Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window"(1954). They just don't make movies like this anymore. I just watched "Disturbia" which was loosely based on "Rear Window", and it made me think of this movie. "Disturbia" was a big disappointment. Yeah, it was full of thrills and shocks, but it left nothing to the imagination, it did very little to build suspense. It is not about what you see that is scary, but what you don't see.



"Rear Window" is all about what you don't see. Here's the plot, if you don't know it already. Jimmy Stewart is bedridden in his high rise New York apartment because he broke his leg. He spends his days watching his neighbors through their windows with binoculars because he is bored. He notices something strange going on in some one's window. Did someone just murder their wife? The suspense lies in what you don't know...you're trying to piece together what exactly happened through little snippets, bits and pieces that you see through binoculars. Eventually, a confrontation ensues, and by then the air is so full of suspense you can't even breathe or blink because you don't want to miss what happens next.....



The charm of this movie to me is not only the suspense, it is the attention to detail. You get to see what is going on inside every body's apartments....it is like you are eavesdropping on one hundred different little movies going on at once....little parts of people's lives....



There is so much to see in this movie. You can't take it all in in one viewing, and you can't even take it in in ten....



"Rear Window" is a movie that you will want to watch over and over again....and if you have never seen this movie in widescreen, go out and buy the collector's edition now.....because you haven't seen this movie until you've seen this pristine, restored version on DVD!



I cannot give this movie enough praise....




Here's the trailer: