My Top 25 Favorite Films: #4!!

When I was a kid, I would spend a week every summer at my cousin Bobby's house in Suffolk County. To beat the heat on summer nights, we would like to go out into the yard with his telescope. Were we looking at stars? The Big Dipper? Nope and nope.

The next door neighbors. And the folks in the house down the block. And any other home that didn't bother to have their curtains sufficiently drawn.

Had I been exposed to "Rear Window" before that, I might have opted to bide my hot and humid time by simply flipping baseball cards against the front stoop. In fact, despite my film-o-file status as a youngster, I never really saw this movie until I was well into my 20s. For some screwy reason, this Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece was kept out from public consumption for years. There were five such Hitchcock films that were not seen for a long while. "Vertigo." "The Man Who Knew Too Much." "Rope." "The Trouble with Harry." And, of course, the picture at hand. Whatever the problem there was with film rights, it was finally resolved sometime in the mid 80s. And, in an extremely bold move, they were released one after another to local theaters. So, I got to see some 30-year-old movies the way they were supposed to be experienced. On that big old screen.

I fell in love with "Rear Window" as soon as the apartment shades go up in the very first frame. Considering you never really leave Jimmy Stewart's 400 square foot studio apartment, it is astonishing how open and widely-encompassing this story is. The plot's been repeated countless times by numerous movies, TV shows, mystery novels, etc.. Somebody sees something sinister that they probably shouldn't see. And then nobody believes that somebody saw something sinister that they probably shouldn't have seen. A cookie cutter plot, most assuredly. But, what comes out of the oven is "Rear Window" is so deliciously crafted, written, and acted, you could swear that this often thread-bare plot was just hatched yesterday.

Stewart and co-star Grace Kelly have never been better than they are in "Rear Window." You have to see this once just to concentrate on the minimal, yet incredibly sexy dialogue that goes on between these two lovers. Never has sexiness been conveyed with so little skin showing. At the same time, Thelma Ritter, as Jimmy's nurse and caregiver, commands every frame she in with some of the funniest and crispest repartee ever captured on the screen. Over a fifteen year period, Thelma was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar six times and never won. Yet, she was not cited in any way for her work in "Rear Window," and it was clearly her best performance.

Despite that star power, the actual set is the real highlight of this movie. Hitchcock lays out all the apartment windows in this huge courtyard with amazing detail and precision. Each occupant, some with very little or no dialogue, becomes a fully fleshed out character in the story and you genuinely develop feelings for each one of them, just as Stewart's character does from his window sill. Take a look at this stylish trailer for the movie from the days when they really knew how to showcase coming attractions. Indeed, some of the apartment dwellers are given back story in the trailer that is never even addressed in the film.



By the bye, the piano player shown is none other than the creator of "Alvin and the Chipmunks," so this movie actually affords him one positive thing to list in his bio.

"Rear Window" was beautifully restored several years ago and was again re-issued to theaters. If you can see it on a big screen, please do so. But, lacking that, it should be mandatory that the DVD reside in the home of every true film buff.

By the way, my cousin Bobby and I never really saw anything good.

Or did we?

Dinner last night: Teriyaki bowl at the Marmalade Cafe.