Strangers on a Train

I think we all know how I feel about Hitchcock. Even if you're not a Hitchcock fan (I hope I never meet you) you should give this movie a try. It is really, really good.
Robert Walker, Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Patricia Hitchcock are just a few of this stunningly good cast.



The story is so engaging that it is still used today. Both CSI and Law and Order have done rip-offs of this story. It's been an album name, and has inspired a few different popular songs.



Roger Ebert has placed this movie under his "Great Movie" Categories. (I explained what these were in another post) He has a few insights about why we might find Hitchcock movies so suspenseful.
Ebert says, "Hitchcock was a classical technician in controlling his visuals, and his use of screen space underlined the tension in ways the audience is not always aware of. He always used the convention that the left side of the screen is for evil and/or weaker characters, while the right is for characters who are either good, or temporarily dominant. Consider the scene where Guy is letting himself into his Georgetown house when Bruno whispers from across the street to summon him. Bruno is standing behind an iron gate, the bars casting symbolic shadows on his face, and Guy stands to his right, outside the gate. Then a police car pulls up in front of Guy's house, and he quickly moves behind the gate with Bruno; they're now both behind bars as he says, "You've got me acting like I'm a criminal."

I would put more of Ebert's review in here, but when he reviews for a "Great Movie" he's assuming that you've already seen it, and he gives most of the movie away. And I would never want to deprive you of the joy of this scene.



The movie is number 32 on AFI's 100 years...100 thrills.
And Robert Walker's performance as Bruno has won him number 86 in Premiere Magazine of "100 Greatest Performances of All Time".



And you're still here, Why?



I'm done now. Please just go watch the movie.