Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. On 19 April 1955, he became an American citizen while remaining a British subject.
Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon. Hitchocks reputation as a filmmaker is offset by claims that he engaged in obsessive and controlling behaviour towards many of his leading ladies, and that in some cases this extended to physical abuse and sexual harrassment.
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In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma, are at the top of their creative game as filmmakers amid disquieting insinuations about it being time to retire. To recapture his youth's artistic daring, Alfred decides his next film will adapt the lurid horror novel, Psycho, over everyone's misgivings. Unfortunately, as Alfred self-finances and labors on this film, Alma finally loses patience with his roving eye and controlling habits with his actresses. When an ambitious friend lures her to collaborate on a work of their own, the resulting marital tension colors Alfred's work even as the novel's inspiration haunts his dreams.
Keywords: 1950s, 1960s, actor, actress, adultery, automobile, based-on-book, beach-house, black-humor, blonde
Good evening.
Behind every Psycho is a great woman.
Alfred Hitchcock: [after viewing the shower scene with Bernard Herrmann's score for the first time] It's getting there.
Alfred Hitchcock: I will never find a Hitchcock blonde as beautiful as you.::Alma Reville: Oh, Hitch. I've waited thirty years to hear you say that.::Alfred Hitchcock: And that my dear, is why they call me the Master of Suspense.
Alfred Hitchcock: My contract guarantees me final cut on all of my pictures.::Barney Balaban: It also states that Paramount doesn't have to release anything that might cause the studio embarrassment!::Alfred Hitchcock: As opposed to those last five Martin and Lewis pictures you're so proud of?
Geoffrey Shurlock: [In reference to the shower scene] The addition of a lyrical score will not change my opinion!
Alfred Hitchcock: You may call me Hitch. Hold the Cock.
Alfred Hitchcock: [to Janet] Hope you don't mind, I told Mrs Bates she could use your dressing room.
[last lines]::Alfred Hitchcock: Good evening.
Alma Reville: It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream, and her head. Charming. Doris Day should do it as a musical!
Rita Riggs: Is this really going to be your next picture?::Alfred Hitchcock: Yes Madam! Oh by the way, try the finger sandwiches. They are real fingers.
Alma Reville: Are we going to have to sell the whole house, or just the pool?
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When Grace Kelly retires from films to marry Prince Rainier Alfred Hitchcock looks for a similar blonde and finds her in TV model,the little known Tippi Hedren,who will star in his film adaptation of horror story 'The Birds'. Hitchcock is obsessed with Tippi sexually and,when she rebuffs his advances,sadistically puts her through five days of filming where she is attacked and injured by real birds. Hitchcock's wife Alma and his assistant Peggy are appalled but can do nothing. Tippi is resolved that she will not give in to Hitchcock despite the situation giving her nightmares. Hitchcock and Tippi make a second film,'Marnie'. Having admitted that Alma is the only woman he has ever had sex with and that he now finds her cold Hitchcock continues to pursue Tippi, bombarding her with phone calls declaring his love for her yet reminding her that he alone made her famous and she owes him. At this stage Tippi demands that her contract be terminated and an end title states that they never worked together again.
Keywords: 1960s, abuse, actor's-life, actress, animal-trainer, aspiring-actress, assistant-director, automobile, backyard, based-on-biography
He made her his star. And his darkest obsession.
[Alfred Hitchcock pours a glass of wine for Tippi Hedren, just after he has first met her]::Alfred Hitchcock: This is a very fine Californian pinot noir. It's called the heartbreak grape. Do you know why? Of all the grapes used to make wine, these are the most fragile. It has a very thin skin, prone to disease, mould, every kind of rot and virus known to the vintner's art. So growing pinot noir is a bit like making a movie - heartbreak guaranteed.
[Evan Hunter, writer of the screenplay for The Birds, disagrees with Hitchcock about the casting of Tippi Hedren]::Evan Hunter: A seven-year contract?::Alfred Hitchcock: Her inexperience is an asset. She has nothing to un-learn. Also she's unattached so she won't get pregnant. I do *hate* it when actresses get pregnant.::Evan Hunter: I thought you were kidding.::Alfred Hitchcock: [grimly] As is well-known, I have no sense of humor whatsoever.
[Hitchcock recites a limerick to Tippi Hedren]::Alfred Hitchcock: There was a young lady of Trent / Who said she knew what it meant / When he asked her to dine / Private room, lots of wine / She knew, oh she knew - but she went!::[Tippi raises her wineglass as a toast]::Tippi Hedren: Heartbreak guaranteed.
Alfred Hitchcock: There was a young man from Nantucket / Who had such a large cock he could suck it. / He looked in the glass / And saw his own arse / And broke his neck trying to fuck it.
Alfred Hitchcock: A worried young man from Stamboul / Discovered red spots on his tool. / Said the doctor, a cynic, / Get out of my clinic! / Just wipe off that lipstick, you fool.
Alfred Hitchcock: There was a young girl from Sofia / Who succumbed to her lover's desire. / She said it's a sin, / But now that it's in / Could you shove it a few inches higher?
[title quote]: Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints. - Alfred Hitchcock
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On his way to a Make Poverty History gig in Scotland, Bob Geldof is accidentally stranded by an incompetent chauffeur in a run-down motel in Northern England. To his horror, he discovers a lookalike contest is taking place, and no-one will believe he is the real Bob Geldof. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, he discovers he may not be the only Bob Geldof in the room...
Keywords: character-name-in-title, elvis-presley, impersonation, look-alike, madonna, michael-jackson, mick-jagger, mother-teresa, osama-bin-laden, pope-john-paul-ii
Sir. Saint. Sinner.
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The year is 1952, in Quebec City. Rachel, 16, unmarried, and pregnant, works in the church. Filled with shame, she unburdens her guilt to a young priest, under the confidentiality of the confessional. In the present year of 1989, Pierre Lamontagne has returned to Quebec to attend his father's funeral. He meets up with his adopted brother, Marc, who has begun questioning his identity and has embarked on a quest for his roots that would lead them to the Quebec of the 1950s. Past and present converge in a complex web of intrinque where the answer to the mystery lies.
Keywords: 1950s, 1980s, adoption, bra-less, brother-brother-relationship, canada, catholic, catholic-church, catholic-priest, emasculation