Family Plot (1976)

Excellent but underrated film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I first saw this when it opened in my home town movie theater. I had no appreciation of Hitchcock at the time, and have, over the years, put him at the top of my director's list. Finally, seeing it again, I realized my hesitation came from all the reviews that said Hitchcock's last film was a great disappointment. The thing is, when one has such a magnificent filmography, good or decent are seen as disappointments. This film has two plots working toward each other. Bruce Dern (a cab driver) and Barbara Harris (a flakey, phony psychic) are trying to bilk an old lady out of 10,000 dollars. Meanwhile, William Devane and Karen Black are deadly jewel thieves. Dern' discovery of a phony gravestone, accidentally puts him in danger (without his knowledge). Devane and his female partner decide to waste the couple, but this actually works to the advantage of the lightweights. While there wasn't the great suspense here and a bevy of unique scenes, it still kept my interest to the end.

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.

This is not a classic movie. It is a little bit odd for Hitchcock fare. There are times when it is even a little bit boring. Remarkably, however, "Family Plot" tells a good enough story (and contains good enough acting) to still be a worthwhile experience.For a basic plot summary, "Family Plot" tells the story of Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris), a "faker" psychic medium, and her boyfriend George (Bruce Dern). On one of her phony psychic sessions, Blanche is given the opportunity to earn $10,000 for finding the lost relative of one Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt). As the lovers criss-cross the city looking for the lost man, they end up caught in the scheme of a jewel thief (played by William Devane).The reason this is a solid movie is because the story lines are so interesting. The hunt for the mysterious "Eddie Shoebridge" contains enough mystery to really suck you in and make you WANT to see the resolution. The concurrent jewel-thief plot is also interesting enough to make you wonder how the two can possibly be related. Through some of the so-so periods that this movie most definitely hits, the overall goal is fascinating enough that you won't even consider turning it off.Another factor that really helps, too, is the acting. Bruce Dern is an incredible character actor, and carries every scene he is given. Harris & Devane are also very capable leads that comprise good scenes with each other. At those moments when the overall storyline lags just a bit, the acting is good enough to keep you "in the movie".Overall, "Family Plot" is just an interesting little flick. It isn't "epic" (in any sense of the word) like some of Hitch's earlier fare, but it is just a fun little mystery/comedy that will sweep you away for two hours.

"Murder can be fun", said Hitchcock to the then-rising composer John Williams, unsure about the use of playful theme for ominous situations. Well, after watching "Family Plot" again, I would say that anything handled by Hitchcock can be fun. And it is not surprising that the original novel titled "The Rainbird Pattern" saw its dark material turned into a lighthearted comedy by Ernest Lehman's inspired writing and Hitchcock's wicked sense of humor, in the same vein than "To Catch a Thief" and "The Trouble With Harry". And I think this says a lot about a fascinating mix of self-confidence and humility that -I guess- only experienced directors can demonstrate at the twilight of their career. And I'm convinced that it took the two 60's misfires "Torn Curtain" and "Topaz" to put Hitchcock on the right track again and allow him to make movies that would be more fitting swan songs. So Hitchcock was back to his roots (in every meaning of the word) with the wonderful "Frenzy", a thriller certainly not devoid of macabre humor. Indeed, who can ever forget the villain's struggle to get his pin off the hand of his last victim, hidden in a bag of potatoes, and the whole action set in a moving truck? Frenzy was a legitimate thriller but its darkly comedic undertones worked as the perfect transition to a more relaxed and upbeat "Family Plot", definitely a comedy, with a good balance of thrills and suspense.The film starts in a wealthy elderly woman's house, Blanche Tyler, a psychic in trance, tries to communicate with the woman's sister, using different voices, howling, screaming, giving such an over-the-top performance we suspect she belongs to the fraudulent side of the business, but it takes some great acting to perform the bad one, and Barbara Harris, whenever she's in that state, is a delight to watch, she'd be even funnier in a similar scene later with her boyfriend. The comedy is integral to the film's appeal because the opening is extremely talkative and provides a vital flow of information and Harris' lively and funny performance catches our eyes, and inevitably our ears and our mind.So, it all comes down to the woman asking Blanche to find her sister's illegitimate son given for adoption, so she can clear her conscience and allow him to inherit her fortune; in exchange, Blanche will receive ten thousand dollars (and I just love Harris' cute response when she tries to pretend that money doesn't matter). Blanche is a small-time fraud and her boyfriend George is a cabdriver and wannabe actor, so the reward means a lot. But what an unlikely, non-glamorous, goofy yet charming couple to lead a Hitchcock film! Still, the chemistry between them, with all the talks about the 'plot', sex and their job, feels genuine and real.There is another couple though in the film, more in-line with the classy and icy correctness we're used to deal with Hitch. A jeweler (David Levane) and his girlfriend Fran (Karen Black) specialized in kidnapping dignitaries and rich figures, leaving them up in exchange of precious gemstones. They hide their victims in a cellar and are so professional they make impossible any identification. The first transition from Blanche and George to Arthur and Fran is abrupt and disconcerting (although creatively done) but once we get it that the film centers on the two couples, the pros and the small-time crooks, we know where the story is going, two plots coming across each other, in other words: a confrontation.The thrill in "Family Plot" is to see these couples getting closer to each other, and even play a sprinkled-sprinkler game when George's lousy attempt to pass a lawyer raises the suspicion of Adamson's former accomplice (he's obviously the lost heir, the only way the two plots would converge). So the cat and mouse's role are reversed and Fran and Arthur spy on George and Blanche, thinking they want the reward for their capture. Which would lead to the first life-threatening sequence with a high-speed descent in a mountain road, and as much I enjoyed it, I can't get over the hilariously distorted face of George, crushed under Blanche's shoe, while she tries to climb her way out of the vehicle.Just like the plot swings back and forth between two couples that couldn't have been more different, it does the same thing with thrills and comedy and the result is savorous and entertaining. Hitchcock also provide some pretty memorable moments: Adamson delicately taking a lint off a cop's suit, Fran putting parsley in the hostage's plate, a dazzling aerial view on a cemetery and a great kidnapping scene in a church where a bishop is taken away without any of the people reacting. Adamson knew that church-people are so polite and inhibited they wouldn't react, and we believe him. This level of confidence echoes Hitchcock's, he doesn't go to intricate and lengthy extremes to get a specific job done. And only Hitch can get away with it.This is a film for the fans, his cameo doesn't bother to show his face and yet everyone immediately recognizes him, this is why his last cameo is one of his most inspired. Hitchcock have built so much confidence that only he could conclude such a film with a climax relying on something that a child could have done, but knowing the childish Blanche and her slow-witted boyfriend, it could work. And although the film wasn't intended to be the last, it couldn't have had a better final shot than a wink at the camera. Hitchcock always did movies with the audience in mind, it's all natural to end with what a friendly farewell to those whose emotions he toyed with for half a century.