Frenzy

1972 "Just an ordinary necktie used with a deadly new twist."
7.4| 1h56m| R| en| More Info
Released: 21 June 1972 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

After a serial killer strangles several women with a necktie, London police identify a suspect—but he claims vehemently to be the wrong man.

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Antonius Block I've always liked 'Frenzy', Hitchcock's second to last movie, filmed when he was 73. The London pub and market scenes in Covent Garden always grab me from the start, and I love the dialogue between Jon Finch and both Anna Massey and Barry Foster. Finch plays a down-on-his-luck barman who's just been "given the push" (fired) from his job for drinking too much, Massey is his feisty co-worker, and Foster his charming and kind friend who tries to help him. Hanging over London is the "Necktie Murderer", as we see in the early shots of a nude woman floating in the Thames. When Finch pays a visit to his ex-wife (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), things take a downward turn, but I won't say anything further.There are several excellent shots worth noting. The one where Hitchcock slowly backs the camera down the stairwell and back out into the street, after the killer and his next victim are entering his apartment, is brilliant. The fumbling around in the moving potato truck, leading to breaking fingers where rigor mortis has set in has a gruesome and morbidly absurd feel to it. I also love the small moment when at the trial, Hitchcock places the camera outside the courtroom, and lets us hear snippets of the judge's pronouncement when the door opens. The film feels eminently British which I enjoyed, and distinctly Hitchcock, as he slips in some droll humor in the form of a detective (Alex McCowen) and his wife (Vivien Merchant), who cooks him unappetizing French haute cuisine while he craves traditional British fare. For the first time, Hitchcock also uses brief nudity in a few scenes mostly to heighten the garish and horrifying murders, and maybe to please his inner voyeur. There are moments which made me smile (a margarita being too exotic a drink comes to mind), and others which made me cringe (a gentleman saying to a barmaid that being raped before being strangled is akin to every cloud having a silver lining, and her smiling about it). The middle portion of the film is not quite as strong as I remembered it, but overall, a solid thriller, and underrated in Hitchcock's oeuvre.
Tweekums As this Hitchcock thriller opens a politician is standing by the Thames giving a speech about cleaning up the river… moments later a member of the crowd spots the body of a woman in the river; naked apart from the tie round her neck. She is clearly a victim of the 'Necktie Killer' who has been murdering women in the capital. We then cut to Richard Blaney a former RAF Squadron Leader who is down on his luck; fired from his job in a pub he goes to see his friend Robert Rusk, a Covent Garden vegetable seller before seeing his ex-wife, who runs a match-making agency, they have a meal together then he goes off to sleep in a hostel not realising that she has slipped twenty pounds in to his pocket. The next day Rusk visits Mrs Blaney and viciously murders her. Shortly after Blaney goes to see his wife again but leaves when nobody answers the door. As he leaves her assistant returns and discovers the body. Blaney is soon the number one suspect; all the evidence points to him and the only people who seems to believe him are Babs Milligan the barmaid at the pub he worked at and Rusk of course but he obviously can't be trusted and soon directs the police to Blaney.The most famous murder in a Hitchcock film is obviously the 'Psycho' shower scene; this manages to be more disturbing though. The murder of Blaney's ex-wife lacks any music and there are no multiple-cuts; instead it feels very real and is difficult to watch. The fact that we've seen this murder means there is no suspicion about who the killer is but that doesn't reduce the tension; because we know Blaney is innocent there is the worry that he will get arrested and the real killer go free. With such a dark subject matter some light relief is required and this is provided by scenes where we see the police officer investigating the case having to endure his wife's 'fancy' cooking. The film does show its age at times, and not just because of the way the London skyline has changed since it was made… to say some attitudes expressed by characters aren't PC is an understatement and are likely to shock modern viewers; one just has to accept that these are just character views and they were different times. The cast does a solid job; Jon Finch plays Blaney as a not entirely sympathetic manner so we can understand why people are so likely to believe he is the killer; Barry Foster is delightfully disturbing as Rusk; a sharp-suited man who it is equally easy to believe people wouldn't suspect and Anna Massey is solid as Babs. The content means that this film won't be for everybody but if you are a Hitchcock fan or enjoy gritty thrillers I'd certainly recommend this.
Kirpianuscus a seductive film. for the mix of humor and thriller, for characters and the mark of Hitchcock. for the great science of detail and anthological scenes. and for the courage to explore sexuality in a strange manner for its time. the performances are remarkable and Barry Foster does more than a great job but propose a character who seems be the ideal puzzle for define every serial killer. Jon Finch is the pleasant surprise because it performs a character who seems, at the first sigh,very far by him and it is obvious to discover than it is not the most comfortable role for him.but he uses his recipes for be the right Richard Blaney and this could be one of the most important virtues of the film. the two significant "tricks" - the scenes from the fight of Rusk for save , among the potatoes sacks , the proof of his guilty and the French dinner of poor chief inspector Oxford.so, it is a real brilliant idea to see it !
jimbo-53-186511 A man finds himself on the run from police when his ex-wife is found dead and his ex-wife's employee spots her husband leaving the crime scene. Her husband isn't responsible for the crime and must fight to prove his innocence.For the most part, Frenzy is quite a darkly plotted crime film and is notably more risqué than many of his previous films; we witness a rape and an actresses bare breasts exposed which were not the sort of things that you'd normally see in a Hitchcock film. These things undoubtedly make Frenzy a memorable film, but possibly not entirely for the right reasons....Frenzy is quite slow-paced, but I feel that it may be deliberately slow (it kind of establishes Blaney as something of a lovable rogue which perhaps helps to get the audience on his side). The film does suffer from being a bit soapy at times (many of the scenes involving Blaney, Babs and Forsythe felt a little unnecessary and for me kind of got in the way of moving things along).Another thing that I found slightly disappointing about this film is that it isn't played out as a mystery film and is one that is more about a wrongly accused man fighting to prove his innocence. The way that the story is played out was effective enough to hold my interest (in the sense that I wanted to see how Blaney would finally expose Rusk). But personally, I would have preferred it if the killer's identity had been kept a secret and the audience then had to figure out who the killer was (this to me would have made it far more exciting). However, Hitchcock and screenwriter Anthony Schaffer were working from a novel so I can't really criticise either of them for the story that was presented to me.Frenzy is also probably one of the most tonally inconsistent films that I've seen from Hitchcock; the basic plot is quite dark and yes it contains that one brutal scene, but then he also seems to try some comedic touches to the film; the scene with the Inspector and his wife and her rather odd choices of cuisine or the scene where Rusk is in the potato truck with the corpse. It's possible that Hitchcock was trying to counter-balance a lot of the grim plot mechanics with some light-hearted relief. Although this seems a bit odd when watching the film, the two conflicting tones do serve each other fairly well.Hitchcock's camera work is flawless as always and observant viewers will spot Hitchcock's cameo role in this film (he's actually featured in more than one scene in this film). Frenzy has enough strengths to make it worth watching, but this is not classic Hitchcock in my book.