Review of Family Plot (1976) by Ryan D — 07 Aug 2008

Family Plot is the final film directed by Alfred Hitchcock who died 4 years later in 1980. It tells the story of a woman pretending to be a psychic and is hired to find an elderly rich woman's long-lost nephew who is her only living heir. The fake psychic and her boyfriend attempt to track down the man and it turns out that he and his girlfriend are jewel thieves. The plot has some holes, most notable almost everything that happened in the first cemetery scene, but overall it's pretty good. It's not the most interesting plot one will find in a Hitchcock film, but certainly not his worst.

The film stars Karen Black, Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, and William Devane. They all do an adequate job although it's nothing great. There's some bits of acting that aren't all that great, but most of it is at least decent.

While this is not Hitchcock's best or even close, it's still a pretty good movie. Unfortunately, Hitchcock's declining health prevented him from filming The Short Night despite the fact he had it all set to go before deciding not to. Still, Frenzy and Family Plot weren't a bad way to go out and are vastly superior to his antepenultimate film, Topaz.

77/100.

C+.

UP NEXT: My 100th film, the 1930 Best Picture winner All Quiet on the Western Front.