Double Feature: FAMILY PLOT & ROPE September 16, 2010

Double Feature: FAMILY PLOT, 1976, Universal, 121 min. Director Alfred Hitchcock’s dazzling, masterful and overlooked final film follows a phony medium (Barbara Harris) and a dim-witted cab driver/out-of-work actor (Bruce Dern) who cross swords with a ruthless, duplicitous criminal couple (William Devane and Karen Black). Greed, kidnappings, jewel heists and car chases ensue.

Trailer

ROPE, 1948, Universal, 80 min. This startling Alfred Hitchcock film was doubly daring for 1948: First, it risked depicting the Leopold & Loeb-like tale of homosexual lovers committing murder solely for the thrill. If that weren’t enough, it told the tale in a series of long, 10-minute takes, unlike anything any director had previously attempted. With James Stewart, Farley Granger, John Dall.

Discussion between films with Karen Black and Bruce Dern (schedule permitting).