The filmography of Alfred Hitchcock - Part 6: the 1970's

Hitchcock was clearly slowing down as he was getting old and when his wife Alma Reville suffered a paralyzing stroke, he wanted to spend more time with his family. That's why he only made two movies during the 70's.



Frenzy (1972)

Hitchcock eventually returned to England to make this serial killer thriller with dark comic tones. It has some themes from his unfinished movie called Kaleidoscope Frenzy, but it was heavily rewritten and only a few scenes remained in this one. I really like this movie and think it's one of his most under rated movies. Many people dismiss the movie as just another serial killer thriller and that Hitchcock had lost his touch. Sure the Hitchcockian tricks are all common at this point and I agree that the movie isn't exactly very innovative while using the most common Hitchcock's theme of a wrongly accused man, but it doesn't make it a bad movie by any means. I love the witty Brittish comedy mixed with the quite common serial killer routine. It's a story about a neck tie killer who rapes and kills women around London. The police have a suspect they're after but he's the wrong man. The movie manages to keep you guessing to the very last minute so the thriller part surely works well. But the best thing about this movie is the dark comedy in it. Some of the scenes are quite disturbing and the comic touch to them makes them even more bizarre. Even though the movie is not overly graphic that bizarreness awarded it an X rating. Quite an over reaction seen today, but still it's a weird little fact that this is the only Hitchcock film to get one. Anyway this movie turned out to be a nice surprise as my expectations weren't high when I first saw it. So be sure to not miss it if you're looking into Hitchcock's films.
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Family Plot (1976)

Hitchcock's 53rd movie ended up being his last. Even though the thriller genre was going to way different routes during the mid 70's Hitchcock relied on his trusted formula of comedy and light hearted thriller. Though this time the comedy wasn't the usual witty dark toned humour he's known for, he took it to more goofball way in this one. Don't really think it was a good idea as it completely waters down the thriller side of the movie and in the end it's not funny enough to be a good comedy either. It's a story about a fake psychic woman and his actor boyfriend who try to con an old lady to give them her wealth. But they need to find a lost friend of the family before the lady is willing to part her money. Turns out the lost man is a criminal himself as well. He kidnaps wealthy people for jewelry ransoms with his girlfriend. So the movie follows these two pairs as they mix up eachother's business. The idea is actually not bad at all and is quite intriguing at parts, but the style it's told doesn't really fit it well. Sure there are some nice Hitchcockian moments in the movie, but all in all it feels a bit clueless. Every time it's starting to build up suspension it takes a turn into a goofball comedy and every time it starts to entertain as a fun comedy ride it takes a turn into more serious thriller. I don't know if this was another experiment by Hitchcock, but for me it really didn't work that well. Even though Hitchcock was struggling with his health, this was not supposed to be his last movie as he started to work on another film right after it. But none the less, the very last scene of this film is actually a brilliant ending to his filmography, kind of like a nod towards the audience, ”you have been played but don't take it too seriously”. Had he planned this to be his last film that would have been an absolutely brilliant joke to his fans, but as he didn't it's just a stroke of luck that his filmography ends in a shot that kind of wraps up his career. If you're a fan of Hitchcock this is a must see, especially because of the last scene, the rest can safely skip this.
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Sir Alfred Hitchcock died in 29th of April 1980 shortly after he was knighted. Seems like he got his thanks always too late or just before his death. Weird thing is that he was Oscar-nominated 5 times as Best Director, DGA-nominated 6 times as Best Director, and received 3 nominations from Cannes, but he has never won in any of these competitive categories, a fact that surprises fans and film critics to this day. He did however receive the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award from the academy in 1967. His acceptance speech was the shortest in the history of Oscars, he simply said "Thank you." But awards aside, he didn't make movies for the academy, he made movies for the audience and that he did superbly. He truly deserves the title, The Master of Suspense, though I would give him the title of The Master of Witty Dark Comedy also. He dedicated his life to the art of filmmaking and gave us numerous masterpieces that work brilliantly even today.

Links to the other decades:
1920's - 1930's - 1940's - 1950's - 1960's - 1970's