Loved North by Northwest... what else you recommend? (1 Viewer)

[Ernest Aguayo]

I *finally* saw the classic "North by Northwest" and I absolutely LOVED it.
Anyone have any recommendations on films like this? I loved it b/c the suspense and surprises kept me asking myself "what the hell is going on here?" without the need for blood/gore/excessive violence.
Any other films come to mind that I should check out? Thanks for the help!
Ernest

 

[MichaelPe]

I, too, finally saw "North By Northwest" last week and I really enjoyed it. While watching it, I noticed a lot of similarites between it and "Mission: Impossible 2".
The next Hitchcock films I'm planning on seeing are "Notorious" and "Rear Window".

 

[Wes Ray]

I'm the biggest Hitchcock fan around, and I'd almost say Strangers on a Train is his best film. I've watched it at least 100 times since I first saw it. Spellbound, The Birds, Rebecca, Dial M For Murder, and Notorious are also extremely entertaining films, but Strangers on a Train goes up there with Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window as Hitchcock's best.

 

[Greg_Y]

Ernest, one film that immediately popped into my head is The Spanish Prisoner. It's PG, no gore, nudity and maybe one profanity. Give it a try.

 

[Rich Malloy]

In addition to NxNW, my favorite Hitchcock's are VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW. If you like Cary Grant, definitely check out NOTORIOUS, but if you're buying, you should wait for Criterion's upcoming edition (October? November?).
Also, Stanley Donen's CHARADE might be a good selection for you.
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"Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere."

Link Removed
Al's Criterion Collection

 

[Joel Turpin]

All of the Hitch recommendations are dead on, of course.
I'll add Charade to the mix. It's not Alfred, but it's a good impersonation, with Cary Grant in the cast for another North by Northwest connection. Throw in Audrey Hepburn to boot and you've got a flick worth checking out.
Joel

 

[Adrian_N]

The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, and Shadow of Doubt are a few more of my favorites. The Lady Vanishes is the "old" movie that sort of plunged me into older films and especially Hitchcock.

 

[David Oliver]

Let me add a non-Hitchcock title, the classic The Third Man.

 

[Steve Christou]

Try Hitchcock's 'Saboteur' one of my favorites of his, plenty of suspence and action, innocent man pursued by cops and bad guys, and it has a fantastic ending on the Statue of Liberty, a precursor to the superb 'North By Northwest'.

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

oops... duplicate post.
[Edited last by Ernest Aguayo on August 20, 2001 at 01:00 PM]

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

Thanks for all these great suggestions, everyone!
My Netflix queue has been adjusted accordingly.

Ernest

 

[Greg_S_H]

Another vote for Charade, but be sure to get the Criterion version.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Apart from pretty much every other Hitchcock film available (and the other astute recommendations already mentioned in this thread), another good bet, if you've never watched them, are the first six James Bond films. NORTH BY NORTHWEST was pretty much the movie blueprint for these, almost as much as Ian Fleming's novels were:
DR. NO (1962) MGM
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) MGM
GOLDFINGER (1964) MGM
THUNDERBALL (1965) MGM
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) MGM
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969) MGM
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE are particularly recommended.
Some other classics of suspense and intrigue worth seeking out on DVD:
THE IPCRESS FILE (1965) Anchor Bay
FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1966, sequel to IPCRESS) Paramount, just released last week
RIFIFI (1955) Criterion
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948) Columbia
HIGH AND LOW (1963) Criterion
BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) Criterion
DAY OF THE JACKAL (1973) Universal
THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE (1960) Allday Entertainment (distributed by Image)
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) MGM
THE KILLING (1956) MGM
There are a ton of other classic movies of this type I could recommend, like-
TOPKAPI (1964) ***coming to DVD from MGM in December 2001***
GAMBIT (1966)
ARABESQUE (1966)
HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966, I think this is coming pretty soon from Fox)
MASQUERADE (1965)
MIRAGE (1965)
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952)
99 RIVER STREET (1953)
HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951)
NIGHT & THE CITY (1950)
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953)
-but they are unfortunately not yet available on Region 1 DVD.
[Edited last by Peter M Fitzgerald on August 20, 2001 at 06:17 PM]
[Edited last by Peter M Fitzgerald on August 29, 2001 at 06:36 PM]

 

[george kaplan]

Well everyone beat me to it, but I'm gonna post anyway.
North By Northwest was the third Hitchcock film to use the innocent man on the run motif.
The first was the 39 Steps (1935) (get the criterion version) and the second was Saboteur (1942).
NxNW was the pinnacle of his 1950s Technicolor films. Other good ones include Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, The Trouble with Harry and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
NxNW was the last Hitch film with Cary Grant, the others being Suspicion (1941) (which is very good, but would have been great if he'd been able to keep his original ending), Notorious (1946) and To Catch a Thief, as mentioned above.
The following films also have an important train motif like NxNW:
The Lady Vanishes (1938) (again, make sure it's criterion)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Actually there are other Hitchcock films with a train motif, but they're not among his best.
Finally, the following have nothing in common with NxNW except they're Hitchcock, and they're worth seeing:
Rebecca
Lifeboat
Rope
Psycho
The Birds
Marnie
And I also recommend Charade as others have mentioned.
I might also throw in The Thin Man (a mystery with a good sense of humor) as well as some good 1940's film noir: The Maltese Falcon, To Have & Have Not, The Postman Always Rings Twice.
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13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[Patrick McCart]

I hope you saw the DVD...you haven't seen NxNW until you've seen the DVD. (Unless you got to see a pristine VistaVision print...which...well...

)
Here's some good picks:
Dark City (It's a little gory, but there's no profanity!)
High Anxiety (Great spoof of Hitchcock movies)
The Big Lebowski (Dude.)
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P.S.: There's no P.S.

 

[Jon_Are]

Ernest...I'm going to offer up a strong second to Greg's recommendation for The Spanish Prisoner. Extremely well-acted, clever and gripping story. This is a movie I could watch repeatedly.
Jon
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"This one goes to eleven." (Nigel Tufnel)

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

Thanks for the additional recommendations, guys.
So, I watched Charade tonight and really enjoyed it. I also just got Spanish Prisoner and I am eager to watch that one tomorrow.
Looks like I have a lot of new movies to check out thanks to HTF!!!! Thank you.
Ernest

 

[AdrianJ]

I'll third The Spanish Prisoner, but let me throw out a little watched Hitchcock movie called Lifeboat. I sure wish they'd release this one DVD.
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Adrian Jones

 

[Marty M]

Another recommendation for a great movie is Touch of Evil. The opening shot sequence, only, is reason for watching this movie.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Ernest,
Today, the DVD File website announced MGM's slate of DVDs that are set for release in December 2001, and TOPKAPI (1964) is among them. The film, directed by Jules Dassin, is a must-see jewel heist classic, filled with suspense & humor, and I would highly recommend renting or buying the Criterion DVD of Dassin's earlier heist flick, RIFIFI (1955, a grittier film than TOPKAPI), as a warm-up. You cannot lose with either film.
[Edited last by Peter M Fitzgerald on August 29, 2001 at 06:34 PM]