North by Northwest

North by Northwest (in Spain, With death on our heels; in Latin America, International Intrigue) is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and generally considered one of his best films. It stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The world premiere took place during the 7th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival.^{[citation required]}

Plot

Roger O. Thornhill is a New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent, George Kaplan, by spies who want to kill him. He barely manages to escape, but they are following him closely and the government can't get him out of the situation, because they have one of their undercover agents infiltrated among them, who would be found out and killed by those spies if they did anything about it. In this situation, Thornhill meets an attractive woman, Eve Kendall, who helps him.

Cary Grant in a picture of the movie.

Some of the sequences are especially remembered for the impact of their images: Thornhill in a field chased by a crop dusting plane, the incognito shoot at the UN headquarters in New York and the chase on Mount Rushmore.

Another picture of the film: Cary Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau.

Cast

Production

At first James Stewart was very interested in starring in the film but Hitchcock blamed him for the commercial failure of Vertigo (1958) due to his too downcast face. That's why he looked for another actor. At first MGM wanted Gregory Peck. Also William Holden was considered, but finally Hitchcock hired Cary Grant. Cyd Charisse and Sophia Loren were also considered for the title role, but Hitchcock stood by his decision to cast Eve Marie Saint in the role and it was carried out.

This Alfred Hitchcock film was the most expensive he ever made, especially since they had to reproduce Mount Rushmore in a studio since they refused to film it there. initial budget.

Reception

Despite being expensive, this film became more than profitable for the studio, thanks to its box office success.

The film had three Oscar nominations: Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Editing. It is one of AFI's 10 Top 10 in the "Mystery Films' category. 34;, from AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies, from AFI's 100 Years...100 Thriller Movies and from AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (Edition 10.th anniversary). In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.