"Family Plot" Review

 

by Daniel White

Alfred Hitchcock usually made his customary cameo early on in his films. That way, the audience could sit back and relax and not be distracted in anticipation of the well known director's appearance. However in Family Plot, his final project, he doesn't show up until forty minutes into the movie. It's as if the master of the macabre was reluctant to say adieu...

After the sizzling, high energy of Frenzy, 1976's Family Plot feels like a let-down. Carefully-constructed, measured as opposed to manic, the flick is plodding (and plotted), but definitely has its modest charms. Frenzy is your crazy, high-spirited aunt who spices up the family reunion. Family Plot is more akin to your sweet, lemon drop-popping grandmother. She may not leave you breathless with your head spinning, but that doesn't mean you're not content to snuggle in her bosomy embrace.

Reunited with Ernest Lehman, who wrote the screenplay for North By Northwest, Hitchcock's swan song does not have the brilliance and magnetic sheen of that spectacular flick but it held my attention and kept me mildly intrigued. Family Plot also offers up something splendid that kicks this okay flick upstairs - the fabulous Barbara Harris.

I fell in love with the mesmerizing actress when I first encountered her in Robert Altman's Nashville. She is a treasure whose spirit and sparkle radiate from the screen. Both poignant and pissy, Miss Harris shoots this film skyward and qualms any concerns about its worthiness. She plays Madam Blanche, a phony spiritualist, who along with her cab driving boyfriend, George (Bruce Dern), is attempting to help wealthy, aging dowager Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt) locate a long lost heir. Hoping to acquire a hefty fee for their assistance, the amateur sleuthing couple soon run afoul of a pair of pros.

William Devane and Karen Black are Arthur Adamson and Fran, a pair of diamond-obsessed kidnappers. The sociopathic Adamson is even willing to commit murder to achieve his goals. Crafty, clever, and ruthless, they soon cross paths with our bumbling amateurs. Which of our criminally inclined couples will end up snatching the brass ring?

I liked it. Nothing supercharged or hyper exciting. No breathless, exciting camera work to behold. No stunning visuals or psychotic, perverse villain to keep you up at night. Just a quartet of winning actors sleuthing their way through a series of satisfactory scripted twists and turns. And a quiet, low key, yet strangely satisfying ending.

Barbara Harris gives us a final oddball, winsome wink. It's an almost bittersweet, cheeky farewell from the man who supplied our lives with endless, thrilling pleasures. A wry goodbye from the drollest of gents. With a musical score by John Williams, Family Plot is available on YouTube.