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Alfred Hitchcock: Director Hall of Fame **VOTE HERE** (1 Viewer)

What movie should Alfred Hitchcock go into the Movie HOF with?

  • The Birds

    Votes: 3 4.9%
  • North by Northwest

    Votes: 13 21.3%
  • Psycho

    Votes: 27 44.3%
  • Rear Window

    Votes: 14 23.0%
  • Dial M For Murder

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Notorious

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Vertigo

    Votes: 2 3.3%
  • Rebecca

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    61

Ilov80s

Footballguy
So I was thinking when athletes enter the HOF, they have to pick the team they will go in for. Randy Johnson, Mariners or Diamondbacks? Gretzky, Oilers or Kings? Deion, Falcons or Cowboys?

What if directors were entered into the Movie Hall of Fame and had to choose 1 movie to represent them. Look at it however you want, best movie, most successful movie, breakout movie that put them on the map, etc. It's however you see the director best represented.

Our first inductee was Jaws for Spielberg (50%)

Next was Alien for Ridley Scott (43%)

Since we had some questions over whether Scott even was a HOFer, I decided to make sure we don't have that conversation this time.  Really tough call to pick just one movie though. 

 
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I picked Rear Window from the listed picks.  I probably would have picked Strangers on a Train among all Hitchcock movies.  
Interesting. I felt like I had to cut it off at some point. I only included Rebecca because it was his only Best Picture winner. IMO, it should really only be down to 3 or 4 movies really. I am not sure anyone was ever quite as consistently good as Hitchcock was though. I could have done 15 deep easily. 

 
God knows what would have happened if Hitchcock worked in the Me Too movement.  He didn't sexually harass his female leads so much as psychologically torture them.  For that reason, I find Vertigo (for instance) a film that's easier to admire than necessarily enjoy.  Just get some therapy, Hitch.

But what's most interesting about Hitch is that while his films weren't particularly diverse in subject matter, they were very diverse in technique and style.  Psycho has the most famous montage editing in cinema.  Rope is constructed as a seeming unbroken long shot.  You can see him use the tracks and cranes that Max Ophuls perfected to great effect in Notorious.  North by Northwest has amazing, wide open outdoor sequences.  He went from being a master of the black and white chiaroscura cinematography to someone who used color as vibrantly as anyone.  

 
Interesting. I felt like I had to cut it off at some point. I only included Rebecca because it was his only Best Picture winner. IMO, it should really only be down to 3 or 4 movies really. I am not sure anyone was ever quite as consistently good as Hitchcock was though. I could have done 15 deep easily. 


It would be hard to pick any list like this.  The guy had an almost 50 year career.  I think Strangers on a Train and Shadow of a Doubt are two of his very best, but most buffs probably have their own favorites (The Lady Vanishes is one I often see critics pick) as well.  

 
Maybe I'm biased because when Strangers on a Train was introduced for my film as narrative class in college, the professor who did the introduction sounded like the "Mawwaige?  What is mawwaige?" dude from The Princess Bride.

"See how in his masterpiece, Stwangers on a Twain, Hitchcock uses the motif of doubwing!"

 
Tough choices and I won't argue with Rear Window or Psycho.

However, I will go with North By Northwest, which was the template for the James Bond series and other action adventure films of that nature to follow. And the "crop duster" scene with Cary Grant is brilliant and unsurpassed IMO. 

 
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Tough choices and I won't argue with Rear Window or Psycho.

However, I will go with North By Northwest, which was the template for the James Bond series and other action adventure films of that nature to follow. And the "crop dusting" scene with Cary Grant is brilliant and unsurpassed IMO. 


I also laugh at the final shot every freakin' time.  Because I'm 12.

 
Based on that, you should not have been allowed to vote.

Just kidding. Check out North by Northwest when you can, it is still shown for free on several channels like TCM (I think). 
it was always on my list of classics to watch just never got around to it

 
Rear Window is my favorite as well but Psycho is the HOF choice.
Vertigo is the number one film on the latest (2012) Sight & Sound critic's poll, fwiw.

EDIT:  Psycho is 35 and North by Northwest and Rear Window are in a three-way tie with Raging Bull for 53rd.  

EDIT 2:  In the Director's poll, Vertigo is 7th and Psycho and Rear Window are in an 11-way tie for 48th.

 
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Vertigo is the number one film on the latest (2012) Sight & Sound critic's poll, fwiw.

EDIT:  Psycho is 35 and North by Northwest and Rear Window are in a three-way tie with Raging Bull for 53rd.  

EDIT 2:  In the Director's poll, Vertigo is 7th and Psycho and Rear Window are in an 11-way tie for 48th.


Yeah, I know that, but that vote has never made sense to me as the best film of all time - or even as Hitchcock's best film, I wouldn't even have it in my Top 15, maybe not even my Top 20. 

Don't get me wrong, it is visually stunning...but it was a commercial failure at its time for a reason (and would still be if it were made anytime thereafter IMO). The film is a downer and somehow makes Jimmy Stewart into some sort of creepy stalker. To this day I can't fathom how Hitch ever felt this would be even a modest commercial success. 

 
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He's no Ridley Scott :rolleyes:

Voted Notorious but probably would have gone with Strangers on a Train if it was an option. Psycho is Hitch's best known work but it's not as representative of his entire career than the two I prefer.

I've never understood the cineastes' love for Vertigo. I like over-the-top melodrama as much as the next guy but the romantic plot of Vertigo hasn't aged well.

 
He's no Ridley Scott :rolleyes:

Voted Notorious but probably would have gone with Strangers on a Train if it was an option. Psycho is Hitch's best known work but it's not as representative of his entire career than the two I prefer.

I've never understood the cineastes' love for Vertigo. I like over-the-top melodrama as much as the next guy but the romantic plot of Vertigo hasn't aged well.
I am not sure any of the relationships in Vertigo are really romantic and I don't think any of them are meant to look good, even for the 50s.  I was very lukewarm on it but have enjoyed it more and more over the years. 

 
Vertigo is the number one film on the latest (2012) Sight & Sound critic's poll, fwiw.

EDIT:  Psycho is 35 and North by Northwest and Rear Window are in a three-way tie with Raging Bull for 53rd.  

EDIT 2:  In the Director's poll, Vertigo is 7th and Psycho and Rear Window are in an 11-way tie for 48th.
Does Vertigo have 2 different movies made about the making of it?  Hitchcock and 78/52 were both made about Pscyho. I rest my case!   

 
I am not sure any of the relationships in Vertigo are really romantic and I don't think any of them are meant to look good, even for the 50s.  I was very lukewarm on it but have enjoyed it more and more over the years. 


Vertigo is a fine film and I love to look at the old SF locations but "the greatest film of all time" sets an impossibly high bar.

 
favorite is probably Rebecca, but i had no trouble going NxNW for this. the blueprint for the broad, fun, romantic adventure - next to creating worlds, what the movies do best - springs from it, which is a more important imprimatur than for even suspense.

and Eeph has the totes troof by the Carlottas about Vertigo

 
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Vertigo is a fine film and I love to look at the old SF locations but "the greatest film of all time" sets an impossibly high bar.
Yeah, best ever is a stretch. Tough for any movie to live up to  but I agree Vertigo doesn't. 

 
I voted Vertigo before reading all of your comments because I'm a stuck-up cineaste who loves meta-endeavoring into the heart of creativity. 

 
I thought that was the point, too. We're heartbroken for Stewart, but what he does is off-putting right away. 
Yeah, I think it is. All 3 of the key characters are real disturbed people. One guy is trying to kill his wife and is using his long time friend to be the unwitting alibi for it all. An actress is willing to take on this role for money to help establish the cover up for the murder. Then after the murder, she feels guilty about it and lets Stewart shape her back into the wife that he thinks he let die as a way for him to "fix" what he considered his failure in letting her die. None of that really strikes me as romantic, it's just twisted. 

 
This was a good one that made me think.   In the end I chose Rear Window b/c I think it has all the trademark Hitch that I like.   I think Psycho and Vertigo miss out on that dark Hitch humor that I wanted to have in my selection along with the murder and twists and suspense.  

 
This was a good one that made me think.   In the end I chose Rear Window b/c I think it has all the trademark Hitch that I like.   I think Psycho and Vertigo miss out on that dark Hitch humor that I wanted to have in my selection along with the murder and twists and suspense.  


I think has Psycho has dark humor, particularly when Anthony Perkins says : "My mother isn't quite herself today." 😆

 
However, I will go with North By Northwest, which was the template for the James Bond series and other action adventure films of that nature to follow. And the "crop dusting" scene with Cary Grant is brilliant and unsurpassed IMO. 
Extremely  :goodposting:

it pretty much invented the action adventure genre 

 
Can I change my vote? 

No, really, I loved Vertigo in college. I think watching it in a class called Love In The Western World with a very astute professor was one of the cooler things I did in college. I was also in love with Kim Novak back then. 

But North by Northwest is probably the one I could re-watch again and again. 

 
Extremely  :goodposting:

it pretty much invented the action adventure genre 


Fun Fact:

Hitchcock was originally the choice to do what would have been the first James Bond film at the time (after he completed North By Northwest) as some producers had bought the rights to Thunderball. 

https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/alfred-hitchcock-was-first-choice-to-direct-james-bond-film/#:~:text=Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock was,'Thunderball'%2Creported Contactmusic.

Alfred Hitchcock was first choice to direct James Bond film

Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock was James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s top pick to direct the first 007 film, according to a newly discovered letter.

In a telegram sent to mutual friend and novelist Eric Ambler in 1959, Fleming asks whether the horror master was available to make ‘Thunderball’, reported Contactmusic.

The message reads, ”Would Hitchcock be interested in directing?”

Fleming goes on to outline the film’s plot in the telegram, which has been published on website Letters Of Note, but Hitchcock turned down the offer because he was busy working on “Psycho”.
 
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However, I will go with North By Northwest, which was the template for the James Bond series and other action adventure films of that nature to follow. And the "crop dusting" scene with Cary Grant is brilliant and unsurpassed IMO. 
Extremely  :goodposting:

it pretty much invented the action adventure genre 


North By Northwest perfected (or at least upgraded the production values of) the formula Hitchcock had first utilized in The 39 Steps in 1935.  His WWII era thriller Saboteur is also very similar.

 
North By Northwest perfected (or at least upgraded the production values of) the formula Hitchcock had first utilized in The 39 Steps in 1935.  His WWII era thriller Saboteur is also very similar.


Both of those films were lacking for me. I find the pacing in The 39 Steps to be really slow and tedious to watch (probably due to when it was made and being early Hitchcock).

Saboteur has its moments but Robert Cummings was forced on Hitchock by the studio (he had wanted Gary Cooper) and in the 60s interview with Francois Truffaut (which you can find a recording of online) he expressed his dissatisfaction with casting Cummings, saying the actor was incapable of expressing the necessary emotion needed for the part. Hitch also wanted Barbara Stanwyck as the female lead for that film and you can imagine how great a Cooper/Stanwyck pairing would have been.

 
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Just noticed yesterday I have 8 Hitchcock movies on my DVR, and it's January!  Up first on my list is Topaz.  I have a soft spot for movies made in the 1965-75 period.

Mods should merge this thread with the Harvey Danger thread - Carlotta Valdez

 
Both of those films were lacking for me. I find the pacing in The 39 Steps to be really slow and almost tedious to watch (probably due to when it was made and being early Hitchcock).

Saboteur has its moments but Robert Cummings was forced on Hitchock by the studio (he had wanted Gary Cooper) and in the 60s interview with Francois Truffaut (which you can find a recording of online) he expressed his dissatisfaction with casting Cummings, saying the actor was incapable of expressing the necessary emotion needed for the part. Hitch also wanted Barbara Stanwyck as the female lead for that film and you can imagine how great a Cooper/Stanwyck pairing would have been.


I believe Cooper was tied up shooting For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Cummings was a genial but generic leading man who was better suited for lighter fare.  Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940) was another fine picture that's held back a little by Joel McCrea in the title role.

 
Just noticed yesterday I have 8 Hitchcock movies on my DVR, and it's January!  Up first on my list is Topaz.  I have a soft spot for movies made in the 1965-75 period.

Mods should merge this thread with the Harvey Danger thread - Carlotta Valdez


Topaz is utterly forgettable.  At least Torn Curtain had Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.

 
I believe Cooper was tied up shooting For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Cummings was a genial but generic leading man who was better suited for lighter fare.  Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940) was another fine picture that's held back a little by Joel McCrea in the title role.


I have read that it was combination of two things. Budgetary considerations and Bob Cummings was the considered an up and coming star for Universal and they wanted to us the vehicle for him. And yes, Cumming was great in lighter fare, particularly light comedy, but was out of his element here.

Cooper was reportedly offered the lead in Foreign Correspondent but turned it down as he didn't want to do a "spy film" and told Hitch he later regretted it. I thought Joel McCrea was fine in that film, but Coop obviously would have been better. 

 
The basic criteria for getting into a sports hall of fame is "did they change the way the game is played?" 

Psycho literally changed the way we watch movies.

 
Topaz is utterly forgettable.  At least Torn Curtain had Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.


Not much to recommend it.

Torn Curtain was another situation where Hitch had no choice over the casting of the leads (remember this was following Marnie which was a critical and box office failure, so he had lost his clout) and was told to take Newman and Andrews as they were both top box office draws. The problem was Paul Newman was simply not believable as a nuclear physicist  :no:  and it was even harder to buy that he and Julie Andrews would ever be romantically involved  :mellow: .

 
Never really cared for Vertigo. Notorious so-so to me. Very much liked RW, NBNW and Psycho.

Voted Psycho.  I remember watching it on a Saturday night as a kid and being scared and then delivering newspapers Sunday morning at 6am . It was so quiet and still, I kept expecting a psycho killer to jump out of the bushes or shadows. I half ran up to each house's steps.

 

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