Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Al Pacino,I read that you rejected the lead role in this Hitchcock film. You went and made Bobby Deerfield instead. It would have been cool to see you in a Hitchcock film. Even though this is nowhere close to Hitch's best.Two sets of criminal couples (one murderous and the other one just small time crooks) are at odds with each other in this mysterious comedy.The film is a bit of an oddity in Hitch's filmography. There are some great directorial flourishes. The séance scene at the beginning is very mysterious and funny, John Williams score was pretty good. The scene in the car with the fake background that followed the séance was also great. The car going crazy was a great action scene. But some of the scenes go on for too long, the background score was unremarkable in places. De Palma did say that Hitch breaking up with Herrmann affected his last few films.Karen Black and Barbara Harris are beautiful in their own right, but when you consider all the beautiful women filmed by Hitch, they are right at the bottom of the list. I've never been that big a fan of Bruce Dern. I would have loved to see you in his role, Al. William Devine looked menacing with his toothy sinister smile.Overall, I'm not surprised you rejected this.Best Regards, Pimpin.(6/10)

Ed-Shullivan 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.

SnoopyStyle Fake psychic Madam Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris) and her taxi driving boyfriend George Lumley (Bruce Dern) track down the long lost nephew of wealthy elderly heiress Julia Rainbird. She promises them a large sum believing Madam Tyler to be legitimate.Meanwhile, jeweler collector Arthur Adamson (William Devane) and girlfriend Fran (Karen Black) kidnap wealthy people to ransom for diamonds.This is Alfred Hitchcock's final film. He was quite ill and in his 70s. His skills are somewhat dated like the driving scenes. The pacing is quite slow early on. Once the two couples' paths intersect, the story gets much more compelling. The tension picks right up. Hitchcock injects some slapstick with the flaky Barbara Harris. I didn't laugh but it's cute to see Hitchcock try. This is not his best work, but it's still a fascinating watch.

TheLittleSongbird It is nice to see that Family Plot is getting more recognition other than being the swan-song of one of the most influential directors in cinema. Despite Hitchcock being my favourite director, I wasn't sure whether I would like Family Plot after hearing from people, both on IMDb and outside, that it was one of his weakest. I'm glad I did see it(and I would have done anyway) because while it is not among Hitch's best(Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Rebecca) it is nowhere near one of his weakest(Jamaica Inn, Under Capricorn, Topaz, The Paradine Case). True, the film is a little long, the story is convoluted and a few scenes are incoherent as a result and Karen Black's character could have been much more developed. Family Plot does look good though(if not one of his best-looking films like Vertigo, To Catch a Thief and The Trouble with Harry), both audacious and gritty and the photography services these very well. John Williams' score is jaunty and haunting, and sensibly more restrained than some of the bombast of his very best scores.The dialogue has strong bouts of fun and tension with good interplay between the cast, the humour though is more a subtle blend rather than busting-your-gut every minute. There is also a lot of innuendo that surprises you at how much the film gets away with. The story is convoluted but still intriguing and doesn't feel dull, there is still a good amount of mystery and tension amongst the fun. The sequence with the car out of control was the film's most memorable one, and it seemed that Hitchcock was paying homage here to all his previous work(ie. the attempted murder with the neck-tie almost reminiscent of Frenzy, to me anyway). Hitchcock's directing was taut and sly, I didn't detect any evidence that he didn't have his heart in it, yes maybe Dern and Harris' characters are much more developed than those of Black and Devane's but I put that down to the writing too. The acting is fine, none of the four lead players give performances that rank among the best of any Hitchcock film but I didn't expect that. I don't think Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris have done better since, William Devane is very chilling and quite brutal and Karen Black seems to be having fun despite her character not being as developed well as the rest.In conclusion, a good swan-song, and while not among the Master of Suspense's best I do think it gets a bad rap for either the viewer having too high expectations, or that it was a noble but failed attempt at doing something different or bad timing in a decade of disaster movies and with the likes of Spielberg, DeNiro and Pacino(I personally think it's a bit of all). And of course there'll be people who didn't care for it, and that's understandable, as while I did really enjoy Family Plot I can definitely see why people will find fault with it. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox