Friday, November 16, 2007
Seeing this post you're probably just as shocked as I was when Wifey came to me on Saturday night (10:15pm to be exact) and said, "Why don't we watch Rear Window as our next OMD movie?" It's been a month since our last review so of course I said YES even though Bonnie & Clyde was listed as our next film - - oh well! This 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic is #48 on the all-time greatest list so it actually beat out Taxi Driver, which was #52. Watch Trailer.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
So, we are onto our 3rd movie and I must say this one was pretty good. We’re on a roll now! This is the 2nd movie in a row that’s in color so now I’m having fun!
We started our movie date on Saturday at 10:28pm, but then had to stop it at 11:50pm seeing my Hubby and I were falling asleep, but then picked it back up on Sunday at 9:49pm and finished it at 10:35pm, and this is how it went…
I have to laugh at these old movies because the scenery is so fake. One big thing that really bothered me this whole movie was that no one in their apartments had window shades up and for some reason if there was one or two you could see right through them! Not something I would want in my apartment with all those peeping toms!
Ok, so this guy the main character is named L.B. Jeffries and he is wheelchair bound seeing as how he broke his leg (which we have no clue how and they don’t give you a lot a background on this fellow) and he has this wonderful girlfriend taking care of him, but do you think for once he wanted to marry her? NO! All he wanted was someone to cook and take care of him. SCUM!!! I guess even back then men were afraid of commitment.
Here’s a question…Why is it called Rear Window? When I hear that I think that I’m sitting in a car not an apartment in his living room. Anyways, here’s some positive feedback. I really liked the suspense that this movie gave me because there were times I was clutching onto Hubby’s arm wondering if someone else was going to get whacked.
I also liked the fact that they were laid back actresses and actors. I can’t tell you how many times they screwed up their lines and they kept on going.
***WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! MOVIE ENDING GIVEN AWAY!***
So, here’s the end result of this movie. The girlfriend of L.B. Jeffries goes and gets arrested for breaking and entering the murderer’s apartment and she gets all the evidence needed to put this guy behind bars and all he does is say thanks, but still no marriage! He falls out of his window while fighting with the murderer and the movie ends with him having 2 broken legs.
I would say that this movie moves right to the front of the line. I give it 4 Ben & Jerry’s. So long until next time!
HUBBY'S REVIEW
I was absolutely thrilled when Wifey suggested we watch Rear Window. To be honest, I have a bit of a man crush on James Stewart not to mention Alfred Hitchcock. Both were some of the all-time greats in their profession. Throw in Grace Kelly (I'm not much of a guy who likes blondes, but B-B-BABY!!!) and you have a recipe for a great film. I also thought it was pretty neat that this was the first Hitchcock movie that Lindsay had ever seen.
So, the stage was set and we were ready to rock and roll. For those of you who haven't seen this classic, but are wondering if there's a modern equivalent think of this past year's hit Disturbia.
This particular film is completely Hitchcockian (what a fun word!) in that it's another visual study of human nature.
Nurse Stella, the no-nonsense, straight-shooter said it best in one of the opening lines of the film when she said, "We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people outta do is get out of the house and look in at their own lives for a change." Certainly, the same could be said for today's reality-show saturated society.
The film does take some time to build up some speed and suspense and I think that was bugging Lindsay. After about an hour, she looked like she wanted to throw herself out of a window!
I kept trying to tell her, however, that movies back then were all about the story, the acting and the directing. They were so much more well written than they are today. The actors were "real" too. They just felt like people you could know in your life and identify with. Yet, when they did fumble their lines a few times I felt like I was watching an episode of Lindsay's favorite soap General Hospital.
A majority of the camera angles are from inside L.B. Jeffries' (played by James Stewart) apartment. Hitchcock brilliantly put the audience in the SAME position as our hero when you think about it because the moviegoers would've been in a darkened theater looking through a window of sorts (i.e. movie screen) seeing the same things from the same perspective. A really neat twist that I never thought of before.
I won't ruin how it ends, but I will say that the last 20-30 minutes are some of the most suspenseful scenes in the movie and in movie history at the time.
In conclusion, this classic is simply a study of obsessive human curiosity and voyeurism.
I give it 4 Ben & Jerry's as well, which means this film gets a OMD rating of 4 Ben & Jerry's Ice Creams.
Oh yeah, and I think the reason why EVERYONE's apartment was visible due to open windows was because of the unprecedented heat wave that swept through that part of Manhattan that week of the summer. They were all trying to stay as cool as possible.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
So, we are onto our 3rd movie and I must say this one was pretty good. We’re on a roll now! This is the 2nd movie in a row that’s in color so now I’m having fun!
We started our movie date on Saturday at 10:28pm, but then had to stop it at 11:50pm seeing my Hubby and I were falling asleep, but then picked it back up on Sunday at 9:49pm and finished it at 10:35pm, and this is how it went…
I have to laugh at these old movies because the scenery is so fake. One big thing that really bothered me this whole movie was that no one in their apartments had window shades up and for some reason if there was one or two you could see right through them! Not something I would want in my apartment with all those peeping toms!
Ok, so this guy the main character is named L.B. Jeffries and he is wheelchair bound seeing as how he broke his leg (which we have no clue how and they don’t give you a lot a background on this fellow) and he has this wonderful girlfriend taking care of him, but do you think for once he wanted to marry her? NO! All he wanted was someone to cook and take care of him. SCUM!!! I guess even back then men were afraid of commitment.
Here’s a question…Why is it called Rear Window? When I hear that I think that I’m sitting in a car not an apartment in his living room. Anyways, here’s some positive feedback. I really liked the suspense that this movie gave me because there were times I was clutching onto Hubby’s arm wondering if someone else was going to get whacked.
I also liked the fact that they were laid back actresses and actors. I can’t tell you how many times they screwed up their lines and they kept on going.
***WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! MOVIE ENDING GIVEN AWAY!***
So, here’s the end result of this movie. The girlfriend of L.B. Jeffries goes and gets arrested for breaking and entering the murderer’s apartment and she gets all the evidence needed to put this guy behind bars and all he does is say thanks, but still no marriage! He falls out of his window while fighting with the murderer and the movie ends with him having 2 broken legs.
I would say that this movie moves right to the front of the line. I give it 4 Ben & Jerry’s. So long until next time!
HUBBY'S REVIEW
I was absolutely thrilled when Wifey suggested we watch Rear Window. To be honest, I have a bit of a man crush on James Stewart not to mention Alfred Hitchcock. Both were some of the all-time greats in their profession. Throw in Grace Kelly (I'm not much of a guy who likes blondes, but B-B-BABY!!!) and you have a recipe for a great film. I also thought it was pretty neat that this was the first Hitchcock movie that Lindsay had ever seen.
So, the stage was set and we were ready to rock and roll. For those of you who haven't seen this classic, but are wondering if there's a modern equivalent think of this past year's hit Disturbia.
This particular film is completely Hitchcockian (what a fun word!) in that it's another visual study of human nature.
Nurse Stella, the no-nonsense, straight-shooter said it best in one of the opening lines of the film when she said, "We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people outta do is get out of the house and look in at their own lives for a change." Certainly, the same could be said for today's reality-show saturated society.
The film does take some time to build up some speed and suspense and I think that was bugging Lindsay. After about an hour, she looked like she wanted to throw herself out of a window!
I kept trying to tell her, however, that movies back then were all about the story, the acting and the directing. They were so much more well written than they are today. The actors were "real" too. They just felt like people you could know in your life and identify with. Yet, when they did fumble their lines a few times I felt like I was watching an episode of Lindsay's favorite soap General Hospital.
A majority of the camera angles are from inside L.B. Jeffries' (played by James Stewart) apartment. Hitchcock brilliantly put the audience in the SAME position as our hero when you think about it because the moviegoers would've been in a darkened theater looking through a window of sorts (i.e. movie screen) seeing the same things from the same perspective. A really neat twist that I never thought of before.
I won't ruin how it ends, but I will say that the last 20-30 minutes are some of the most suspenseful scenes in the movie and in movie history at the time.
In conclusion, this classic is simply a study of obsessive human curiosity and voyeurism.
I give it 4 Ben & Jerry's as well, which means this film gets a OMD rating of 4 Ben & Jerry's Ice Creams.
Oh yeah, and I think the reason why EVERYONE's apartment was visible due to open windows was because of the unprecedented heat wave that swept through that part of Manhattan that week of the summer. They were all trying to stay as cool as possible.
At least I'd like to think that a master of cinema like Hitchcock would've thought of this and had an explanation built into the story.
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