hugely entertaining

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2003)

One of the most entertaining movies to ever come out of Hollywood. Alfred Hitchcock/Ernest Lehmen is a real powerhouse moviemaking combination. I had the great pleasure recently of flipping through the channels and coming across 'North By Northwest' on TMC, just as the cropduster scene was beginning. My roommate, sitting beside me, had never seen or even heard of the film. I told him, 'watch this.' Needless to say, he was wowed. Now he goes around quoting lines from the movie all the time. In fact, watching it again recently made me realize why I like this movie so much - because it's so damned funny! Although it's not technically a comedy, I think this movie has more funny lines than 'Old School' or 'American Pie' or 20 other Hollywood comedies put together. One of the keys is Cary Grant. His delivery is dead on, always a mix of indignance and bemusement, that only he could pull off. 'Now look, I'm an ad-man, not a red herring ...' - one of my favorites, but only one of many memorable quotes. However, this movie is so fast-paced, I think you could watch it with the sound off and still be entertained by the action.
If I could own only 10 DVD's (I own over 200) this would certainly be one of them.