North by Northwest | 1959    

Updated April 6, 2021

Summary & Info

North by Northwest
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

thumbs-up

“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.”
thumbs-up

“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

Dueling Critics

thumbs-up“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.”
thumbs-up“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

North by Northwest
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]

Video