid who put his fingers over his ears before the gunshot - it doesn't tarnish the movie at all.
I understand why Ben-Hur won 11 oscars for the year 1959 - it was an epic film and it is done well, but North By Northwest was the best movie of that year, if not the entire 1950's.
Cary Grant was the coolest guy ever and is the quintessential "everyman". That on top of every aspect of this movie being perfect makes it Hitch's most appealing work. It doesn't break new ground, but it is so brilliantly conceived and executed, that it is no wonder it is on so many top 10 and top 100 lists. Everyone should see this movie more than once.