Alfred Hitchcock's final film. Starring Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, William Devane and Karen Black.
The film sees fake psychic Barbara Harris and her down-on-his-heels, cabdriver boyfriend, Bruce Dern hired by an old lady to search for her long lost remaining heir, William Devane who it transpires is one half of a no-good kidnapper gang, who along with his girlfriend Karen Black, expertly kidnap wealthy people for huge diamonds, keeping their victims locked up in their custom built basement vault.
There's no disputing Hitchcock's skill as a film maker, he is the perfect professional, and this film, while nowhere near his best still shows his skills as a story teller, scenes are expertly set up, visually explained and shot, although without any real visual flair or tricks. It is the very definition of workmanlike, but that's not a criticism.
This is a light-hearted comedy thriller which just holds its own. As with earlier films it takes its time setting up the situation, but the characters work very well. Barbara Harris as the fake psychic has an annoying tremble to her voice which sounds like she's seconds from bursting into tears, but her relationship with Bruce Dern sits at the heart of the film. Bruce plays a cabdriver who spends most of the film pretending to be an lawyer as he searches for the missing heir to a fortune and for most of the film they bicker as only two people in a long term relationship can. It's a nice counter-point to the relationship of Devane and Black, which is very much one of control and malevolence. Devane is the lost heir with a dark secret who gleefully runs the kidnapping racket from the back room of his hi-end jewellery business.
This is mostly worth watching because it's the last film of Hitchcock, it's punctuated with some nice moments of tension, particularly the final showdown between the two couples in the basement of Devane's house. And as with all Hitchcock movies, the all comes down to this final scene and it's amazing to see how little time is left at the end for Hitchcock to wrap things up with. How unlike most modern films that seem to spend an age getting to the end and far too long wrapping everything up. This also has a bloody good soundtrack from John Williams.
This was a fun but slight film probably best watched on a Sunday afternoon. 7/10
This is mostly worth watching because it's the last film of Hitchcock, it's punctuated with some nice moments of tension, particularly the final showdown between the two couples in the basement of Devane's house. And as with all Hitchcock movies, the all comes down to this final scene and it's amazing to see how little time is left at the end for Hitchcock to wrap things up with. How unlike most modern films that seem to spend an age getting to the end and far too long wrapping everything up. This also has a bloody good soundtrack from John Williams.
This was a fun but slight film probably best watched on a Sunday afternoon. 7/10
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