North by Northwest | 1959
Updated April 6, 2021
Critical Consensus
David Parkinson | Empire
Dave Kehr | Chicago Reader
Jen Chaney | The Washington Post
Jack Moffitt | The Hollywood Reporter
Anthony Quinn | Independent
Kate Muir | The Times
Christopher Tookey | Daily Mail
Jeffrey M. Anderson | Combustible Celluloid
Marjorie Baumgarten | The Austin Chronicle
A.H. Weiler | The New York Times
Dave Calhoun | Time Out
James Berardinelli | ReelViews
Richard Cross | 20/20 Movie Reviews
David Nusair | Reel Film Reviews
Whitney Balliett | The New Yorker
Dave Kehr | Chicago Reader
Jen Chaney | The Washington Post
Jack Moffitt | The Hollywood Reporter
Anthony Quinn | Independent
Kate Muir | The Times
Christopher Tookey | Daily Mail
Jeffrey M. Anderson | Combustible Celluloid
Marjorie Baumgarten | The Austin Chronicle
A.H. Weiler | The New York Times
Dave Calhoun | Time Out
James Berardinelli | ReelViews
Richard Cross | 20/20 Movie Reviews
David Nusair | Reel Film Reviews
Whitney Balliett | The New Yorker
Fix a critic’s review
Summary & Info
A New York City advertising executive (Cary Grant) with a settled urban and pleasant lifestyle has to go on the run across the US when he becomes mistaken for a secret agent by foreign spies. Trains, murderous crop dusters and a suspiciously helpful attractive blonde (Eva Marie Saint) complicate his escape. Cast: James Mason and Martin Landau. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. [2:17 – NR]
Dueling Critics
“Little jokes abound about art and artifice, role play and reality, duty and duplicity and each viewing reveals something new to enhance the pleasure of watching the Master of Suspense at his most mischievous and assured.”
“Hitchcock’s love of planting the grotesque in a commonplace setting, as if he were dropping water bombs out of a hotel window on a crowded sidewalk, is relied upon with such frequency…that by the time the climax of the film is reached, atop Mount Rushmore, one is actually gratified when someone hurtles off George Washington’s nose to his death.”
Video
North by Northwest
Updated April 6, 2021
Critical Consensus
David Parkinson | Empire
Dave Kehr | Chicago Reader
Jen Chaney | The Washington Post
Jack Moffitt | The Hollywood Reporter
Anthony Quinn | Independent
Kate Muir | The Times
Christopher Tookey | Daily Mail
Jeffrey M. Anderson | Combustible Celluloid
Marjorie Baumgarten | The Austin Chronicle
A.H. Weiler | The New York Times
Dave Calhoun | Time Out
James Berardinelli | ReelViews
Richard Cross | 20/20 Movie Reviews
David Nusair | Reel Film Reviews
Whitney Balliett | The New Yorker
Dave Kehr | Chicago Reader
Jen Chaney | The Washington Post
Jack Moffitt | The Hollywood Reporter
Anthony Quinn | Independent
Kate Muir | The Times
Christopher Tookey | Daily Mail
Jeffrey M. Anderson | Combustible Celluloid
Marjorie Baumgarten | The Austin Chronicle
A.H. Weiler | The New York Times
Dave Calhoun | Time Out
James Berardinelli | ReelViews
Richard Cross | 20/20 Movie Reviews
David Nusair | Reel Film Reviews
Whitney Balliett | The New Yorker
Fix a critic’s review
Dueling Critics
“Little jokes abound about art and artifice, role play and reality, duty and duplicity and each viewing reveals something new to enhance the pleasure of watching the Master of Suspense at his most mischievous and assured.”
“Hitchcock’s love of planting the grotesque in a commonplace setting, as if he were dropping water bombs out of a hotel window on a crowded sidewalk, is relied upon with such frequency…that by the time the climax of the film is reached, atop Mount Rushmore, one is actually gratified when someone hurtles off George Washington’s nose to his death.”
Summary & Info
A New York City advertising executive (Cary Grant) with a settled urban and pleasant lifestyle has to go on the run across the US when he becomes mistaken for a secret agent by foreign spies. Trains, murderous crop dusters and a suspiciously helpful attractive blonde (Eva Marie Saint) complicate his escape. Cast: James Mason and Martin Landau. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. [2:17 – NR]