It is nice to see that Family Plot is getting more recognition other than being the swan-song of one of the most influential directors in cinema. Despite Hitchcock being my favourite director, I wasn't sure whether I would like Family Plot after hearing from people, both on IMDb and outside, that it was one of his weakest. I'm glad I did see it(and I would have done anyway) because while it is not among Hitch's best(Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Rebecca) it is nowhere near one of his weakest(Jamaica Inn, Under Capricorn, Topaz, The Paradine Case). True, the film is a little long, the story is convoluted and a few scenes are incoherent as a result and Karen Black's character could have been much more developed. Family Plot does look good though(if not one of his best-looking films like Vertigo, To Catch a Thief and The Trouble with Harry), both audacious and gritty and the photography services these very well. John Williams' score is jaunty and haunting, and sensibly more restrained than some of the bombast of his very best scores.
The dialogue has strong bouts of fun and tension with good interplay between the cast, the humour though is more a subtle blend rather than busting-your-gut every minute. There is also a lot of innuendo that surprises you at how much the film gets away with. The story is convoluted but still intriguing and doesn't feel dull, there is still a good amount of mystery and tension amongst the fun. The sequence with the car out of control was the film's most memorable one, and it seemed that Hitchcock was paying homage here to all his previous work(ie. the attempted murder with the neck-tie almost reminiscent of Frenzy, to me anyway). Hitchcock's directing was taut and sly, I didn't detect any evidence that he didn't have his heart in it, yes maybe Dern and Harris' characters are much more developed than those of Black and Devane's but I put that down to the writing too. The acting is fine, none of the four lead players give performances that rank among the best of any Hitchcock film but I didn't expect that. I don't think Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris have done better since, William Devane is very chilling and quite brutal and Karen Black seems to be having fun despite her character not being as developed well as the rest.
In conclusion, a good swan-song, and while not among the Master of Suspense's best I do think it gets a bad rap for either the viewer having too high expectations, or that it was a noble but failed attempt at doing something different or bad timing in a decade of disaster movies and with the likes of Spielberg, DeNiro and Pacino(I personally think it's a bit of all). And of course there'll be people who didn't care for it, and that's understandable, as while I did really enjoy Family Plot I can definitely see why people will find fault with it. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox
The dialogue has strong bouts of fun and tension with good interplay between the cast, the humour though is more a subtle blend rather than busting-your-gut every minute. There is also a lot of innuendo that surprises you at how much the film gets away with. The story is convoluted but still intriguing and doesn't feel dull, there is still a good amount of mystery and tension amongst the fun. The sequence with the car out of control was the film's most memorable one, and it seemed that Hitchcock was paying homage here to all his previous work(ie. the attempted murder with the neck-tie almost reminiscent of Frenzy, to me anyway). Hitchcock's directing was taut and sly, I didn't detect any evidence that he didn't have his heart in it, yes maybe Dern and Harris' characters are much more developed than those of Black and Devane's but I put that down to the writing too. The acting is fine, none of the four lead players give performances that rank among the best of any Hitchcock film but I didn't expect that. I don't think Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris have done better since, William Devane is very chilling and quite brutal and Karen Black seems to be having fun despite her character not being as developed well as the rest.
In conclusion, a good swan-song, and while not among the Master of Suspense's best I do think it gets a bad rap for either the viewer having too high expectations, or that it was a noble but failed attempt at doing something different or bad timing in a decade of disaster movies and with the likes of Spielberg, DeNiro and Pacino(I personally think it's a bit of all). And of course there'll be people who didn't care for it, and that's understandable, as while I did really enjoy Family Plot I can definitely see why people will find fault with it. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox