North by Northwest

Name: North by Northwest
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
Released: August 6, 1959
Duration: 136 min
Rating: 98
Cast: Adam Williams, Cary Grant, Edward Platt, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason

1959

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 150 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 150 Ratings

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North By Northwest (Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: August 6, 1959 | TV-G

Starring: Adam Williams, Cary Grant, Edward Platt, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Josephine Hutchinson, Leo G. Carroll, Martin Landau, Philip Ober

Summary: A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: TV-G

Runtime: 136 min

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Marjorie Baumgarten

One of Hitchcock's very best comic thrillers, North by Northwest features scene after unforgettable scene. Read full review

100

The Telegraph Mark Monahan

There’s a superabundance of sparkling, often marvellously terse one-liners (when asked what the “O” stands for, Thornhill’s resigned and emotionally relevant answer is, “Nothing”) – and, my, how wittily Grant delivers them. Read full review

100

Matthew Anderson

As though North by Northwest boasts some of Hitchcock’s most ambitious and memorable set pieces it is also one his most terrifically funny, playful moving pictures, cutting just the right line between suspense and belly laughs. Read full review

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

[A] sublime classic. Read full review

100

Jack Moffitt

This film is pure entertainment. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Smoothly troweled and thoroughly entertaining, North by Northwest wears its implausibilities lightly, bobs swiftly past colored picture postcard backgrounds from Madison Avenue to South Dakota's Mount Rushmore, the U.N. Secretariat to George Washington's wattles. Read full review

Dave Calhoun

Hitchcock breezes through a tongue-in-cheek, nightmarish plot with a lightness of touch that’s equalled by a charming performance from Grant (below), who copes effortlessly with the script’s dash between claustrophobia and intrigue on one hand and romance and comedy on the other. Read full review

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User Reviews

TMProofreader3

Aug 23, 2019

The best, GREATEST thrilling mystery movie ever made! With the best movie character ever portrayed: James Mason as Phillip Vandamm! And the best movie score ever composed!

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

cinemabon

Apr 8, 2018

Not only a commercial success, Hitch used his family of technicians - Robert Burks on camera, Bernard Herrmann soundtrack and George Tomasini cutting - to create one of cinema's greatest chase movies of all time.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

MartyMcFly

Oct 2, 2018

My score 99
Metascore / User score 98 / 80
Tomatometer / Audience score 99 / 94
IMDB 83
(92)

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Andremax

Nov 7, 2018

Some romance scenes can look cliche but even so Hitchcock could make thriller as no one

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

eagleeyeviking

Jan 6, 2020

While it drags in the third act, "North by Northwest" is nevertheless a tense, thrilling and exciting thriller.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amheretojudge

Dec 7, 2018

Hitchcock's risky and briskly adventure is the apt catalyst to this complex espionage thriller

North By Northwest Hitchcock's risky and briskly adventure is the apt catalyst to this complex espionage thriller. As much as simply enthralling its first half is, that follows a linear singularHitchcock's risky and briskly adventure is the apt catalyst to this complex espionage thriller

North By Northwest

Hitchcock's risky and briskly adventure is the apt catalyst to this complex espionage thriller. As much as simply enthralling its first half is, that follows a linear singular path collecting its plot points like a reward the film moves with ferocious pace and nail biting close calls. But the second half is the one with the real meat. Its complex and at times overstuffed characters with their own agendas and schemes does work since the man behind the camera is Hitchcock. He never lets the content go damp which often happens in such husky script. There is a sense of similarity in here to Polanski's Chinatown, starring Nicholson. And similar to it, the uncertainty is the key to its success.

The makers are consistently revealing cards in order to keep the audience tangled in the whirls of these flips and turns that can be difficult to swallow. It is a mature script that always chooses over leaving the room with a cutthroat message rather than an explosion. The euphoric energy of the ping pong that the writers play of who is with whom theories, with Hitchcock's sharp execution it never wears off. Also, there is real ruggedness in here, the characters have the range to look elegant and also pull out the most sinister deed of all.

Grant as the real victim proving his innocence isn't always in his A game, his performance isn't persistent in its tone. But what saves the day is both Saint's performance and her character, her alluring suave nature and guns blazing unflinchingly puts her on top of the list. Armed with a smart and meticulous adaptation, Hitchcock takes his time, he is milking out the best from each moment. North By Northwest is less Hitchcock-ish than usual, and it is certainly refreshing.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Broyax

Dec 29, 2018

On a failli y croire... pendant à peu près trois quarts d'heure : le rythme est satisfaisant, la curiosité est de mise, Cary Grant est à la fois élégant, cynique et opiniâtre... assez drôle aussi ! mais c'est Cary Grant. Puis arrive le train... et le traintrain d'un film qui tout-à-coup telOn a failli y croire... pendant à peu près trois quarts d'heure : le rythme est satisfaisant, la curiosité est de mise, Cary Grant est à la fois élégant, cynique et opiniâtre... assez drôle aussi ! mais c'est Cary Grant. Puis arrive le train... et le traintrain d'un film qui tout-à-coup tel un vieux tortillard n'arrive plus à grimper les côtes...

ça coïncide avec l'apparition de la poupée blonde Eva Marie Saint... et même si elle incarnait le retour de la madone en personne, elle ne peut certainement pas remplacer l'autre égérie blonde de Hitchcock, pleine de grâce, Grace Kelly. On me dira cependant que même Grace n'aurait pas pu effacer l'ennui d'un coup de baguette magique et on aura raison. Mais tout de même.

Voici donc que le film s'époumone à tous les niveaux et pédale comme un hamster asthmatique : les dialogues deviennent aussi bêtes qu'interminables et le scénario en chute libre dévoile son vrai visage de série B, écrit à la va-comme-je-te-pousse, de plus en plus téléphoné à l'avance... Même l'inquiétant personnage de l'excellent James Mason ne parvient pas non plus à ressortir le film de son marasme...

La fin enfonce le clou et sombre dans le burlesque hollywoodien le plus échevelé et invraisemblable... Certes, la musique pleine d'entrain de Bernard Herrmann tente de réveiller régulièrement tout ça. Une musique de bien meilleure qualité que l'ensemble du film, assurément !… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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