zkonedog This is not a classic movie. It is a little bit odd for Hitchcock fare. There are times when it is even a little bit boring. Remarkably, however, "Family Plot" tells a good enough story (and contains good enough acting) to still be a worthwhile experience.For a basic plot summary, "Family Plot" tells the story of Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris), a "faker" psychic medium, and her boyfriend George (Bruce Dern). On one of her phony psychic sessions, Blanche is given the opportunity to earn $10,000 for finding the lost relative of one Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt). As the lovers criss-cross the city looking for the lost man, they end up caught in the scheme of a jewel thief (played by William Devane).The reason this is a solid movie is because the story lines are so interesting. The hunt for the mysterious "Eddie Shoebridge" contains enough mystery to really suck you in and make you WANT to see the resolution. The concurrent jewel-thief plot is also interesting enough to make you wonder how the two can possibly be related. Through some of the so-so periods that this movie most definitely hits, the overall goal is fascinating enough that you won't even consider turning it off.Another factor that really helps, too, is the acting. Bruce Dern is an incredible character actor, and carries every scene he is given. Harris & Devane are also very capable leads that comprise good scenes with each other. At those moments when the overall storyline lags just a bit, the acting is good enough to keep you "in the movie".Overall, "Family Plot" is just an interesting little flick. It isn't "epic" (in any sense of the word) like some of Hitch's earlier fare, but it is just a fun little mystery/comedy that will sweep you away for two hours.

Ed-Shullivan Well as most people would say...they just don't write screenplays like this anymore. But for good reason. When you invest the better part of two hours in watching a suspenseful film unfold and the five main characters show us who they really are we look forward to a strong film ending. Instead, what we receive for an ending is unfortunately below par for an Alfred Hitchcok directed film. Please don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this film and it is well worth watching even a second time as the performances of the top five characters certainly did not disappoint. William Devane is a standout in the dual role as the missing heir Edward Shoebridge and as his hidden identity as high stakes con man named Arthur Adamson, a well dressed jewellery store owner. His partner in crime is the mysterious blonde wig and six inch high heels wearing femme fatale' named Fran. These two high priced grifters who make a great living kidnapping wealthy people and holding them for ransom in their secret basement fortress indicates that they are shrewd and tactful in planning their kidnappings and reaping the rewards for diamonds as their preferred ransom payment.William Devane and Karen Black play polar opposite to the other two low class grifters played by Barbara Harris as Blanche Tyler who eeks out a living as a spiritualist bringing back the voices of the dead for living family members who get suckered in to this old con game. Her boyfriend is a Taxi cab driver named George Lumley played superbly by the great character actor Bruce Dern. Now George will do just about anything for Blanche so when Blanche tells George she has a rich client that is trying to find a bastard nephew birthed 40 years ago by her now deceased sister and there is 10 grand in it if they find him we immediately assume that George will play the part of the missing heir Edward Shoebridge to claim the reward money of 10 grand. Instead George laces up his private gum shoes and goes on an expedition to try and locate this missing heir named Edward Showbridge. George does not exactly find Edward Shoebridge but he finds the next best thing. George finds a guy named Joseph Maloney played very well by then 38 year old Ed Lauter.As the plot becomes more complex the comedy relief kicks in between Blanche and George arguing amongst themselves how far they should go to recover the 10 grand reward. In the meantime the high class grifter team of Arthur Adamson (William Devane) and Fran (Karen Black) continue kidnapping high profile wealthy clients with well thought out plans that leave nothing to risk for their big rewards.As the low class grifters Blanche and George continue to get closer on to the heels of their missing heir Edward Shoebridge (alias Arthur Adamson) Arthur and his childhood friend Joseph Mahoney develop a plan to get rid of these two low lifes Blanche and George for good. There is a scene where Blanch and George get baited by Joseph Maloney to meet him out in the remote highway roadway diner for $200 and for that price Joseph Maloney will divulge how they can locate the missing heir Edawrd Shoebridge. The meeting though never transpires and Blanche and George leave the roadside diner empty handed and very disappointed. Little do they know that their vehicle has been tampered with and the next two minutes takes George who is driving and Blanche who is hilariously hanging on to George for dear life as he attempts to take the long and winding hilly roads without killing the two of them. This scene is worth watching the film for alone. It is both suspenseful and oh so comical. I could envision Ms. Shullivan hanging on to me for dear life if we were caught on a windy road with no brakes.I won't divulge the ending, rather I will leave you with this cliffhanger both literally and figuratively. I did mention the climax was a bit disappointing but this adventure/suspense/crime/comedy film has much to be satisfied with. I give it a high 7 out of 10 rating. Well worth a watch...maybe even twice.

Red-Barracuda Family Plot is definitely most famous for one thing. And that is that it was legendary director Alfred Hitchcock's last movie. It isn't generally considered amongst his better films; in fact many outright dislike it. For me, while I agree it's uneven, I find it very enjoyable and not such a bad way for the great man to bow out all things considered. It's about a con artist couple trying to get rich by means of having the woman pretend to be a psychic. Through this they are offered $10,000 by a rich elderly woman if they can find the son she put up for adoption forty years before. Their inquiries into the mystery put them on a dangerous path.You could say that this is a film about two crooked couples - the good-bad couple and the bad-bad one. The paths of both ultimately collide through fate and I suppose we are invited to compare both. The con artists are played by Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris, while the kidnappers are William Devane and Karen Black. All are good in their respective roles. As for Hitch himself, well it's not one of his most inventive films with not too many moments typical of him; although the introduction of the Karen Black character is very well done. Replete in blonde wig, shades and clad head to toe in leather, she looks very striking, she first appears when she steps out of the dark and is almost run over by Dern, thereby neatly inter-linking both strands of the story early on.If there is a clear weakness in the film, it's most probably that it cannot maintain both strands of the story without sacrificing the mystery element. For this reason, it's better earlier on. For the remainder of the movie Dern and Harris try to uncover what is going on but seeing as the audience know already it doesn't have much of an impact. I wonder if they had played up the mystery more, then this could have been a better film over all. But no matter because it still basically works. It essentially is a comedy-thriller. Sometimes combining both genres in one scene, for instance the sequence where a car with no brakes is hurtling down a mountain road. In this example, though, the combination of comedy and thrills doesn't entirely work because it's an exciting scene that is somewhat marred by Barbara Harris ridiculous comedy acting. In the main though, the comedy and suspense are kept apart which works far better. You could probably argue, however, that maybe the thriller side of the story doesn't go as far as it could. For example, the ending is very rushed and could have probably been thought out better. But, minor issues aside, I like this one.

ma-cortes Alfred Hitchcock's final film , it was his fifty-third when made this lighthearted suspense story about a phony psychic/con artist named Blanche (Liza Minnelli, Beverly Sills, and Goldie Hawn were all considered for the role , Barbara Harris eventually was cast in the role ; apparently, Alfred Hitchcock was happy with the casting of Harris as he had apparently tried to hire her before)and her taxi driver/private investigator boyfriend (Bruce Dern who had previously worked with Alfred on episodes of Alfred Hitchcock presents as well as having had a small role in Marnie) who encounter a pair of serial kidnappers called Arthur (William Devane , though Roy Scheider and Burt Reynolds were considered for the part) and Fran (Karen Black) while trailing a missing heir in California . As an aging widow (Lillian Gish wanted to test for the role of Julia Rainbird but had been promised to Cathleen Nesbitt) to find her nephew who was given away for adoption many years earlier following a family scandal . Meanwhile, an extremely clever couple, an astute jeweler (Roy Thinnes was originally hired to play Arthur Adamson, but Hitchcock's first choice William Devane became available so Hitchcock fired Thinnes without a reason and hired Devane) and his enticing girlfriend are behind a series of kidnappings of various VIPs in the San Francisco area .Entertaining mystery movie packs thrills , humor , suspense and ordinary Hitch touches . This agreeable picture has some 'screwball comedy nature' that evokes Alfred Hitchcock's earlier flick ¨Mr. and Mrs. Smith¨. Alfred Hitchcock's films have become famous for a number of elements and iconography : vertiginous heights, innocent men wrongfully accused, blonde bombshells dressed in white, voyeurism, long non-dialogue sequences, etc. In this his final film, one last iconographic element was added to the canon: the woman in black . Karen Black plays a villainous character whose outfit is the antithesis of the blonde dressed in white , her costume comprises black hat, black dress, large black sunglasses obscuring the face and a long blonde wig . This menacing character image was notable in this movie and its image dominated in the film's printed promotional material and movie posters. The malevolent character-image has since been re-used in such famous movies as for character Bobbi in 'Brian De Palma''s Dressed to kill' and in Italian movies , the Giallo genre . Alfred Hitchcock's movies were known for featuring famous landmarks such as Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest and the Statue of Liberty in Sabotage. Hitch apparently decided to leave this movie location unspecific and without recognizable landmarks and filmed it in the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco . Spectacular runaway car ride , although the famous car chase in this movie isn't technically really a car chase as the downhill car sequence only involves one car. The final shot in the movie, a wink by the Barbara Harris character was a jokey reference that was not planned but Alfred Hitchcock decided to leave in , this was arguably a fitting coda to his career exemplifying the black humor that was prevalent in his movies . Alfred Hitchcock once said of this film: ¨It's a melodrama treated with a bit of levity and sophistication , I wanted the feeling of the famous director Ernst Lubitsch making a mystery thriller." .The motion picture was well directed by Alfred Hitchcock , he was famous for making his actors follow the script to the word, but in this movie he let the characters improvise and use their own dialogue . After this movie was completed, Alfred Hitchcock worked on the film script for the spy thriller 'The Short Night'. Alfred Hitchcock was seriously in ill-health during the production of this movie , this lead to this picture being his final ever film. He never got to direct it due to his ailing health and it was not made. It would have been his fifty-fourth film. 'The Short Night' still has never been filmed to this day.