Family Plot, Hitchcock's last film, is a good movie. It's engaging and interesting. It has decent acting, the directing is solid. Of course, that's a pretty bland description, which matches the movie quite well.
The problem with Family Plot is not that it isn't good, but that it isn't GREAT. Because when Alfred Hitchcock was behind the camera, GREAT was usually the least one could expect.
Hitchcock's success was not because of those he surrounded himself with, as someone below so ignorantly suggested. It was because he was a master at manipulating the audience and drawing them into his films. Granted, Herrmann's scores helped, but Herrmann didn't do every American Hitchcock movie (Rebecca won Best Picture without the talents of Herrmann). Neither did Hitchcock's favorite cinematographer. Not to mention The Lodger, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps are considered some of the greatest movies ever: all were made in Britain while Hitchcock was being considered the greatest director in THAT country.
But by the time Marnie was made, and Hitchcock feuded with star and object of his obsession Tippi Hedrin, his heart went out of movie-making, and the films afterward seemed to lack a general Hitchcockian quality. Instead, flashes of the Hitchcock genius could be caught only in particular scenes (The murder in Torn Curtain, the purple dress in Topaz, the stairway in Frenzy). Unlike Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, Notorious, Rebecca, etc., where the whole movie seemed inspired, Hitchcock only showed flashes of his original genius.
Family Plot effectively shows no signs of Hitchcock's genius, creating only a "good" movie with no classic scenes to make it distinctively Hitchcock. It is a sad ending to a glorious career. Sad, only in that a genius' final movie can "only" be called good.
5/10
The problem with Family Plot is not that it isn't good, but that it isn't GREAT. Because when Alfred Hitchcock was behind the camera, GREAT was usually the least one could expect.
Hitchcock's success was not because of those he surrounded himself with, as someone below so ignorantly suggested. It was because he was a master at manipulating the audience and drawing them into his films. Granted, Herrmann's scores helped, but Herrmann didn't do every American Hitchcock movie (Rebecca won Best Picture without the talents of Herrmann). Neither did Hitchcock's favorite cinematographer. Not to mention The Lodger, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps are considered some of the greatest movies ever: all were made in Britain while Hitchcock was being considered the greatest director in THAT country.
But by the time Marnie was made, and Hitchcock feuded with star and object of his obsession Tippi Hedrin, his heart went out of movie-making, and the films afterward seemed to lack a general Hitchcockian quality. Instead, flashes of the Hitchcock genius could be caught only in particular scenes (The murder in Torn Curtain, the purple dress in Topaz, the stairway in Frenzy). Unlike Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, Notorious, Rebecca, etc., where the whole movie seemed inspired, Hitchcock only showed flashes of his original genius.
Family Plot effectively shows no signs of Hitchcock's genius, creating only a "good" movie with no classic scenes to make it distinctively Hitchcock. It is a sad ending to a glorious career. Sad, only in that a genius' final movie can "only" be called good.
5/10