North by Northwest Movie Review

North by Northwest (1959)

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Written by: Ernest Lehman
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Rated: Approved [PG-13]
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Plot
A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

Verdict
The premise of this movie has been copied countless times, and despite that this is still a fun movie. Yes, it feels a bit dated, but it also seems a lot newer than 1959. While it is a bit of a film class movie as it set a new standard for action movies, you can't deny the charm of Cary Grant or the premise. An unwitting participant mistaken as a spy soon embraces his circumstances, embarking on a race to save the woman in an escape down Mt. Rushmore.
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Review
This movie helped define the modern action-thriller with its large-scale stunts and action set pieces. The James Bond franchise took inspiration from the film.

Advertising executive Roger (Cary Grant) is mistaken for someone else named "Kaplan" at a restaurant and kidnapped. Whoever has taken him doesn't buy his mistaken identity story. They bring him to Townsend where they then attempt to kill Roger by forcing him to drink and putting him in a car to make it look like a drunk driving incident. He manages enough coherence to not drive off the literal cliff, but he is arrested. The police think his story is just a ploy to get out of driving drunk, as he struggles to answer questions.

Cray Grant plays Roger Thornhill

Roger heads back to Townsend's house to prove his story, but all of the evidence has been removed or cleaned up. Roger tracks down "Kaplan" at a hotel, but no one there has ever seen him. All of the staff assume Roger is this Kaplan, especially since Roger has broken into Kaplan's room.

Roger confronts Townsend at the UN building, but the original man claiming to be Townsend wasn't. In turn, Roger is framed for murdering the real Townsend. Roger escapes the building and sneaks onto a train where he meets Eve (Eva Marie Saint). She helps him elude the police searching for him. They quickly fall for each other. She claims to know Kaplan, and Roger should have known better then. Instead she arranges a meeting between Roger and Kaplan where a crop duster plan tries to shoot him in one of the film's more renowned scenes.

Cary Grant, Eva Maria Saint play Roger Thornhill, Eve Kendall

Roger finally begins piecing together what's happening. From an unwitting participant, now he's playing the part as he sneaks out of the hospital to save Eve. He stages a big escape down Mt Rushmore.

I have to imagine the mistaken identity premise felt a bit more original at the time. A regular person trips into the middle of a spy thriller. Like so many of Hitchcock's innovations, they've been recycled and reinvented in the following years. Hitchcock movies are cited as formative movies, and it's easy to see why. This one certainly is.