- published: 08 Jul 2014
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North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures".
North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization who want to stop his interference in their plans to smuggle out microfilm containing government secrets.
Author and journalist Nick Clooney praised Lehman's original story and sophisticated dialogue, calling the film "certainly Alfred Hitchcock's most stylish thriller, if not his best".
This is one of several Hitchcock movies with a music score by Bernard Herrmann and features a memorable opening title sequence by graphic designer Saul Bass. This film is generally cited as the first to feature extended use of kinetic typography in its opening credits.
For a discussion of the title, see below.
Roger O. Thornhill, a twice-divorced Madison Avenue advertising executive (Cary Grant), is mistaken for "George Kaplan" when he summons a hotel bellhop who is paging Kaplan, and is kidnapped by Valerian (Adam Williams) and Licht (Robert Ellenstein). The two take him to the house of Lester Townsend on Long Island. There he is interrogated by a man he assumes to be Townsend, but who is actually foreign spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason). Thornhill repeatedly denies he is Kaplan, but Vandamm refuses to believe his men picked up the wrong man. He orders his right-hand man Leonard (Martin Landau) to get rid of him.
(verse)
Live from occupied Duwamish territory
Where Carlos Bulosan once lived to tell the story
Of the brain, sweat, and glory of mic checks and men
Who fight the destination we were destined to end
Left the writing on the walls in the halls of the Nipo-
Cong
Others transform, majority Decepticons
But my conception of the Walkman's rotation,
Is you live in the upper left you've got to have
patience
Cause ain't no urban radio stations about to play us
Unless you sign the dotted and make your songs
brainless
While you waitin' for the mention in the pages of "The
Stranger"
You can find me in the basement makin' heaters for
later
And yes, we all need a little paper to strive
But the monsters in your town will put a limp in your
stride
I exhibit all the time like I'm pimpin' your ride
And we've been living in conditions we're tired of
Come on and rise up
(chorus)
Two Scholars rock fresh, North by Northwest
And it's still no rest 'cause we're not finished yet
We're broke, but not broken
Cold, but not frozen
Lost but not forgotten, we're kickin' the doors open
Two Scholars rock fresh, North by Northwest
And it's still no rest 'cause we're not finished yet
We're broke, but not broken
Cold, but not frozen
Movin' in slow motion, it's that Northwest classic
(verse)
Nine eight double-one eight, the alphabetically 2nd to
last state [changed in live version to 4th]
Never finished in last place
Like the Mariners for 3 years straight
From prescriptions we administer the medicine
For people still afflicted with acute two-oh-sickness
We exist between the gold and the green
I paint the soul of the scene
Under towers of power, dodging the over Over-fiend
daily
Causing bones to decay, they say is so far away
Couldn't possibly make it, I seen modesty fade
And awful lot of hate, but none of which was said to my
face
I confide inside, my son, but with a fire made of
purple
I'm a writer for the art, I keep it sharpened with
rehearsal
The worst is when they mark us to target a market that
we're not even a part of
If your CD's in Target it means you got distribution,
but we still pushin' units
With our own two homegrown since youth
Thought you knew
(chorus)
(verse)
And they say desegregation was a big step forward
But integration only covered up a rotten core
The surface might've changed but the cauldron is still
Now we more politically correct with less real talk
They say we liberal but literally not
When the cops bend us over while upholding the law
Despite the sight of coffee shops on every single block
Nearby its supply and demand for the rock
It's two types of crack, one legal, one felonious
The lumpenpro push keys like Thelonious
The corporation pushing blood with the beans
I heard people moving up here for the love of the green
New homes, new stores, still a hood underneath
No good how we chilling in the gut of the beast
A national question, with no answer in the least
It's no resting ‘til the cancer meets defeat