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Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jesse Royce Landis, Leo G Carroll ... see more see more... , Martin Landau , Philip Ober , Josephine Hutchinson , Adam Williams , Edward Platt , Robert Ellenstein , Les Tremayne , Philip Coolidge , Patrick McVey , Edward Binns , Andy Albin , Ernest Anderson , Malcolm Atterbury , Tol Avery , Baynes Barron , John Beradino , Sara Berner , Walter Coy , Lucille Curtis , Patricia Cutts , Jack Daly , John Damler , Tommy Farrell , Jesslyn Fax , Sally Fraser , Paul Genge , Ned Glass , Tom Greenway , Len Hendry , Bobby Johnson , Madge Kennedy , Doreen Lang , Alexander Lockwood , Ken Lynch , Frank Marlowe , Nora Marlowe , James McCallion , Maura McGiveney , Carl Milletaire , Maudie Prickett , Ralph Reed , Harry Seymour , Robert Shayne , Olan Soule , Helen Spring , Harvey Stephens , Harry Strang , Dale Van Sickel , Susan Whitney , Frank Wilcox , Robert B. Williams , Carleton Young , Stanley Adams , Bill Catching , Lawrence Dobkin , Howard Negley , Jimmy Cross , Taggart Casey , Sid Kane , Jessie Royce Landis

While having lunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York, advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) has the bad luck to call for a messenger just as a page goes out for a "George Kaplan." From th... read more read more...at moment, Thornhill finds that he has stepped into a nightmare -- he is quietly abducted by a pair of armed men out of the hotel's famous Oak Room and transported to a Long Island estate; there, he is interrogated by a mysterious man (James Mason) who, believing that Roger is George Kaplan, demands to know what he knows about his business and how he has come to acquire this knowledge. Roger, who knows nothing about who any of these people are, can do nothing but deny that he is Kaplan or that he knows what they're talking about. Finally, his captors force a bottle of bourbon into Roger and put him behind the wheel of a car on a dangerous downhill stretch. Through sheer luck and the intervention of a police patrol car and its driver (John Beradino), Roger survives the ride and evades his captors, and is booked for drunk driving. He's unable to persuade the court, the county detectives, or even his own mother (Jesse Royce Landis) of the truth of his story, however -- Thornhill returns with them to the mansion where he was held, only to find any incriminating evidence cleaned up and to learn that the owner of the house is a diplomat, Lester Townsend (Philip Ober), assigned to the United Nations. He backtracks to the hotel to find the room of the real George Kaplan, only to discover that no one at the hotel has ever actually seen the man. With his kidnappers once again pursuing him, Thornhill decides to confront Townsend at the United Nations, only to discover that he knows nothing of the events on Long Island, or his house being occupied -- but before he can learn more, Townsend gets a knife in his back in full view of 50 witnesses who believe that Roger did it. Now on the run from a murder charge, complete with a photograph of him holding the weapon plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the country, Thornhill tries to escape via train -- there he meets the cooly beautiful Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), who twice hides him from the police, once spontaneously and a second time in a more calculated rendezvous in her compartment that gets the two of them together romantically, at least for the night. By the next day, he's off following a clue to a remote rural highway, where he is attacked by an armed crop-dusting plane, one of the most famous scenes in Hitchcock's entire film output. Thornhill barely survives, but he does manage to learn that his mysterious tormentor/interrogator is named Phillip Vandamm, and that he goes under the cover of being an art dealer and importer/exporter, and that Eve is in bed with him in every sense of the phrase -- or is she? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

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93% liked it

68,962 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

61 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 16 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: September 17, 1959

Keywords: action, suspense, spy

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DVD Release Date: August 29, 2000

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Stats: 5,497 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (5,497)

  • fb1664868775
    November 13, 2011
    fb1664868775
    Hitchcock's most exciting and epic adventure is definitely one of his best. Features my favorite performance from Cary Grant, there are so many qoutable lines and so many shots I will never forget. I can watch this one over and over.
  • fb729949618
    October 28, 2011
    fb729949618
    This has to be one of the most entertaining films ever made! Hitchcock is truly a genius. I can only imagine the impact this film had in 1959, because just now watching it in 2011 has really amazed me.
  • fb1341085175
    October 27, 2011
    fb1341085175
    Working from one of the all-time great scripts by Ernest Lehman, Hitchcock is at the top of his game with the manipulation of his actors and the creation of the world they inhabit. This is class A Hollywood entertainment, with incredible star power, amazing set design and some of... read more the director's most iconic set pieces, using all film trickeries available at his disposal to make it possible. It does require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but Cary Grant outcharms even the most calculated script lines and Eva Marie Saint looks like she's going to start having sex with the camera at any time.
  • rjayhutchinson
    August 29, 2011
    rjayhutchinson
    Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," a classic of the mystery genre, is every bit as good as its reputation suggests. Bizarre, captivating, and unique, the film engages the viewer from the get-go and maintains that engagement for the majority of the movie. With celebrated actor Cary... read more Grant in the lead role and Alfred Hitchcock in the director's chair, the film is as well-made as it is intriguing.
  • spielberg00
    August 12, 2011
    spielberg00
    Great+
  • danperry17
    June 27, 2011
    danperry17
    What a fantastic film! Suspenseful, dark, and sexy, as with all the best of Hitchcock. Not sure I've disliked any of his movies yet. What's particularly gripping about North by Northwest is its Kafka-esque premise: man being pursued and punished for something he didn't do, render... read moreed powerless in his many attempts to extricate himself. And all along, the enemies are getting closer.

    I think when you look up femme fatale in the dictionary in the future, what you'll see is a picture of Eva Marie Saint. She's simply stunning here, holding all the cards right to the end.

    There is one, small knock on the film, though: it drags in the middle. Every scene does eventually reveal why it's there, and at the end of these scenes you do get a little frisson most of the time, but I found they were a little fatty, and could have gotten to the point faster. That said, there's a chase scene on Mount Rushmore... how much more can you ask!? Super film, a classic. One for the "can't miss" list.
  • jamers2011
    June 9, 2011
    jamers2011
    Another classic film from director Alfred Hitchcock! The perfect mystery movie.
  • TomBowler
    April 9, 2011
    TomBowler
    One of Hitchcock's best with the inimitable, irreplacable Cary Grant. Full review later.
  • deano
    April 5, 2011
    deano
    This is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most suspenseful films, but also funniest and most enjoyable. This film contains some of Hitchcock's most famous scenes, including Cary Grant being pursued across the Indiana fields by a murderous crop-dusting plan and a cliff-hanging ending (lit... read moreerally) on Mt Rushmore.
    The first hour is very funny, as the star squabbles with his mother and raises a ruckus in an auction room.
  • kiriyamakazou
    February 13, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    A film that surprises me every time I see it. This will constantly be one of my favorite films as it is a constant barrage of hits. The film perfectly matches screwball comedy, raunchy romance (without ever getting too sexy), action, and mysterious suspense. A trick in recent fil... read morems is to confuse the audience until the very end, where needless exposition happens. Hitchcock was a master of mysteries because he knew how many unanswered questions to have on the go at any one time, and when to answer them. As the film progresses, new plot twists arrive, making it an interesting and intriguing film. At the beginning, we are as clueless as Grant, but as the film goes on, we see more and more , gradually making us more informed than Grant. This clever respect for the audience means we are never talked down to. The action scenes are as fantastic today as they ever were. The slow build up to the plane scene is the kind of patience lacking in today's shaky cam world. North by Northwest is a perfect movie.

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Critic Reviews

April 23, 2009
TIME Magazine

Smoothly troweled and thoroughly entertaining. Full Review

Dave Kehr
March 27, 2009
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

A great film, and certainly one of the most entertaining movies ever made, directed by Alfred Hitchcock at his peak. Full Review

Variety Staff
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

At times it seems Hitchcock is kidding his own penchant for the bizarre, but this sardonic attitude is so deftly handled it only enhances the thrills. Full Review

A.H. Weiler
May 20, 2003
A.H. Weiler, New York Times

... a colorful and exciting route for spies, counterspies and lovers. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Of course, the hallmark of North by Northwest is the way in which Hitchcock develops tension. Full Review

J. Hoberman
January 1, 2000
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

Hitchcock's ultimate wrong-man comedy. Full Review

Blake Howard
May 16, 2012
Blake Howard, 2UE That Movie Show

The iconic actors give memorable performances, the story is perfectly pitched and fiercely clever and under the astounding directorial eye of Alfred Hitchcock - American Cinematic God - it's nearly fl... Full Review

Kevin Carr
June 27, 2011
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

It has all the classic elements of a Hitchcock film - well timed suspense, an overall mystery, a compelling cast and some brilliantly conceived scenes. Full Review

David Gurney
January 1, 2011
David Gurney, Common Sense Media

Witty Hitchcock thriller. Not for little ones. Full Review

John A. Nesbit
February 27, 2010
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews

ideal introduction to the Master and all his basic fears and craftsmanship Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Facts

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    • Man on Road: That fella's dusting crops where there ain't no crops.
    • Roger O. Thornhill: I could use a drink..a pint of Bourbon will do.
    • The Professor: Mind if I join you?
    • Roger O. Thornhill: Better make it a quart.
    • Roger O. Thornhill: Tell me, why are you so good to me?
    • Eve Kendall: Shall I climb up and tell you why?
    • Eve Kendall: You've got taste in clothes, taste in food.
    • Roger O. Thornhill: And taste in women. I like your flavor.
    • Roger O. Thornhill: How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?
    • Eve Kendall: Lucky I guess.
    • Eve Kendall: Roger O. Thornhill. What does the O stand for?
    • Roger O. Thornhill: Nothing.
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North by Northwest Trivia

  • In which classic movie was actor Cary Grant chased by a crop duster airplane and almost getting killed in an explosion?  Answer »
  • Although Cary Grant played Roger Thornhill in "North by Northwest", who was MGM's preferred choice?  Answer »
  • Who directed the film North By Northwest ?  Answer »
  • Legendary Movie Scene: Alfred Hitchcock directed North By Northwest (1957), in which the hero is left alone beside an open corn field. He notices a plane lazily spraying crops. Suddenly the plane swoops down and attacks him. Who is the hero? He often played sophisticated leading man roles.   Answer »
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