Family Plot

Alfred Hitchcock
1976

The last realized project by the Master of Suspense may not be considered among his finest, but it does have the same devilish sense of danger and black humor that many of his best films do. Fraud psychic Blanche (an easy on the eyes Barbara Harris) and her low-rent cabbie boyfriend (unlikely leading man George Lumely) do all they can to hoodwink little old ladies for extra loot when a whopper lands in their boat. All they need to do is track down jeweler/kidnapper Arthur Anderson (an exceptionally slippery William Devane) and his main squeeze (a two-Vicodin-too-many Karen Black). The film is part caper flick with high stakes ransoms, and part detective story with a mysteriously falsified grave marker. I remember reading (probably in Truffaut's famous interview book) that Hitchcock lamented the increasingly graphic depictions of sex and violence, as well as the use of courser language, in 70's cinema. However, Hitch seems to embrace these more risque elements with an unsubtly horny Babs Harris and some well placed cuss-words. The couples' parallel transgressions - petty scams vs. big time scores - pleasantly predicts Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), and despite it's generally lighter tone, it's one of the better of Hitchcock's minor works. It's nice to see that the old bulldog never lost his touch, even after a handful of late career disappointments.