Frenzy, 1972

After the success of "Psycho" it looked like Hitchcock was washed up as a director. Instead of continuing with the lower budget spunkiness of "Psycho", he went back to slick studio productions. Perhaps his next movie, "The Birds", is a good film - I don't like it - but "Marnie", "Torn Curtain" and "Topaz" are undoubtably sluggish, tired films. It looked like his style was curdling into self-parody. But in 1972, at age 73, he released this corker which has a grittier look than his late '60s movies, with more humor and kicky suspense. It might be a little more graphic than you'd expect from Hitchcock, but it fits right into the '70s and it's his last really good movie. ("Family Plot" is okay, this is better.) It follows the innocent-man-on-the-run formula and it's a blast. It feels like a more direct decendent of "Psycho" than any of the movies preceding it and I wish Hitchcock would have avoided the stolid Cold War stories and pseudo-psychology of his mid-late '60s pictures. Those movies were unnecessarily fussy and largely humorless. ("Vertigo" is a great movie, no question, but I blame it for the mess that is "Marnie". I don't think the psychology of either picture should be taken seriously and "Marnie" is ALL psychology.) My only complaint about this movie is Jon Finch as the lead. He fits the working class nature of the character well but he plays the role a little heavy. The other actors bring a lighter touch - there's a little English wit behind their eyes - which is the more appropriate approach to Hitchcock's material I think. That's a very minor complaint though. I really like this movie.

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