Review of Family Plot (1976) by Alex G — 16 Jun 2012

Family Plot.

A couple in search of some fast buck, await news from a mysterious Mr. Maloney about a missing man named Mr. Shoe bridge, in a cafe up a hill with several sharp hair pin bends.

But Mr. Maloney doesn't turn up.

We see Mr. Maloney snuggle something under their car instead. Tired, Blanche and George, Blanche, a psychic who always has her way and George, a cab driver, hen pecked and lovable, realize that Maloney isn't coming. They drive their car down the hill disappointed, only to realize that their accelerator is jammed to maximum and the brakes aren't working. One hair pin at a time, we see the couple traverse the hill down.

Blanche, terrified and holding on to George, not George exactly, but his shabby tie.

"Keep your hands off me woman!" George yells as he steers the car to the left and right at each pin. Humor, thrill and pathos all interspersed in equal measure, somewhere along the middle of Family Plot, just before the film starts to lose its steam, is this wonderful sequence that raises the bar of an otherwise tepid film from Alfred Hitchcock, the grand old master of suspense.

Family Plot was Hitchcock's finale. His 53rd and final film from a 50 year old career that gave us North by Northwest, Frenzy, Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo etc. Unlike usual Hitchcock fare, Family plot is very talky and funny and this works against his original intentions. Which is to scare us, I am assuming because Family Plot in addition to its leads, the run down of a family, has another pair roaming the city too - Kidnapping people for ransom, sometimes even trying to even bump them off. The meshing just didn't go well for Family Plot in the end.

Rating 3 Stars (Good).