Day 70: North by Northwest (1959)

Movie #40 – North by Northwest (1959) - 131 min, cert PG.

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is an advertising executive who gets caught up in a web of intrigue when he is mistaken for a government agent by a network of foreign spies. He discovers that the real agent is a beautiful woman, and that clearing his own name will only put her life in greater jeopardy. He is pursued across the country as he tries to get to the bottom of the mystery, without getting himself killed.

I do like this film. I have seen it many times over the years, and I liked it just as much when I watched it again for this blog. I like Cary Grant as an actor, although I realised when writing this, that I don’t think I’ve actually seen him in any other movie, so I must be basing that opinion entirely on this one. Hitchcock keeps the suspense at just the right pace, and Grant’s easy-going style suits the role perfectly.

Score – 9/10.  My top ten hasn’t changed much over the last ten films. Only Forrest Gump has been added, so it now looks like this:

1.       The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

2.       Pulp Fiction (1994)

3.       Forrest Gump (1994)

4.       Fight Club (1999)

5.       The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

6.       Toy Story 3 (2010)

7.       The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

8.      Memento (2000)

9.       Goodfellas (1990)

10.   Schindler’s List (1993)

Next up is Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, another one I have on DVD, although I think it was bought for me as a gift.