Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films. Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
- The cool blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
- The presence of a domineering mother in her son's life (e.g. Psycho).
- An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
- Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
- Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent or the crop-duster plane sequence from North by Northwest.
- Characters generally get out of sticky situations by using their wits, rather than just shooting the place up.
- Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
- Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
- Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc)
- Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest.
- The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
- Undertones of or characters implied as being homosexual, such as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, or the murderers in Rope.
Some films or scenes considered Hitchockian, aside from Hitchcock's own films, include:
- Charade
- Clue
- Dressed to Kill
- Blow Out
- Munich - particularly the phone-bomb scene.
- Flightplan
- Foul Play
- Frantic
- Wait Until Dark
See also
External links
- [1]- Entertainment Weekly's EW.com feature: What, exactly, makes a film "Hitchcockian?"
