The Hitchcock Poll

Eric H.: Do you want the Godfathers separated because you think there's a significant difference in quality, or is that you just think counting them together is inherently unfair? For me, they're equally great--sometimes I prefer one, sometimes the other--and, largely because of Pacino, they come together in my mind as a single film. But I think the inherently-unfair argument is a valid one.

If the two had been filmed simultaneously, it would maaaaybe be fair, but even then, not really. Say, for the sake of argument, I think the first one is one of the ten best movies of all time, but I am indifferent or worse to the second one, I sure as hell wouldn't want my vote helping the latter to ascend into the overall list of the top 10 (which it did -- I separated the votes back in '02 and the first one would've landed in slot #10 and the second was, I think, #12).

Strangers On a Train is great, though it really shouldn't SPOILERS have a happy ending.

It doesn't. Heterosexuality triumphs.

Does it? Granger's foxy enough for a lifetime of strangers on trains.

The haste with which he gets up with his woman suggests, if anything, he's forever locked that door and thrown away the key.

Anyway, can't believe anyone would call Vertigo cold after seeing Kim Novak finally acquiesce to pinning up her coif.

Novak acts like a man imitating a woman.

Never watched Rope til tonight. It's kind of boring.

The most curiously overrated Hitchcock movie.

Absolutely nobody in this film is subtle at all!

rope

Granger and Dall are fags, they hafta be over the top

Is Rope overrated? Most critics dismiss it as a curiosity at best.

don't think it's rated 'as such', but it's always going to be an interesting experiment -- so in other words, there's more to be said about it than, say a bunch of other hitchcocks

I'm a little surprised with Dial M garnering no votes...such a great little thriller. Maybe it suffered in a similar way to Psycho where it's someone's 2nd or 3rd favourite but not their first, so it slides in the final reckoning.

I also really need to see Notorious.

Dial M always seemed like a relative snooze after the scissors scene.

Yeah Eric, I only know of Robin Wood rating Rope highly, and that seems mostly bcz it made homosexuality clear to him.

I'm not talking critics, I'm talking casual watchers who get into Hitchcock. Most I've talked to invariably glom upon how much they loved Rope.

yeah the IMDB top 250, barometer of casual watchers/non-critic fans, has Rope on there.

had no idea. philistines are weird.

It was the first one I saw in high school, and I liked it because I believed then in auteurism. It's so obviously regarded as a directorial triumph that its merits are beside the point.

loved sabotage. only the kid on the bus should have been intercut w/ the guy being questioned at home watching the clock.

no-one's fave is The Lady Vanishes?! for shame.

I had never seen The Wrong Man before last night, not sure how that happened. Don't want to call it a dud, it's an interesting curio, but coming just before Vertigo it's certainly a minor film. I like the premise, but thought Henry Fonda's stoicism in the face of terrifying, Kafkaesque events was offputting and eventually kind of boring.

I think it's pretty major, but def not a very easy movie to love.

helps if you're Catholic imo (not that I love it)

Haven't seen it for years but I wdn't put it in the first rank of Hitch's work. It's no I Confess for example.

hmmm, I prefer it to I Confess. I could imagine Woody Allen loving it bcz despite the slapped-on epilogue card, it leaves you with that life-is-a-bitch-then-you-die feeling.

I like tangling with both Wrong Man and I Confess, even if they don't manage to negotiate Hitch's dark side with his showmanship as entertainingly as Vertigo.

Couple of good scenes in Dial M but yeah, not his best.

I like Fonda well enough but I like Monty Clift a lot more I guess

I Confess is as immobile as Clift's facial muscles.

It's meditative!

This has reminded me I've always wanted to see Le confessionnal, is it worth it?

I like the scene in the Fonda one where he takes the big escalator down to catch the subway back to Jackson Heights.

In retrospect, it was a little bit of a miscalculation to include I Confess in Slant's list of 100 essential movies.

really didn't love vertigo or rear window, i feel like i'm missing something? or maybe i'm just never going to be a hitchcock fan.

dial m for murder is prob the hitchcock i enjoyed the most. noticed that didn't get any votes here. i've seen about 1/3 of the ones in that list.

Dial M seems notable only for its relatively confining use of 3-D. In almost every other respect, it seems pretty stilted compared to Window or Train.

A contrarian, Crackle Box? Welcome to ILX!

I don't mind Dial M at all, very much enjoy it in fact. Not top Hitchcock, but mid-pack of the ones I've seen.

i don't care for 'wrong man' or 'dial m for murder' at all, really. though the first at least has a good opening and the second inspired troy mcclure's 'dial m for murderousness.'

'stage fright' is my favorite of that weird early '50s period.

Wasn't The Wrong Man one of Truffaut's favourites from the Hitchcock book? I watched it again about a year ago. It was credibly grim, but I doubt that I'll ever go back to it a third time.

Stagefright has some great Dietrich stuff, Such as when she is first fit in her widow's weeds and she says "don't you think you could make it ... plunge a little?"

This has reminded me I've always wanted to see Le confessionnal, is it worth it?

― aka best bum of the o_O's (Noodle Vague), Thursday, June 16, 2011 11:17 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark

I liked it.

The first time I saw Marnie was when the podcast I co-host did a Mother's Day show wherein we got each of our moms to pick one of their favourite films, which we would then discuss. Marnie was my mom's choice. I was shocked at how strange and upsetting it was! (the other two picks: Badlands and Iris.)

A mom who'd pick Badlands is pretty unusual, to say the least.

total hipster family.

Shakey should have been on that show

The Wrong Man tonight, which I've never seen.

The Wrong Guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyXoM-62lX0

Dial M For Murder coming to Blu Ray *IN 3-D*!

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/56709/hitchcocks-dial-m-murder-coming-blu-ray-3d-house-wax-next

Finally diving into this cheapo box set of British Hitchcock features... loved The Lady Vanishes.

rewatched Rope last week, i won't say it's underrated but i do think it's misunderstood, often.