Shock Time

Rating: 10/10 (31 July 1999)

This may come as a shock to some people reading this, but I'm quite a big Hitchcock fan and "Vertigo," in my opinion, is not his best film. "Rear Window" is the finest feature he ever made, and "Psycho" was his most purely entertaining (although I would rank the famous horror film third, after "Rear Window" and "Vertigo").
James Stewart plays a private detective who is hired to follow a beautiful blond (Kim Novak) whom he quickly falls in love with. She commit suicide (or did she?) and, later on in the film, the Stewart character finds the glowing image of her in an equally beautiful redhead. I won't give away anything else.
Now don't get me wrong, "Vertigo" is a near-excellent film that I love and cherish. Most "Vertigo" detractors say the film can be seen from too many different points of views (surreal dream, detective story, romance, etc.) and that is has no clear narrative flow. Actually, I like that aspect of the movie. My problem with "Vertigo" is a more primitive one; I just think the buildup to the blond's suicide is too long and worked up. "Vertigo" may be a near-great movie, but it's not one I could watch over and over again. Not Rated. 128 minutes. 9 out of 10.