“Rear Window” is one Alfred Hitchcock’s of greatest films. It is a look into voyeurism. It is interesting to note than much later on (16 years), Hitchcock would make a film almost the opposite of “Rear Window.” That film was “Psycho” (1960). In “Psycho,” Norman Bates was the voyeur…the scene where he watches Marion undress for her shower is the best example of this. And we do not know the specifics of the other girls who are mentioned that he killed before Marion in that infamous shower scene. Perhaps he spied on them as well, but that is speculation, of course.
“Rear Window” stars James Stewart as the bored newspaper photographer “Jeff,” who is confined to a wheelchair after he has broken his leg. He passes the time by observing his neighbors through the “rear window” of his apartment, via his telescopic camera. After seeing what he believes may just be murder, he tries to solve the crime and catch the thief all from the confines of his own wheelchair. As helpless as he is he could use a little help; this he gets from his beautiful girl friend and nurse, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly). Thelma Ritter plays his landlady, Stella. Be sure and check out reviews/analyses both by Roger Ebert and Tim Dirks; I’m sure they summed it up better than I did.
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Quotes from Rear
Window:
Stella: When two people love each other, they come together - WHAM
- like two taxis on Broadway.
Lisa: How's your leg?
Jeff: Hurts a little.
Lisa: Your stomach?
Jeff: Empty as a football.
Lisa: Anything else bothering you?
Jeff: Yes, who are you?
Jeff: She wants me to marry her.
Stella: That's normal.
Jeff: I don't want to.
Stella: That's abnormal.
Lisa: Today's a very special day.
Jeff: It's just another Wednesday. The calendar's full of 'em.
Jeff: Why does a man leave his house three times on a rainy
night and comes back three times?
Lisa: Maybe he likes the way his wife welcomes him home.
Lisa: I wish I were creative.
Jeff: You are. You're great at creating difficult situations.
Jeff: He killed a dog last night because the dog was scratching
around in the garden. You know why? Because he had something buried in that
garden that the dog scented.
Doyle: Like an old hambone?
Jeff: I don't know what pet names Thorwald had for his wife.
Stella: Let's go down there and find out what's burried in that
garden.
Lisa: Why not? I've always wanted to meet Mrs. Thorwald.
Stella: Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much
trouble as intelligence.
Thomas
J. Doyle: Look, Miss Fremont that feminine
intuition stuff sells magazines, but in real life it's still a fairy tale.
Lisa Fremont: Jeff, you know if someone came in here, they wouldn't
believe what they'd see? You and me with long faces plunged into despair
because we find out a man didn't kill his wife. We're two of the most
frightening ghouls I've ever known.
Stella: Must've splattered a lot.
Lisa: Tell me exactly what you saw and what you think it means.
Lisa: According to you, people should be born, live, and die in
the same place.
Stella: We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to
do is get outside their own house and look in for a change. Yes sir. How's that
for a bit of homespun philosophy?
Lisa: A murderer would never parade his crime in front of an
open window.
Trivia about Rear
Window:
James
Stewart .... L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies
Grace
Kelly .... Lisa Carol Fremont
Wendell
Corey .... Lieutenant Thomas J. Doyle
Thelma
Ritter .... Stella
Raymond
Burr .... Mr. Lars Thorwald
Judith
Evelyn .... Miss Lonelyheart
Ross
Bagdasarian .... Songwriter
Georgine
Darcy .... Miss Torso, the Ballet Dancer
Sara
Berner .... Woman on Fire Escape
Frank
Cady .... Man on Fire Escape
Jesslyn
Fax .... Miss Hearing Aid
Rand
Harper .... Newlywed Man
Irene
Winston .... Mrs. Anna Thorwald
Havis
Davenport .... Newlywed Woman
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