Top 5 Hitchcock?

[Lyle Horowitz]

In time for the new 10-disc Signature Collection boxed-set from Warner, I was wondering what everyone's top five favorite Hitchcock films are? He's always been one of my favorite directors, and every time I see another one of his films he goes higher and higher up on my list. My favorites:

1. North by Northwest
2. Rear Window
3. Strangers on a Train
4. I Confess!
5. Spellbound
Honorable mention: Rope, Vertigo, Shadow of a Doubt.

I have to admit, never been a huge fan of The Birds, but I absolutley LOVE the last act of the film. I admire the fact Hitch used no score, because it totally made it more suspensful, imo. My favorite thing about Hitchcock is his ability to put YOU in the action. Although I don't even LIKE The Birds very much, it's one of my all-time favorite endings. The same goes for the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. I think it's a decent film but the final scene in the concert hall is absolutley brilliant, and another favorite of mine. Vertigo is very good and gets better on every viewing. The first half of the film is very slow, but the second half is engrossing. I can't wait to watch it again in my film class (on a large screen with a projector), because I am sure I will like it even more. Psycho is another film I have warmed to as of late, never was a big fan until recently. Hitchcock's most underrated: I Confess!, Spellbound, and Rope. They've never gotten the respect I feel they deserve. My favorites always switch around, but North by Northwest and Rear Window will always be up there. I've only seen these films out of the new collection: North By Northwest, Strangers on a Train, I Confess!, and Suspicion so I look forward to checking out the other 5 films soon. Dial M For Murder is a film I've wanted to see for a long time, hopefully it is as good as I've hoped for it to be.

[Morg]

#1 Rear Window
2. Vertigo
3. North By Northwest
4. Psycho
5. Rope
(6. The Trouble with Harry)

[Grim]

1. Psycho
2. Frenzy
3. Vertigo
4. Rear Window
5. The Birds

What can I say, my taste in Hitchcock is odd.

[Dilmo]

1. The Birds
2. Psycho
3. Verigo
4. Rear Window
5. Shadow Of A Doubt

[Lyle Horowitz]

1. Psycho
2. Frenzy
3. Vertigo
4. Rear Window
5. The Birds

What can I say, my taste in Hitchcock is odd.
Of course it's impossible, but nobody has the exact same Hitchcock list than the next person. I find that his work is among those directors that everything they do is open to criticism and interpretation. Or something. Yeah.

[IGotsNewShoes]

Of the ones I've seen....

1. The Birds
2. Strangers on a Train
3. Psycho
4. Rear Window
5. Rope

and I'm adding a number 6, cause it's kinda tied with Rope hehe PUN PUN

6. I Confess

[SilentScreams]

Here is my list:

1. Psycho
2. Vertigo
3. The Birds
4. North by Northwest
5. Dial M for Murder

[onebyone]

Oh boy is this hard:

1. Psycho
2. Rebecca
3. Notorious
4. Rear Window
5. The Birds

Of these, I probably watch Rebecca the most. I never tire of that movie, and am almost always in the mood to give it another spin.

[mcchrist]

1. North by Northwest
2. Frenzy
3. Rear Window
4. Vertigo
5. Rebecca

[betterdan]

The Birds
Psycho
Rear Window
North by Northwest
Frenzy

[Erick H.]

1.NORTH BY NORTHWEST
2.VERTIGO
3.PSYCHO
4.STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
5.THE BIRDS

Tough choices,theres some great stuff to choose from.SHADOW OF A DOUBT and NOTORIOUS are great,too !

[Nemesis]

Psycho
The Birds
Rear Window
Vertigo
North by Northwest

[life_o_petey]

the hitchcock collection just came in the mail today, and there are a few in the set that i haven't seen, so this may change...but as of right now:

1. Rear Window
2. Psycho
3. Rope
4. Lifeboat
5. North by Northwest

[bachmann]

Mine are

Rear window
Psycho
Rope
Vertigo
notorious

[Guyver99]

Alfred Hitchcock is my absolute favorite director of all time so...it's really, really, really difficult to pick 5. The list generally changes all the time (depending on how frequently I watch certain movies) but here's the current one:

1. Vertigo
2. North By Northwest
3. Notorious
4. Rear Window
5. The Lady Vanishes

Funny thing...I'm a horror fan (obviously since I'm here) but Psycho never seems to make my top 5. It's a great low budget movie, but it doesn't even come close to Vertigo in terms of depth nor is it as fun to watch as NxNW.

On another note, I also got the new Warner Hitch box and it's absolutely essential for any Hitchcock fan. It's nice to finally have Dial M for Murder, I Confess and the Wrong Man on DVD. :D

[Ash28M]

1. Rear Window
2. Psycho
3. The Birds
4. Lifeboat
5. Vertigo

[fceurich39]

i only like two hitchcock movies
1.psycho
2. the birds

[Evil Dead Guy]

1. Rear Window
2. Rope
3. Psycho
4. Strangers From A Train
5. The Birds

[Lyle Horowitz]

i only like two hitchcock movies
1.psycho
2. the birds
How many have you actually seen?

[IGotsNewShoes]

1. Rear Window
2. Rope
3. Psycho
4. Strangers From A Train
5. The Birds

Same list different order :) YAY good taste

[Dust Bunny]

1. North by Northwest
2. Psycho
3. Read Window
4. Rope
5. The Birds

[y2doublet]

1. Vertigo (hands down)
2. Rear Window (I'm a sucker for the Stewart-collaborations)
3. North By Northwest
4. Psycho
5. The Birds

[wgdavis]

1) Lifeboat - OK, maybe sentimental, but it was the first character study of a small group I saw, and it is still one of the best. Kinda like Cube without the slicing and dicing.
2) Psycho - I was surprised about Mother. Great atmosphere, tension, and a twist M. Night Whatshisname couldn't top...ever.
3) The Birds - Just a Creature Feature, but done to perfection by the master.
4) The 39 Steps - A great mystery, thriller, and spy movie.
5) Rear Window - Brilliant acting and great suspense.

[Guyver99]

The 39 steps is such a great spy/suspense movie (especially for 1939). It'd probably be #6 on my list. :D

[Paff]

1. North by Northwest
2. Rope
3. Sabotuer
4. The 39 Steps
5. Marnie

shit, I wanted to be the first to mention The 39 Steps. What a great movie. I've tried several times to get into Vertigo, and it's just never worked for me.

[Il Corvo]

No one mentioned my favourite one yet (except for SilentScreams) :

1- Dial M for Murder
2- Psycho
3- The Birds
4- Rear Window
5- The Trouble with Harry

[meep]

Vertigo is his masterpiece. It's bizarre and beautiful.

2. Psycho. It defined a genre.
3. The Birds. It further substantiated the genre.
4. The Trouble with harry -- His breeziest and most fun to watch film.
5. Marnie -- Similiar to Vertigo in it's bizarre nature & audaciousness.

I also really like Rebecca, North By Northwest, Strangers on a train & Rear Window. It's funny about making a top 5 list for him. You can never go wrong really. Sure his later films were weak, in particular Topaz and Torn Curtain, but he has so many great films. He really was the greatest filmmaker. Without him fear film wouldn't have as much meaning in our lives as it does today.

The Only major hitchcock that needs to be released on dvd is now lifeboat. Wonder if fox will ever...

[y2doublet]

Nice comparison between Vertigo and Marnie. I also felt that the two had a similair tone when I caught both on the big screen a couple of years ago. Marnie is really underrated (or maybe it isn't, you just don't hear much about it).

[RyanPC]

I've had Hitchcock fever for the past few weeks, so I'm going to attempt this even though there are quite a few left for me to see:

1. Psycho
2. Frenzy
3. Family Plot
4. The Birds
5. Rope

Honorable mentions to: North By Northwest, Saboteur, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Strangers on a Train, and Marnie.

Least favorite Hitchcocks: The Trouble With Harry, Topaz, and Dial M For Murder.

I feel as if it is a cliche to list Psycho as my favorite Hitchcock film, but seriously, how can you beat that masterpiece? Frenzy comes damn close, though. They are almost equal in my eyes. Some may be shocked at the inclusion of Family Plot in my list, but I've always thought that the film was vastly underrated. It's just a fun film that has some incredibly suspenseful scenes, boasts a delightful performance by Barbara Harris (the rest of the cast is really good, but she's the standout) and carries a fantastic score by John Williams (one of his best, I think).

Marnie is another Hitchcock that is terribly underrated. Upon first watching it, I thought it was merely average, but I watched it again last week and realized how good the film really is. I also think Tippi Hedren's performance in Marnie is very strong (though I may be biased because I've always liked her) and I doubt Grace Kelly would have been right for the role.

I knew going into Topaz that it was one of Hitchcock's lesser pictures and it certainly lived up to that. It wasn't a complete loss, however--there's one shot that is among the best I have ever seen... you know it when you see it--and it was interesting for the fact that it is so different from Hitchcock's other films.

I think The Trouble With Harry is the worst Hitchcock film I've seen. I didn't hate it (I don't think it is possible to hate any of his films); I just didn't think it was all that funny, and the way the characters behaved made me cringe. I have no idea why that one is generally considered one of his best, because it certainly isn't in my eyes.

Dial M For Murder has one memorable scene (the famous attack on Grace Kelly), but it's mostly forgettable. I don't mind films that were based on plays--Wait Until Dark made the most of that type of situation--but upon rewatching Dial M For Murder, I just found it to be incredibly dull.

I didn't include Vertigo or Rear Window on my list, even though I do appreciate the films and there's such a mysterious quality about Vertigo that draws me to it and leaves me thinking about the film days after I watch it. Rear Window is, for me, average Hitchcock. The second half is great, but the first half is rather slow and brings the whole film down, making it tough for me to sit through.

[Mazurka Macabre]

1. Vertigo
The stylistic and thematic culmination of Hitchock's career as a filmmaker. His magnum opus, in short.

2. North by Northwest
The best action film ever made. Herrmann's overture still makes me shudder with delight.

3. The Birds
My favorite of Hitchcock's horror. Doesn't rely on pseudo-psychology/psychoanalysis like so many of his other films (Psycho, Spellbound). Tippi Hedren - and whoever did those awesome bird mattes - really carried this flick.

4. Rear Window
A masterpiece of suspense and meta examination of the cinema as voyeurism. One of the few films I felt actual terror while watching.

5. Rebecca
Just a great bit of cinema, despite being "fluff". I prefer du Maurier's morally complex ending, though.

[DopeChamberX]

1. Rear Window - One of the first films I absolutely fell in love with.
2. Rope - Love the simplicity of it and how much suspense it generates still on multiple viewings.
3. Shadow Of A Doubt
4. Notorious
5. Strangers On A Train

Hitchcock has always been my favorite director, so I love almost all of his films and it's hard just to pick five, but I must admit that I have not brought myself to rewatch Topaz. Only film of his I feel like it's almost a chore to sit through, and I hate admitting that.

[Mazurka Macabre]

Cumulative data:

Top 5 by total votes:
1. Rear Window - 20
2. Psycho - 19
3. The Birds - 17
4. North by Northwest / Vertigo - 13
5. Rope - 9

Top 5 by No. 1 votes:
1. Rear Window - 6
2. Psycho / North by Northwest - 5
3. Vertigo - 4
4. The Birds - 3
5. Lifeboat / Dial M for Murder - 1

I thought about making a spreadsheet... :lol:

[fattyjoe37]

I haven't seen every Hitchcock (there are a ton!) but I have seen a fair share. Here are my top 5:

1. Psycho
2. Rear Window
3. Vertigo
4. North by Northwest
5. Notorious

[Erick H.]

In no particular order....

PSYCHO-A model for roughly half the horrors that followed in it's wake.So embedded in our subconscious that people reference it who have never even seen it (often without even realising it).

NORTH BY NORTHWEST-Probably Hitchcock's best romp,a ''wrong man'' plot filled with memorable scenes ,sexy reparte and great good humor.Cary Grant,too !

VERTIGO-DARK.Screw ''feel good" cinema,Hitchcock turns out one of his most twisted,bleakest pics,and has the guts to not cheapen it with a studio ending.The most screwed up character Jimmy Stewart ever played.

THE BIRDS-A pure director's piece.Starts out light then builds to one of Hitchcock's nerviest thrillers.In a day bloated with overblown CGI holocausts,the films old school effects are still wonderfully effective.

NOTORIOUS-Superbly crafted and surprisingly adult,with Grant and Bergman at the height of their powers and the great Claude Rains on hand as well.Still sexy,too.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT and FRENZY were real contenders,there are a lot of great choices.All of the Master's pics are worth at least one look and the best are timeless.One of the greats.

[Rockmjd]

Rear Window
Psycho
North By Northwest
Vertigo
Rebecca

[dwatts]

Hm - this has the "I could change my mind" about it. :D

1. 39 Steps
2. Lifeboat
3. Rope
4. Rebecca
5. Frenzy

Some other great ones out there, of course. A bottom five would be more difficult. The Lifeboat double-disc tin release is beautiful!