A classic

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2001)

Rear Window, is one of Hitchcock's best thrillers, giving Hitchcock total carte blanche to make the characters three dimensional, so the big finale will pay off. The story starts off with Jimmy Stewart's news photographer, sidetracked by an on the job injury with a leg cast and a wheelchair to prove it. His girlfriend (Grace Kelly) can't quite understand his refusal to commit to their relationship. He ends up developing a light taste for voyeurism, due to the inevitable view of the back of apartment building in full view of he. The story, however, kicks off when Stewart thinks he may very well have witnessed a murder in one of the apartments. He's dead intent on catching the murdering spouse (Raymond Burr in dyed white hair) as he catches glimpses of what he believes leads up to the incident itself. A majority of the film, is based on Stewart's paranoia, as he continues to watch continually at this particular apartment, and then the tension builds up in the forty five minutes. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! In the seat jumping climax, Kelly in a fit of obsession with whom she thinks may be the killer, enters the apartment after he has left, only to come back, catch her, and the police arrive. The girlfriend goes in search of the ring the victim may have had, and as she waves it toward our protagonist, the suspect has a glimpse of her waving the finger in her hand, and then looks up in the direction of the ring, to catch a dead on view of who is spying on him. The moment is truly electrifying, and very well qualifies it to be one of AFI's 100 Greatest Thrills.