Family Plot (1976)

Arthur Adamson: Isn't it touching how a perfect murder has kept our friendship alive all these years. "There's no body in the family plot."Family Plot is a pretty good going out party for the Master, Alfred Hitchcock. It's lesser Hitchcock for sure, but lesser Hitchcock is still pretty damn good. This film brings together a lot of Hitchcock's signature techniques and wraps them up nicely in two hours. Now, years after being made, Family Plot is a pretty good introduction to Hitchcock. It wouldn't be a bad movie to watch first, before diving into his several masterpieces like Psycho and Vertigo. The movie follows a couple, one a phony psychic and the other, a taxi driver who is a pretty good little investigator. Blanche(the psychic) is asked to locate a family heir who has been missing for several years. Her and Lumley(the taxi driver) don't have to much to go by, but they soon start following up leads which lead them to another couple. These two are jewel thieves and one has a huge secret. The film brings the two couples together in a smart and intricate way. Hitchcock, like usual, doesn't try to keep major details from us. He let's us in on all the secrets and let's the suspense build from the characters mission to find out what we already know. There's a reason he is known as the "Master of Suspense." He knows how to build it. He knew that suspense isn't built by surprises, but by knowing what's going on, but not what's going to happen. Sure, this isn't the greatest example of that in his work, but it is still a good one. He's not into huge plot twists at the end. Think how Psycho would have turned out in another director's hands. We sure wouldn't have been let in on the Norman Bates/Mother thing that early.There's one thing I have a problem with and it is a dumb ending. I didn't care for it, but it didn't ruin the movie either. Overall, Family Plot is just another solid thriller from Hitchcock. Nothing out of the ordinary there.