REAR WINDOW (1954) at AFS

There are directors and there are directors.

And then there's Hitchcock.

Let's go watch one of my three favorite Hitchcock films on the big screen at the Austin Film Society, and truly marvel how the man could keep us completely and utterly transfixed looking at Jimmy Stewart in a wheelchair looking out a window at someone else for two hours. Of course it doesn't hurt that Grace Kelly is in there most of the time either.

REAR WINDOW (1954) is the master at his absolute best, not only for it's suspense but also for its commentary on a world without privacy that resonates just as much today as it did when the film was made.

Jimmy Stewart plays a somewhat rakish bachelor magazine photographer who has been temporarily confined to a wheelchair in his apartment after a skiing accident. The boredom of his situation is so complete he starts innocently spying out his back window at the others in his apartment house, using the telephoto lens on his camera to become a really somewhat creepy voyeur. Not even his stunning girlfriend (Grace Kelly, who was never better) can change his fascination with the unsuspecting lives being played out in front of him, and even she starts getting sucked in to the imagined stories of what they are seeing across their interior courtyard.

That is until they see some extremely suspicious activity directly across from them, and the couple start to believe that someone is in mortal danger. But with no proof, the police refuse to investigate, and the pair start going to some pretty extreme measures to prove their suspicions. It is Hitchcock's slyest cat and mouse caper ever, made all the better by Stewart and Kelly's performances, which hover between a somewhat shocking lackadaisical attitude towards the morality of what they are doing and a genuine sense that perhaps a little creepy peeping is ok if in the cause of saving someone's life. But it's also hard to blame their main subject, Raymond Burr in one of his best bad guy roles, from feeling violated and deciding maybe its time to turn the tables.

From its complex story to its set design to its intricate camera work to its gorgeous costumes, REAR WINDOW is truly one of the best movies of the 1950's, and as I said, one of my three favorite Hitchcock films.

So let's not miss this chance to see it in all its glory on the big screen. With a 6:00 pm start time, there should be plenty of time to perhaps head down to Easy Tiger or another watering hole afterwards to talk about the movie.

We'll meet at the theater at 5:30 pm in the AFS Lobby for a showtime of 6:00 pm. AFS can occasionally sell out, so its always a good idea to get your tickets in advance online (go to https://www.austinfilm.org/screening/rear-window-2/ ). I like to go in as the doors open as seats are not reserved. Those doors will probably open around 5:30 if not before, but I'll hang in the lobby until 5:45.

REAR WINDOW (1954)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock; 1 hr 52 min.