Rear Window
Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock
Based on the story by Cornell Woolrich
Release Date: August 1st, 1954
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr
Rating: ★★★★★
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L.B. Jeffries is on the last week of his cast confinement after stepping into the middle of a race track to get the best shot. He's itching to get on assignment and get his lens back in the loop. Also it will be nice to get away from Stella, his nurse, who keeps trying to persuade him that perhaps a nice quiet life settled down to his socialite girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont, is just what the doctor ordered. For a man who craves excitement, watching the lovely, lanky, Miss Torso dance about and entertain gentlemen callers can only keep you diverted for so long. The lives of his neighbors, while interesting, lack mystery... until Lars Thorwald takes away many suitcases in the middle of the night and then ties up a large steamer trunk with heavy rope. Instantly sure of foul play it doesn't take long to convince Lisa and Stella as well, even if the police aren't convinced. Soon they are climbing fire escapes and digging up flower beds in Jeff's stead, as he nervously watches from his confining wheelchair. But will a man who has most likely killed his wife and a poor defenseless dog stop at just the two murders? Or will there be more to follow?
This movie is sheer perfection. The dark sense of humor coupled with voyeuristic tendencies is my nirvana. This is easily one of my favorite movies Hitchcock did. Not just the story but the setting. This little microcosm we see where these people are all aware of each others lives but don't interact. We all wonder what our neighbors are up to and here we have a worst case scenario. You also have to ask, if you saw what Jeff saw, would you react the same? Would you try to catch this man or would you just wait for him to leave and forget all about it. Plus, as many reviewers have noted, the struggle in the relationship between Jeff and Lisa is played out in all the windows. There are the newlyweds, Miss Lonelyhearts, the musician, one thing different and that could be Jeff or Lisa's future. There really is no way for me to elaborate more on this film. I've loved it for so long, I will also admit, I built a little shrine to it... backstory on shrine, in high school, we had to do a project on the concept of "windows" and I decided to depict the world outside Jeff's window, so yeah, little obsessed, and don't listen to my friends who said I had "brick" issues... so yes, shrine. I find it's hardest to talk and quantify that which you care for most, so just go watch this movie, the acting, the costumes, the story, it stands the test of time and repeat viewings and is a fitting movie to end the Hitchcock Hoot'nanny on!
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