Hitchcock Retrospective – North by Northwest Review

Hello discerning podcast listeners, this is Tom

Kenny and you are listening to the geek cast

radio network Hello and welcome to episode 212

of the cinema geeks I am one of your cinema geeks

optimus solo and joining me today Once again

is the comic con sheers Dan. How are we doing?

I'm doing well. How about yourself? I'm doing

well. I'm excited to get into yet another Hitchcock

film. It's weird. We've been making our way through

this 10 films of Alfred Hitchcock kind of a lot

of eight blind spots for me, a few blind spots

for you, but just a chance to kind of look at

this iconic director and all of these things.

And we were trying to decide in the beginning,

obviously Hitchcock has like a thousand films.

We were trying to decide how many would be a

good number and things of that nature. And you

feel like You get through about 10 films of somebody

and you're probably thinking that'll be enough

and like you're going to be ready to move on

to something. I can honestly say that I'm somewhat

like motivated to even watch more of Hitchcock

films than the ones we have. I'm like, oh, but

we're not watching this one or oh, so and so

is also in this one. I wonder what that one's

like. So it's kind of crazy. I'm definitely not

getting tired of this journey at all. So Um,

what's your take so far as we've made this journey

and what were you going into today as far as

thought process as we were going to cover the

1959 spy thriller north by northwest I was actually

very similar because i was looking through because

there is a lot obviously we're not covering He's

like you mentioned he it was in the age where

he made a movie a year if not more So he you

can't do them all and even with him like there's

some major ones that you know like We are missing

and does make me think maybe going back and seeing

if you especially with some of the actors that

I've really enjoyed that he did other movies

with I'm like, maybe, you know, so a feeling

I was actually feeling similarly. I'm like, I

might go back and watch for example, like a lifeboat

and other ones I've seen before some new ones.

Cause like now they're popping up at like on

different platforms about recommendations. Like,

yeah, I know what I haven't seen that one. Maybe

I should Well, it was like, uh, you know, I remember

the old alpha I know he didn't like direct most

of them But the old alfred hitchcock presents

tv show. Yes back in the day. Um, so Uh, but

yeah, so i've been really enjoying it. Obviously

we didn't love every single film Uh, which is

gonna happen no matter, you know who you who

you uh, what Filmography you go through well

for the most part But even like the movies I

didn't love there's always something. I was glad

I watched it. So yeah For sure. I haven't been

upset about any of them necessarily. One of them

that catches my mind is that has been thrown

out there a couple of times as I've been doing

research for it is To Catch a Thief, which is

a 1955 film and that's got Cary Grant and Grace

Kelly in it. And that's one I've never seen before.

So that's definitely something that I'm like,

oh. I'd like to see these two on stage together

again. Just one of many that I've been like,

well, maybe maybe there's gonna be a part two

at some point. I don't know. So what was your

what was your history once again for North by

Northwest? What were you bringing in as far as

when you were venturing into this rewatch for

you? I believe and how long had it been? In a

while. I think I first watched it when it first

came to blu -ray. Remember buying it or something

like there would be me was a special edition

or something like that of Northwest Northwest

So it's been a while. It's been over. It's been

over like a decade since I've last seen it. I

remember when I watched it last time I remember

really liking it but and Remembering some bits

of it, but still a lot of it, you know has long

gone my memory so Absolutely knows like I said

last episode is the first time watch for me.

So this is a 1959 film starring Cary Grant, Eva

Marie Saint, and James Mason. It is a tale of

mistaken identity as an innocent man is pursued

across the United States in this instance by

agents trying to prevent him from, or that he's

trying to prevent blocking their plan to smuggle

microfilm containing government secrets out of

the country. So this is like part 39 steps, part

notorious. Part of a lot of the different films

that we have watched so far all together it seems

like in one big package so what was your initial

take on this rewatch for you. My initial take

was that I still really enjoyed it a great deal

and I obviously before this is the time before

like summer blockbusters existed but I feel like.

People argue what is the biggest, what's the

first blockbuster? I feel like this could be

added to the list because it is such a big film,

especially for its day. Some of the set pieces

in this are, I think, some of the most, probably

require some of the most work. We've seen, of

course, the classic playing sequence that this

is best known by, but even the Mount Rushmore

scenes. But beyond that. I just think it's one

of those movies that kind of has it all in the

sense of there's a lot of comedy in this. I completely

forgot how funny it is at times. And a lot of

that, of course, is from Cary Grant, the entire

scene where he's driving drunk. And it's supposed

to be terrifying, and it is. But it's also funny

at the same time, just because of the way he

plays it. And then the entire scene of him drunk

being interviewed by the cops and stuff like

that. It's like, oh. This is why he's such a

legend because It's so effortless. There's so

many great lines on that way now when he's like

stick out your tongue He's like, okay stand back

or I could hear him say Lester Towson like I

could just like the way he said that every time

like I could listen to an entire movie of him

just saying Lester Towson the entire time just

the way he would present stuff, but I had a great

time with this and I think I even liked it more

this time around And you know it obviously going

through this Spectrum this retrospective you

see a lot of these things that you know, Hitchcock

loves and I feel like There's so many of them

in this movie like as we've been going through

all the how Hitchcock isms feel like every check

mark this one has and then some So I don't know.

I had a great time with it. How about yourself?

Well, I came in with no expectations. I didn't

know exactly like what the Mood of the film would

be like what obviously a lot of his films have

some similar takes as far as like the aesthetics

of them and like what they're going for from

a suspense or a thriller standpoint. And I'm

reading that this one says like spy thriller

and. I feel like the word comedy is missing from

that description like this. OK, this may not

be some argue that this is the best Hitchcock

film. I don't know if I'll say it's the best

Hitchcock film in my opinion so far. I don't

know if it'll come out as. the favorite of or

the best made or anything like that. But I know

for sure without going through all those exercises

that so far this is the most fun Hitchcock film

I've experienced. Like this is just entertaining

from beginning to end. And it is hysterical.

Like I was not anticipating. Like I knew I liked

Cary Grant. Like I've seen him in a number of

different films. I know I'm a huge fan of his.

Like he's one of my favorite like Hollywood era

actors and for some reason I had never seen this

and this is just like I Don't like this is like

the top of the heap for him like I he's Amazing

in this film Amanda and I were watching this

together because she's joined me for most of

this journey She had studied a few of these in

school and a few that she hadn't seen so she's

been watching and looking forward to certain

ones and We were watching this together and just

absolutely cracking up like half the time like

The thing about that drunk sequence is it should

look so terrible based on a lot of other things

you see from this era when it comes to that type

of thing because they just didn't have the technology

to really like pull that off and it actually

doesn't look bad like it looks funny, but not

like I Don't know it doesn't have that thing

where you're just like well, that's just an old

film we got to like forgive it for like looking

like it does right now like I thought it looked

pretty good with his whole sequence. He's hysterical

when he's getting interviewed by the police like

when he crawls up and lays down on like the desk

or whatever that is that piece of furniture is

dying and then like the sequences where he's

in a car with his Kidnappers, I guess you could

say like the nonchalant the Nothing can faze

me yeah the I have a quip for everything you're

about to say and like they're just not taking

anything serious like he takes so many moments

of this film not serious at all that is it's

it's hilarious to watch so like I thoroughly

enjoyed this film from beginning to end and it's

It is like you're talking about blockbuster wise,

like the locations that they're going to, like

the sequence with the plane, the sequence with

Mount Rushmore, the sequence with the United

Nations. Like this is like the summer blockbuster,

right? Like you're getting all the different

like bigger than life set pieces and things of

that nature. It comes out the July 4th weekend

in 1959, I believe. And this is just. like it's

you have a movie star of all movie stars you

have all of these scenic and crazy set pieces

you have action you have comedy at the time you

know the whole spy aspect going along with the

cold war and things of that nature so like i

feel like it just works on so many levels and

i read this later that it has been printed multiple

times i did not know that like when we were just

watching this without and doing any research

without looking at any websites any reviews about

any of this. We were like halfway through and

I leaned or I looked over at a man and I said,

is was Cary Grant the first James Bond? Like

because if he wasn't technically, I feel like

he was some other way because I feel like everything

that James Bond is is based off of this character

in some way. Like he's dressed like to impress.

I did read something after the fact that like

his suit. I think GQ or something in 2006 assembled

some panel to talk about the most influential

costumes, outfits, clothing, things in film.

I don't know if it was in film history or whatever

it was, but his suit is one of the top of the

list. They said that a couple of Tom Cruise in

one of the films copied it in collateral. Ben

Affleck in Paycheck has basically the same suit.

So like it's just hitting on all cylinders here.

And I think it's just more fun and more funny

than I was expecting to have with this film.

Yeah, yeah. And it's crazy how much like you

could want to going through this that not necessarily

related to this, but the fact Cary Gritt never

won an Oscar for anything is crazy to me. Like

he has like an honest honorary one. But like,

I don't know, like he's so good in this and You

the James Bond comparison is is pretty apt because

it is like that the any you have a lot of these

I think some of the better sent pieces and you

saw and like James Bond for quite a while like

the you know, the the crop dusting scene I think

is famous and for obvious reasons like I can

only imagine, you know, the Oops, they had to

jump through to get that to work as well as it

does Uh, it's it's always on the move. It doesn't

it doesn't waste really any time whatsoever.

Like it starts and it you know We mentioned a

lot of i've mentioned like previous films that

we've done there's a lot like a lot of patience

and Hitchcock's film like even we're a window

It takes a while for things to kind of build

up like with this by the first act It's like

it's off off to the races and it does like slow

down a little bit after that drunk You know after

the drunk sequence, but not in like in a bad

way, then it goes right back up again. I just

Thought it was paced so well Uh, and the characters

here, you know, we not to bash on vertigo again

or anything like that But I mentioned last week

with vertigo like how you know that one of that

movie is is Focused on this relationship working

and you know you believing it and I didn't have

that feeling here certainly not the case like

this even though like On paper it kind of looks

a bit ludicrous that this woman would fall in

love with this guy. Although there's again there's

It was purposeful. They'd, you know, Eva Marie

Saint and Gary, Gary, uh, Cary Grant just had

so, so much great chemistry. Like I bought them

as a couple. Like you understood, like, I felt,

felt believable to me. You know, they would go

the rounds that they did to do what they did.

And it is a bit confusing. Like on paper, like

it does, I do think a second time around, I was

able to better understand what was happening,

but I. At the same time that confusion I think

is helpful because they always kind of try to

guess where it's going And when it gets there,

I also like that. It doesn't try to overly explain

everything like it hits at it Like there's this,

you know statue with film filming it what's in

it. It doesn't really get into it It just you

know, it's the thing that they care about And

I love that about a lot of Hitchcock movies that

we've gone so far. It's like there's this is

he's the bad guy. You know, he's the bad guy.

Why is he the bad guy? Because he's the bad guy.

And some people could look at that as like not

great script writing. But at times I just feel

like, you know, why this person is here. You

know what, what, where this is going. We don't

have to like, you know, spell it out. And I feel

like, you know, a lot of movies today, we have

to do that all the time. We have to go into explanations

about everything here. It's like, this is the

thing they need to get because they need to get

it. and that's enough and right i kind of like

i like that because you can spend it focused

on the more fun things the better things more

interesting things rather than just like the

macguffins that i mean mean much anyways i didn't

know that he was like one of the people that

i thought i read somewhere that he's one of the

guys that coined that phrase oh really i did

not know as something like used in film just

for other purposes. I think I read one thing.

I didn't look like substantiated, but I guess

that's a Hitchcock word, possibly. I think another

thing that it does that we saw, especially like

right off the bat with the 39 steps, right? Like,

you know immediately that this guy's innocent.

You know that he's being sought after in some

type of way. So like you're immediately on board

with him and in his corner, but then also like

the suspense is just built in, even though we're

having a ton of fun along the way and he's not

he's taking it in a much different way obviously

than the characters and the 39 steps but it's

just like we already have the suspense about

is he going to be able how is he going to be

able to clear his name and things of that nature

but i think they do just enough along the way

to keep us guessing and to keep us not expecting

what happens next right like there is the sequence

done in the United Nations where I guess they

had to employ some like hidden cameras to figure

out like what that needed to look like and then

they had to recreate it but anyways there's a

there's an action that happens in that building

as far as you think he's getting somewhere and

then a swerve I guess is sent sent through as

far as like somebody's meeting their demise and

whatnot like did not see that coming so there's

different things along the way like obviously

if you've seen it multiple times or if you've

read stuff about it, none of this is going to

be like, you know, um, it's not going to like

catch you off guard or anything like that, but

like on a first time watch, you don't know who

the real agent is, right? Like at first, like

they mentioned that there is an agent involved.

You're not sure exactly who it is. There's a

few people that it could be that type of thing.

So like, there's just enough of little pieces

along the way to keep that suspense going as

well as you having a lot of fun along the way.

And I, have to bring up before I forget to because

I mentioned the obviously the drunk driving and

the arrest and dealing with the police after

that and then being in the car with the kidnappers

another scene that just had me in stitches though

is that auction scene oh yeah like that like

once he discovers that he basically needs to

find a different one alternative way out of that

setting His actions and the way he goes about

it is just bananas. And I just loved every minute

of that, trying to figure out, well, that didn't

work. He needs to kick it up even more of a notch.

What's he going to do next? What's he going to

say next? And I loved that about it as well.

And I think you're right. I think Cary Grant

and Ava Marie Saint had a great interaction,

relationship between each other. how it's kind

of going back and forth as you do like it's very

akin to what you see in so many Bond films, right?

Or so many films like that where you have James

Bond and whatever girl that he's falling for

in that film or even in non James Bond films

like that is like a something that I don't know

how often it happened before this, but it definitely

happens a whole lot after this that we see in

our lifetime from film. And I think that's just

another aspect that makes this film enjoyable

overall. Yeah. Because at first, you know, I'm

like, okay, he's attractive I get like why she

would maybe she's just kind of into this type

of thing and then Of course, there's more to

it and then and how it goes from there But also

I that's the thing too is I felt like all the

actions here were believable in the situation.

And you also understand why they wouldn't believe

him because it is crazy and they covered their

tracks really well. So I think that was another

thing that the character's actions here all made

sense. I mean, maybe you could argue when he

goes to the hotel room and he kind of pushes

his luck, but you can Also see it and it was

pretty convenient when the guy gets enough knife

in the back and he like pulls it out Like but

again, I think like those things I was evil I

was so with maybe I was willing to go with it.

So That's you know, that's what I even you know,

like there were perhaps some convoluted elements.

Everything was believable Everything I think

made sense like you understood why certain things

are happening the motivation Yeah, you can just

how crazy things get yeah, you can probably say

the same thing about when he goes back to the

house the second time Yeah, like with the police

officers or whatever and everything's changed

and nobody's there the set the other it's like

It's another thing that maybe you could poke

holes in but like I feel like if you're just

like along for the ride it works fine And it

didn't bother me at all. Like I love those interactions

with with all the different people, you know,

we didn't mention a whole lot of the Extras I

guess in this but a couple notables specifically

Martin Landau showing up in this one as the Sidekick

to Philip Van Damme who's I guess the main quote

-unquote villain so those it's basically James

Mason and Martin Landau is like the two guys

that they're trying to Take down. I thought that

was interesting like I I saw that his name popped

up in the credits at the beginning and then I

was like trying to place him and First I wasn't

sure you know if I was gonna recognize him as

many years younger as he was then what I was

used to him Looking like but he definitely has

this is one of his first major roles, too I believe

I didn't know like he looked familiar, but I

just couldn't place it. I'm like oh wow he That's

the only time ever see I didn't know he was ever

young. I thought he was always I thought he was

always older. I never but Right. There's also

a number of voice actors in this that are more

classic voice actors or things of that nature.

So Sarah Berner, who was actually one of the,

she was in Rear Window as well. She was one of

the married couples with the beds or whenever

she plays the telephone operator. She did a bunch

of voice, that kind of classic voice work. Les

Tremaine is the auctioneer. Olan Soule is the

assistant auctioneer who plays the the What other

Hitchcock things did you pick out of this one?

Yeah, as you mentioned in kind of one of your

intro statements Like this has a lot of what

we've looked at throughout these films. So like

how many did you pick out? Oh, yeah, the relationship

with the mother, you know Roger Thornton Thornhill.

He has a actually a pretty like healthy relationship

with his mom so that's a big key when of course

you have the the Hitchcock blonde with you Marie

Saint The falsely accused probably the one that

hits the falsely accused the most so far 39 steps,

of course You have a cameo I think of any there

any other specific notable I didn't know this

going into it, but just in doing a little bit

of reading afterwards so it was so subtle that

I didn't pick up on it, but we have seen this

now and like probably Three of the films at least

but Martin Lando said that in an interview basically

that he was playing Leonard as subtly Homosexual

As far as his character goes so we've seen that

in at least three films now Which I did not pick

up on but I guess that's one of the reasons why

he's so like wanting to get Eva Marie Saint picture

and things of that nature and why he's got a

little bit more like stake in what's happening.

So I thought that was interesting. I didn't read

into that or catch that on the watch. But now

that I'm now that I read it after the fact, I

can kind of see where that was. And I guess Hitchcock

was and the screenwriter were fine with it. They

were actually big fans of it. The screenwriter

actually even rewrote a line to like say something

about his women, his woman's intuition. There's

a line in there that drops, which at the time,

I guess, was not something that You would find

guys like saying even ingest. So, uh, so I found

that interesting as well. Wow. I, that makes

a lot of sense. Like it, that, yeah, I didn't

catch, I can't catch that. I mean, obviously

it was very obvious, far more obvious than something

like rope. Now that you say that it, a lot of

those scenes, cause their relationship was a

bit weird. Not weird is the right word, but I

did feel like there was something more there.

At first I thought he was, he was going to. I

don't know, maybe burn on him or something like

that. And especially when he shoots the gun at

him. And then obviously it ends up being blank.

So but yeah, that certainly. Opens the eye. Yeah,

that was interesting. Yeah. The use of you bringing

up that gun reminded me to like another thing

that kind of keeps you a little bit on your toes

throughout the film, even with all the comedy

is the the times that they're employing that

gun in two different instances where you may

be thinking that somebody's dead. Or something

like that where they they have some little swerves

there as well. So I thought that was kind of

well done Yeah on top of that. He also loves

his trinkets Of course, we've had the lighter

in the past and that's when we get the matchbook.

Oh, it becomes a really important piece So, you

know that I didn't I figured it would come up

again, you know, it's the checkoffs Matchbook

it has this but that's another one too because

he loves those little things That always something

with matches and you know matches keys Lighters,

you know, yeah, there's always something. Yeah.

Yeah, that's kind of a nice there an interesting

thing to kind of watch for Obviously this one

is well -received, right? It has like a 97 %

on rotten tomatoes good reviews on a lot of topless

and things of that nature Box office wise. I

believe it did. Okay, I don't have the exact

numbers on Let's see gross 46 ,000 first week

35 ,000 second week About two and a half million

in the first couple of months so according to

MGM records the theatrical rentals of five point

seven million and four point one million elsewhere,

so it profited a decent amount would have profited

more but apparently there was a bunch of delays

in the filming and Cary Grant had it in his contract

that If it took more than a certain amount of

time that like it went into like some type of

penalty phase and he would get paid an extra

$5 ,000 a day for every day past whatever the

threshold was and They were at that before they

started filming So he basically made that like

every day of the filming and like I think they

said he made half a million dollars just from

this film, so I guess good on him for having

a a well -written contract but yeah it's interesting

because like yeah this is seven years after this

is his last movie like he's this 1959 he stops

making movies in 1966 so he made enough on this

one he didn't need to do it i guess well yeah

this he said he retired and i guess for his family

reasons and stuff like that yeah his daughter

was born yeah she was with also he felt i guess

there's a big thing about how he felt the golden

age of hollywood was over And you know, there's

a lot of reasons I just found that really fascinating

that didn't realize He stopped making movies

relatively young like they he had Didn't die

until the 80s So he's right as long time and

it sounded like there was some efforts from a

few people to get him involved in like I know

I read something that said Hitchcock was trying

to get him involved in something Yeah, there

was Shakespeare Hamlin or so I forget yeah, and

then and then like something else too There was

a couple other people that really wanted him

to be involved with stuff, but He stuck to his

word I guess since he made a made the statement

that he wasn't gonna come out of retirement Even

if he wanted to I guess he was too stubborn to

to do that at that point or whatever I'm not

sure interesting note to Eva Marie Saint is still

alive Really? Yeah, she's a hundred so she's

100 she turns 101 in July on July 4th this year,

so I thought that was bananas like you're watching

all these films and you know obviously this one's

a little bit later than some of the other ones

we watch because now we're up to you know 1959

and we started you know decades before that so

just kind of I guess forgot that we're moving

forward in time and that there was a possibility

that any of the people we were watching on the

screen were still alive. But Eva Marie Saint

is, so I find that fascinating. And I did not

catch the fact that apparently she appeared on

a couple of the different Academy Awards telecasts

within the last five or 10 years. I think within

the last five years, she... Either presented

something or some type of uh appearance I within

the last five ten years. I don't know exactly

what it is. But yeah, um, so yeah She has credits

like she was looking. I don't know There's a

radio play revival that she did again. I don't

know if it's like like old Not footage but like

old um, recordings that they're using but she's

the credit is as early as 2022. So And she did

uh, she did some voices on the legend of kora

from 2012 to 2014 for six episodes like that

Wow, what a career Yeah, and she was martin kent

at superman returns. I didn't remember that at

all. But Wow, yeah, it's crazy learning something

new every day Yeah, she's great and us too. I

we haven't mentioned her but she she's a huge

part of this movie and I want to do like her

character and just the different like her The

the trajectory of her character is crazy is quite

crazy, right? Because the first she just seems

like this person who's enamored with Carrie Grant

and she's a spy but then she's a double agent

and and but she nailed it like she was you bleed

I bleed every portion of it. I thought she was

charming and You know, you could understand why

Carrie Grant was so enamored with her and just

like grant. She was funny She was terrified when

she needs to be I thought she was quick. She

matched Cary Grant, which is not an easy thing

to do. So certainly deserves praise as well,

because, yeah, no, the reason why the movie works.

You know what? I agree with that 100 percent.

And another thing that I wanted to mention, you

know, we talked about all of the things like

the Hitchcockian themes to this film. It's crazy

that it has all of those things that we've pointed

out through the process of some of these other

films. Yet it's probably one of the only ones

that's not based off of anything. Which is almost

something we've seen in every single one. This

is not based off of a play This is not based

off of a short story. It's not based off of a

novel like the screenplay was written by a guy

that was working in conjunction with Hitchcock

and it's the seeds of this film are bananas because

it sounded like from what I read that they literally

whether it was Hitchcock's idea or Ernest layman's

idea like they want I think was Hitchcock's idea

that he wanted to have some type of film that

involved a chase across Mount Rushmore and Like

that's what they started with They wanted that

and then they built this whole movie around it

and then at some point they did come in to contact

with some type of Journalists or something who

had told him a story about you know, these fake

Agents that don't really exist that were being

used and then that kind of like well its way

into the the story so I guess it was a little

bit based on this story from the from the journalist,

but Yeah, it's like they wanted to do a sequence

with the Mount Rushmore and they wanted to do

a sequence with the, um, the United Nations or

something like that. Like they had a couple of

sequences in mind and then they want to just

build a fun film around it. And I know I read

one Hitchcock quote that said like, basically

he had just done Vertigo, which obviously had

a little bit more of a deeper tone and a more

serious sense to it. And it's. I think the quote

said something along the lines and I'm paraphrasing

here, but that he. wanted to just make a film

that was fun entertainment that didn't contain

as many of like the messages that he maybe was

trying for in other films like he just wanted

a fun romp of a film and i would say if that

was his goal he succeeded definitely like it

like i mentioned i felt like this if this was

a summer blockbuster before summer blockbusters

existed You know or a James Bond movie before

James Bond movies existed and I think you could

even say maybe there were deeper messages here

if you were to look hard enough just Like with

elements of the Cold War, but those yeah, like

we mentioned it wasn't even like it was going

deep on those it was just Just needed something

there. So it's I think with compared to something

like we're window where there's much more to

dissect Uh regarding like what it's saying. I

don't think this is necessarily like like you

said, he's not trying to say anything with it,

which is fine This is just a really enjoyable

film. That is, you know I think if you're gonna

watch your first hit cock movie I think this

is a good one to start with because oh, yeah

It's I think it would appeal to people that maybe

don't even love like enjoy classic movies as

much I think it's a good gateway gateway hitch

cock as they say It's very accessible for sure.

And the other thing that he was going for in

this film was like he wanted it to have like

a lot of different scenic things, a lot of different

like a lot of different places that they stopped

along the way. I think at one point they were

supposed to have a showdown in Alaska. I don't

think that made the final cut. And there was

another interesting thing. You know, Hitchcock,

I guess, has some grand ideas, but there's a

screenwriter that was talking about this and

basically they said that Hitchcock had the idea

of the hero being stranded in the middle of nowhere,

but suggested that the villains try to kill him

with a tornado. And layman was like, but like,

how are they going to work up a cycle? Like how

can they, how can we attribute a tornado to them?

And I guess that's what eventually led them to

the cyclone. Becoming the crop duster plane and

led to that sequence I mean, yeah, I think big

like no problem Then you know then they eventually

made that movie and it was sharknado He was just

way ahead of his time. Yeah, exactly Any other

thoughts trivia tidbits or things you haven't

been able to bring up about North by Northwest?

No, I think we covered everything I had yeah,

I think like I don't know. Like for me, this

is regardless of how my ranking shakes shakes

out when I go to rank Hitchcock. I don't know

if any film is going to be more fun than this

one. Like this this is Hitchcock having a whole

lot of fun and it definitely translates onto

the screen. So I just was not expecting that.

And I think it was not necessarily a breath of

fresh air because everything else has been good,

too. But it was just like a nice. change of pace

I guess in a way like it was nice to see like

just the comedy and just like Cary Grant so amazing

in this and and just like this let him just Go

like I guess he didn't really like the film and

he didn't like the script because he was probably

used to like serious stuff and like he thought

it wasn't gonna work but I don't know like he

seemed like he was just like the Hitchcock just

Unleashed him and let him do his thing and it

worked in spades for me. Well, he did vaudeville

He did something, you know get his girl Friday.

So he did comedy Before but yeah, maybe maybe

at this point, I don't know But I mean he liked

it enough at least to work it maybe just because

of the money He worked with uh, hitchcock again

after this at least. Yeah, that's true And apparently

like hitchcock had always wanted carrie grant

in this role for this film but they were discussing

that while hitchcock was filming vertigo and

I guess he had like Told jimmy stewart a bunch

about like what they were doing for this film

and whatever and jimmy stewart assumed that he

was going to get cast in it. And it took a while

for Hitchcock to realize that by having all these

conversations that he had led him on. So I guess

he waited until Jimmy Stewart was cast in another

film and then offered him this role, knowing

that he couldn't take it so that he would turn

it down and then he could give it to Cary Grant

without upsetting either person since he's had

both of them in like what, three or four movies

apiece. That's interesting too, but. Lot of a

lot of little tidbits about this this film that

are fun. So Next time we're gonna be going a

little bit of a different route because the next

one up on the docket is psycho Dan what's your

experience with psycho and are you looking forward

to going at it again here? This this is so this

is sad. So this is a first time watch for me

kind of Because I have watched the Gus Van Sant

psycho so I'm sorry I just it was bad when it

came out actually wasn't I see in theaters I

saw it like when it was on stars or something

like that and at the time I had no idea it was

like a shot for shot remake of the regular psycho

so I've never seen the original psycho so I'm

glad to do that. But I'm a little worried that

seeing the remake might ruin it. But I mean,

at this point, even before that, I knew Psycho

is one of those movies that so much in the public

conscience is not going to surprise me. But I

am interested in watching it, though, because

even like a movie like North by Northwest, which

I've seen before, there was a lot that I be watching

it. I was able to pick up on. So I'm excited

to see Psycho, the real psycho for the first

time. There we go. It'll be a first time watch

for me as well. Amanda's scene. bits and pieces

of it. So she or at least most of it, I don't

know if she's seen it all the way straight through

or at least not recently. So she's looking forward

to it. This is the one she's been she's actually

been looking forward to these last two, probably

the most psycho and birds. So she's definitely

going to have fun watching those alongside me.

So yeah, so psycho will be up next. Then we'll

finish with the birds and then we'll have a special

episode where we do some Hitchcock Awards and

things of that nature before we move on to the

next thing on our docket. So all right. That

does it for this episode. Tune in next time for

another chance to listen to more Cinema Geek.