Family Plot (1976)

This last Hitchcock film may seem out of step with all of the others, but then it has to be. The sexual/cultural revolution is over. The cynical 70s are in full swing. You can't just insinuate "the act" anymore and cut to the seashore.Into this environment comes "Family Plot". It is basically two sets of crimes, one minor and one major, hitting an intersection with one group of criminals having no idea what the other group is up to.Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris) is a fake psychic. She has her cabbie boyfriend get information for her based on the hints she gets from the séances. In this case a wealthy woman, Julia Rainbird, claims her sister's spirit and her own conscience torment her because in 1933 she made her sister put her illegitimate child up for adoption because of the scandal that would have occurred given the conventions of the times. Nobody knows what happened to him since the adoption was closed. Now Julia Rainbird, in her old age, wants to accept her nephew into the family and leave the entire estate to him. There is 10K in it for Blanche if she can find him.What Blanche and cabbie lover George (Bruce Dern) don't know is that the long lost heir is basically Lex Luther with hair - William Devane as Arthur Adamson, a true sociopath who loves thumbing his nose at conventions and loves crime. Together he and his girlfriend, Fran (Karen Black) kidnap wealthy people in exchange for jewels. Adamson has a legitimate business as a jeweler as a front.The misunderstandings come in when Adamson discovers that somebody is digging into his past, specifically his faked death which was a cover for the murder of his adoptive parents back in 1950. Blanche and George can't figure out why they would be getting attempts on their life. Adamson has no idea of his true identity and has no idea why these two amateurs are trying to find him, figuring it has either to do with his current kidnappings or the past murder of his parents.It all comes together in a suspenseful and comical way. I'll let you watch and find out how.Blanche and George are a hilarious couple just perfect for 1975. In one scene, at the end of the day, she is basically ordering him to come inside the house and sexually service her. George replies she is wearing him out and he has to work tomorrow. She asks "what are you saving it for?". This is a long way from the stolen glances, passionate kisses, and hand holding in "Dial M For Murder", but this is a different time and they are just right for it.Even at the end Hitchcock did know how to change with the times. I'd recommend it.

Well as most people would say...they just don't write screenplays like this anymore. But for good reason. When you invest the better part of two hours in watching a suspenseful film unfold and the five main characters show us who they really are we look forward to a strong film ending. Instead, what we receive for an ending is unfortunately below par for an Alfred Hitchcok directed film. Please don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this film and it is well worth watching even a second time as the performances of the top five characters certainly did not disappoint. William Devane is a standout in the dual role as the missing heir Edward Shoebridge and as his hidden identity as high stakes con man named Arthur Adamson, a well dressed jewellery store owner. His partner in crime is the mysterious blonde wig and six inch high heels wearing femme fatale' named Fran. These two high priced grifters who make a great living kidnapping wealthy people and holding them for ransom in their secret basement fortress indicates that they are shrewd and tactful in planning their kidnappings and reaping the rewards for diamonds as their preferred ransom payment.William Devane and Karen Black play polar opposite to the other two low class grifters played by Barbara Harris as Blanche Tyler who eeks out a living as a spiritualist bringing back the voices of the dead for living family members who get suckered in to this old con game. Her boyfriend is a Taxi cab driver named George Lumley played superbly by the great character actor Bruce Dern. Now George will do just about anything for Blanche so when Blanche tells George she has a rich client that is trying to find a bastard nephew birthed 40 years ago by her now deceased sister and there is 10 grand in it if they find him we immediately assume that George will play the part of the missing heir Edward Shoebridge to claim the reward money of 10 grand. Instead George laces up his private gum shoes and goes on an expedition to try and locate this missing heir named Edward Showbridge. George does not exactly find Edward Shoebridge but he finds the next best thing. George finds a guy named Joseph Maloney played very well by then 38 year old Ed Lauter.As the plot becomes more complex the comedy relief kicks in between Blanche and George arguing amongst themselves how far they should go to recover the 10 grand reward. In the meantime the high class grifter team of Arthur Adamson (William Devane) and Fran (Karen Black) continue kidnapping high profile wealthy clients with well thought out plans that leave nothing to risk for their big rewards.As the low class grifters Blanche and George continue to get closer on to the heels of their missing heir Edward Shoebridge (alias Arthur Adamson) Arthur and his childhood friend Joseph Mahoney develop a plan to get rid of these two low lifes Blanche and George for good. There is a scene where Blanch and George get baited by Joseph Maloney to meet him out in the remote highway roadway diner for $200 and for that price Joseph Maloney will divulge how they can locate the missing heir Edawrd Shoebridge. The meeting though never transpires and Blanche and George leave the roadside diner empty handed and very disappointed. Little do they know that their vehicle has been tampered with and the next two minutes takes George who is driving and Blanche who is hilariously hanging on to George for dear life as he attempts to take the long and winding hilly roads without killing the two of them. This scene is worth watching the film for alone. It is both suspenseful and oh so comical. I could envision Ms. Shullivan hanging on to me for dear life if we were caught on a windy road with no brakes.I won't divulge the ending, rather I will leave you with this cliffhanger both literally and figuratively. I did mention the climax was a bit disappointing but this adventure/suspense/crime/comedy film has much to be satisfied with. I give it a high 7 out of 10 rating. Well worth a watch...maybe even twice.

This was Hitchcocks last movie. He was very ill on set, and he did well to finish this. There are more "sexual innuendo" lines than in any of his other movies. Perhaps he was telling us.......I do have a naughty side and a sense of humour. Bruce Dern and Karen Black are pretty good and the pace is always fast. This last Hitchcock film was not well received (particularly in America). One of the reasons was Alfreds VERY English & naughty sense of humour. There are vast differences between American humour and British humour. Hitchcock finished his great career ..............with one for the Brits. Well done Alfred.....we all know American humour is....ummmm not at all funny.

Alfred Hitchcock's final film , it was his fifty-third when made this lighthearted suspense story about a phony psychic/con artist named Blanche (Liza Minnelli, Beverly Sills, and Goldie Hawn were all considered for the role , Barbara Harris eventually was cast in the role ; apparently, Alfred Hitchcock was happy with the casting of Harris as he had apparently tried to hire her before)and her taxi driver/private investigator boyfriend (Bruce Dern who had previously worked with Alfred on episodes of Alfred Hitchcock presents as well as having had a small role in Marnie) who encounter a pair of serial kidnappers called Arthur (William Devane , though Roy Scheider and Burt Reynolds were considered for the part) and Fran (Karen Black) while trailing a missing heir in California . As an aging widow (Lillian Gish wanted to test for the role of Julia Rainbird but had been promised to Cathleen Nesbitt) to find her nephew who was given away for adoption many years earlier following a family scandal . Meanwhile, an extremely clever couple, an astute jeweler (Roy Thinnes was originally hired to play Arthur Adamson, but Hitchcock's first choice William Devane became available so Hitchcock fired Thinnes without a reason and hired Devane) and his enticing girlfriend are behind a series of kidnappings of various VIPs in the San Francisco area .Entertaining mystery movie packs thrills , humor , suspense and ordinary Hitch touches . This agreeable picture has some 'screwball comedy nature' that evokes Alfred Hitchcock's earlier flick ¨Mr. and Mrs. Smith¨. Alfred Hitchcock's films have become famous for a number of elements and iconography : vertiginous heights, innocent men wrongfully accused, blonde bombshells dressed in white, voyeurism, long non-dialogue sequences, etc. In this his final film, one last iconographic element was added to the canon: the woman in black . Karen Black plays a villainous character whose outfit is the antithesis of the blonde dressed in white , her costume comprises black hat, black dress, large black sunglasses obscuring the face and a long blonde wig . This menacing character image was notable in this movie and its image dominated in the film's printed promotional material and movie posters. The malevolent character-image has since been re-used in such famous movies as for character Bobbi in 'Brian De Palma''s Dressed to kill' and in Italian movies , the Giallo genre . Alfred Hitchcock's movies were known for featuring famous landmarks such as Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest and the Statue of Liberty in Sabotage. Hitch apparently decided to leave this movie location unspecific and without recognizable landmarks and filmed it in the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco . Spectacular runaway car ride , although the famous car chase in this movie isn't technically really a car chase as the downhill car sequence only involves one car. The final shot in the movie, a wink by the Barbara Harris character was a jokey reference that was not planned but Alfred Hitchcock decided to leave in , this was arguably a fitting coda to his career exemplifying the black humor that was prevalent in his movies . Alfred Hitchcock once said of this film: ¨It's a melodrama treated with a bit of levity and sophistication , I wanted the feeling of the famous director Ernst Lubitsch making a mystery thriller." .The motion picture was well directed by Alfred Hitchcock , he was famous for making his actors follow the script to the word, but in this movie he let the characters improvise and use their own dialogue . After this movie was completed, Alfred Hitchcock worked on the film script for the spy thriller 'The Short Night'. Alfred Hitchcock was seriously in ill-health during the production of this movie , this lead to this picture being his final ever film. He never got to direct it due to his ailing health and it was not made. It would have been his fifty-fourth film. 'The Short Night' still has never been filmed to this day.