Review of Torn Curtain (1966) by Harry W — 02 Sep 2014

Alfred Hitchcock directs this picture that feels like his heart wasn't really in it. It isn't horrible, it just lacks the inventiveness, the creativity, the style, and the fun that his best work has in spades.

When you consider that the man had an incredible run of films throughout the decade of the 1950s, it is easy to forgive a great director who simply began to run out of steam. Paul Newman and Julie Andrews have little chemistry together as a couple, and the film just lacks the energy needed to make that lack of chemistry forgiven with pacing and fun moments.

I literally just finished the film and while I didn't dislike it, I'm finding it difficult to remember a scene that really stood out. Maybe the raw fight scene between Newman, a woman, and Newman's bodyguard? Again, "Torn Curtain" is not really a bad movie, it is an okay cold war thriller, but it lacks energy and feels definitively like a lesser Hitchcock picture.