SPEAKER_03 0:04

Why are you talking like this? It's not very conducive to me staying away.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. We are still Meladjusted Misfits and we've loved every minute of it. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack. A total joke, waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_06 0:31

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've all gain from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Sky Mac. Hola muchachos, the Gor Lover Alexis. Everyone. And the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

I'm not shy, I've been looked at before.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

We're back at it again with another classic Alfred Hitchcock film. This time, though, one that currently ranks at number 42 of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

So we recently revisited the film The Shining on our Patreon feed. So if you're interested in seeing how that went down, check out our Patreon. But we then checked out the follow-up, which was Dr. Sleep. Now Dr. Sleep was like a long-awaited sequel to The Shining, and a lot of people didn't know that that was a thing when it was advertised, myself included. But we wanted to hear what our listeners thought about Dr. Sleep. This may be shocking to only me, but 100% of the people that voted gave it a slash.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

To this day, I have not met a human in person that has disliked Dr. Sleep.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

You know that that makes sense in my brain.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

It's a really good movie, of course.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

I did not dislike it, but I did hack it. So that still stands. But we wanted to hear some comments from our friends, and we have a comment from Anna on Facebook. She said, Ugh, I looked forward to Friday all week just to listen to this podcast. It's been such a rough week. I couldn't even stomach my other podcast this week. Only this one. By the way, it's a slash for me. Anything related to the shining is a slash for me. I watched it for the first time when I was five. My mom started me early. Visually, this movie was so pleasing, then after hearing they used clips from The Shining, driving to the Overlook, just made me respect this movie even more. Thank you for giving me an hour and a half of peace in this chaotic time for me.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Oh, I love you so much, Anna.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Yeah, just hearing that like our little podcast can help somebody's rough week get better is honestly shocking and so heartwarming.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, it's nice. I always look forward to recording nights where I get to see everyone. And we're missing Ryan tonight, but I'll I'm sure I'll see her sometime.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Yeah, Anna, sometimes this podcast makes our week too. We have another comment from Jason who said, So, I listened to this today. Man, usually I love you guys, but this one, wow. I couldn't disagree more. Chris and I are usually lockstep on movie opinions, but I love The Shining. It's my favorite horror film and a top ten for me in overall movies. I do understand the cultural issues in today's day, obviously, but as a film, it's just so good. Everything is so deliberate. Doctor Sleep for me was like the opposite. Like it was attempting to slavishly follow the Shining movie while shoving in things that King felt upset about still to this day. I don't know, I didn't really enjoy it. It's a hack for me, pretty much for those reasons I listed, along with what I felt like was really bad pacing. I didn't realize the X-Men sort of vibes, but I disliked that as well after listening to you guys. Sorry, but it's definitely a hack for me. P.S. I still love y'all though.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Oh, love you too, Jason, and it's okay, because if we agreed 100% of the time, I wouldn't be me, you wouldn't be you, but you keep coming back, and we love you for it.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Also, I just love the phrase I couldn't disagree more.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

It's something that you have said many times on this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

True, and is it a coincidence that Jason and I agree about these movies? I don't think.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yeah, the one time Jason and I disagree, it's because he agrees with you.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Harris and I are famously the Harry Potter to each other's Voldemort.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

Yeah, and listeners, you can decide who's the Voldemort. And finally we have another comment from one of our patrons, Anthony. Anthony said this. Dr. Sleep put me to I'm joking, what a great film. Abra and Rose the Hat, six out of five stars right there. Abra is strong, smart, and shines her way into viewers' hearts. No pun intended. I think that pun was intended. Rose the Hat, I hate to disagree, but she does not look like a nice woman in this film. She started to scare me with her, well hello, to Violet. Now speaking of Violet, if you know me, you know that scenes with children in danger or death terrify me. I, too, like Chris, think of my nieces, little cousins, friends, kids, or even Lila in those situations, and end up not sleeping at night, like Daniel Harris screaming down the street in Halloween four, or Alex Vincent in Child's Play and Child's Play 2. The scenes with Violet and Bradley were definitely horrific. They put knots in your stomach and lumps in your throat. On just a scare scale, that's a slash. Seeing Danny grown up, rediscovering his shine, and ultimately ending what needed to be ended was satisfying. Dark endings are always good. And I feel like having Danny down in that boiling room at the end sends a perfect nod to the masterpiece of a novel King originally wrote before that hacking film. Part two though, this movie gets a slash from me.

SPEAKER_06 5:02

I agree, and I think it's important that you call out like the character arc because that is a pretty big part of Dr. Sleep.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Totally. Now we do have one more shout-out to give, and that is to our newest patron, Alex. Alex, thanks for joining the patron family. Welcome. I'm not sure how long you've been listening, but we are really grateful for your support. If you'd like to reach out to us, feel free to send us a call to our hackerslash hotline or send us a message on one of our social media platforms. And that is our follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Well, from one classic to another, let's turn our attention to this week's film. In 1942, a short story written by Cornell Woolrich published in a mystery magazine called The Dimed Detective. That short story would provide the foundation Hitchcock and writer John Michael Hayes would build upon for a 1954 Paramount film. This film takes Woolrich's original story and adds in a number of inspirations, two of which were real murders in 1910 and 1924. Hitchcock's film follows James Stewart's portrayal of L. B. Jeffries, a man confined to his apartment, passing time by looking upon the ongoings of his neighbors' lives. Eventually, though, he begins to suspect one of his neighbors is up to foul deeds, and he's determined to discover the fate of a seemingly missing woman. This week we're talking about Rear Window. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Had never seen this. Um, it sounded vaguely familiar because I think I just got done reading Woman in the Room. I forgot what it was called, but it's Woman in the Window. Woman in the Window. So I got very similar vibes. I was like, maybe I've seen this before, but I clearly have not.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Truly, Lexis, I was also kind of hoping for some Woman in the Window vibes, but believe it or not, I've seen the first 20 minutes of this movie before because Lady Gaga referenced this movie in her song Bad Romance, and at the time I was like, oh, I should watch this movie because Lady Gaga referenced it because I'm a dumb basic gay. And I didn't get very far in it before I turned it off.

SPEAKER_06 6:53

I have oddly never seen this movie before. My wife has, however, and was super stoked when I told her uh what I needed to watch this uh week for the episode.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

I love this movie, uh, historically. It is one that I haven't watched it probably in about 15 or so years, but I used to watch this all the time, along with the birds, along with Bringing Up Baby, along with Send Me No Flowers, along with North by Northwest, Dialem for Murder, all these classics with my sisters. It'd it'd be our like perfect rainy day, cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie activity with some popcorn if we weren't watching horror movies. So this is one that I have absolutely looked back fondly on, particularly because of how rooted it is in modern media. So yeah, I love watching the show 911, for example. 911 has a whole episode that's centered and themed around this movie. There's obviously Shia LaBeouf's film Disturbia, which is very similar to this movie as well. And then there's also a 1998 Made-for TV remake starring Christopher Reeves. And it's actually a couple years, I think it's a year or two after his accident where he's paralyzed from the neck down. And so it it takes a really interesting spin on that. I don't think it's as good as as this movie was at the time. We'll see after like revisit it, but I was curious to see how I'd receive it this time. Obviously, looking at the birds, for example, that's one that I've loved unconditionally. And then I watched it and like, ooh, it oozes the patriarchy. So I was curious to see how it still taste 15 years later, but what were you folks expecting?

SPEAKER_06 8:26

I went into this knowing two things, Hitchcock and 1954. Aside from that, I had completely forgotten any details about the film. Uh and I say forgot because I know it's come up in conversation and horror articles, YouTube videos, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

I too thought the same thing. Uh, but I like Hitchcock, so I don't know where you're going with that, but I was expecting a lot of dialogue, a lot of richness in the characters, which I was super excited for. And a lot to fade in and fade out.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Loving that optimism. For my expectations, I wrote ancient bullshit, woman in the window vibes, boring and aesthetically pleasing. And that's what I was expecting going into this.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Hmm. Did that track with how you were feeling while you were watching it?

SPEAKER_03 9:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Ancient bullshit is the disrespect in this household, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

It's high. We all know I have no respect for the past whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

What kills me is that you say woman in the window vibes instead of acknowledging that that probably has vibes from this.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Well, see, that's what I was hoping. I was hoping that there were things that woman in the window pulled from this movie, and I can't say I found any. Yeah. You mean like the plot?

SPEAKER_06 9:31

Except for the fact that it's just like looking through a window. I want to go back to something Paris said that I can actually agree with, and that was aesthetically pleasing. Because while watching this, I'm thinking like New York City never looked so glamorous, even in an everyday neighborhood. Not like the sparkly gold kind of glamour, but the quality of the film, the color of everything, along with, of course, the absolute stunner, Grace Kelly.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

I would like to go on the same train as you guys, but I guess my attitude kind of took like a very like kind of roller coaster while watching this. It was I was super entertained in the beginning. Then there were a few lulls to me, but those still had some action and some dialogue. I just was very exhausted. But I like how I was like entertained throughout the entire movie. And I felt like I was really invested with these characters and like trying to figure out, I felt like I was in that room as well, looking outside and trying to figure out am I crazy? Am I not crazy? Is this going on? Am I picking up the wrong context clues? Like, what's going on? So I love that little mystery that was even brought out of the movie for me.

SPEAKER_06 10:33

I mean, I can add on to the entertainment thing. So recently I've I've fallen into a bad habit, either whether it's watching TV or a movie, of uh pulling out the Nintendo Switch and playing Rocket League on it. Because I feel like, you know, a couple minutes at a time, I'm I can be a little bit distracted, but I can also still watch. And this is one of those movies where I think as you watch it, you might feel like the pacing is slower than a lot of modern movies, but I kept having to put the switch down to pay attention to what was happening on screen. Because it there's a there's enough going on on screen that it's not even if it feels slow, it's not slow. And there's there's a lot going on. So it is like it may not be like edge of your seat level of entertainment, you know, it's not gonna be fast nine, it's not gonna focus on the power of family, you know, solving cosmic wonders. But no, there is enough, I think, going on to kind of keep your attention.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, and I felt like that because I was doing a lot of stuff while watching this, and I was trying to work a little bit, and I was like, you know what? I'm missing out on a lot of stuff right here. And I typically don't feel like that about movies. I'm like, I can have pay attention. And Chris and I have talked about this on the podcast where sometimes we just flip out our phones. It's like the Netflix effect, you know, you got your phone on, you're watching the Netflix movie, you got you got the gist of what's going on. This movie, like I never had thought to pull out my phone. I did have my laptop out, but even like taking notes, I'm like, you know what? I need to take a step back for a second, and I rewind, I'm like, I missed something. I'm pretty sure I missed like two things.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Yeah, I also kind of felt like I was watching a play, and I think that had to do a lot with the unique use of like the set. You're in one specific spot and you have like this like specific vantage point of all these other players in the story. Um, so it felt like I was watching a stage play that was filmed in a really interesting way. That is so accurate from for movies of this period.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Absolutely. Especially when you look at Hitchcock specifically. I know we discussed this a bit in the birds episode, but he was not a fan of filming on location and tried his damnedest to do it as little as possible. So I think even looking at like just the dynamics of of this set and how it was constructed, it's pretty spectacular. And I found myself feeling extremely entertained throughout this movie, and it hits different when you're older. It's something that where obviously you know how it ends, you know the iconic moments, you know the iconic uh stills and that you're gonna get from looking across the way or looking at the way that this film uses its shadows to deceive you. And I found myself still really satisfied by a lot of those things. But what drew me this time was how much more I focus on the characters because for as many times as I've seen this, and again, I've seen it dozens of times growing up, as many times as I've seen it, I've never truly sat in the depth of these characters or the relationships and the dynamics between them. Obviously, you know what's going on across the way. Each character has its o has their own silhouette and their own little world that they're living in. But as far as our main characters of Jeffries and Lisa and even Stella, to see the dynamic and really study that and explore that, and then be someone who has obviously been in relationships, maybe that uh you're more invested than someone else's. It was a really interesting watch. And then obviously having to filter that through the context of this is the 1954 patriarchy, right? Like it's it's a very different experience, so you can only go so far with it, but I find that that weight of those relationships. I used to love the character of Jeffries, and he was one of the biggest disappointments for me. Not like in a shit on the movie kind of way, but in the why did I ever like you kind of way.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

I have that same question, Chris. This is my first time watching this, and I thought he was a turd. So I'm surprised to hear that at one point you did like him, but it makes sense that you've come to see through his facade and see that he's a turd.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Well, here's the thing. I was too busy enjoying Lisa. I was never truly interested in Jeffries. Fair. I just saw he was a war photographer and he broke his leg doing a fucking like a race car event, and you have these dope pictures, and like, that's the kind of guy I could get behind. True. Nah, he's really just an asshole.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Yeah, when you have Lisa there being so captivating, it's easy to overlook the guy in the chair.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Exactly. Oh, and then it's like, you know what? Do I dislike Jeffries that much? Because clearly he's showing Lisa that she deserves better.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

She was really captivating. And it's crazy because what surprised me, and I know we'll talk about this when we talk about visuals probably, but how it was only filmed in like essentially from one area, like you know, Jeffries' room. Just that vantage point and going from there and being able to see everything. And that that's what surprised me because I knew that it was like one set essentially, but I didn't know the details that would go into that. So I was super surprised at how well it worked.

SPEAKER_06 15:20

It is it is a really impressive set. I can't wait to talk about it more when we get into the uh spoiler spoiler section. But I think the thing that honestly surprised me going into this, and I I just I don't know why I didn't even think of it, but the dialogue was very quippy. Yeah. And and much quippier than I had anticipated. And I I think it was a pleasant surprise. I think there were some great back and forths between several of the characters, even some of the secondary characters that didn't have a lot of screen time, had some great lines in there. You know, we're we're talking about how Jeff is kind of a douchebag, and they kind of put him in his place quite often, and that was enjoyable.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

I totally agree, Mac. I was really surprised by how quotable this movie was. I always write down like my favorite quotes from a movie, and this might be the one that has the most quotes that I've written down. And I was also pleasantly surprised by how like nuanced Grace Kelly's performance was. I've only ever heard of Grace Kelly as like an icon and an entity. Um, so this is the first thing I've actually seen her in, and I was like, oh, okay, I get it. I totally get it.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Oh, you've been missing out.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Yeah, apparently. She's a star. I'm what, 80 years late to this game. But one thing I was super disappointed by was like the total lack of horror in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

It wasn't supposed to be.

SPEAKER_06 16:25

I think for its time, like this level of suspense might be a lot. You know, not we're not talking about like terrifier level, perhaps back then. I think you could have shown them crazier things, but I think for 1954, like the implications were were heavy.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah. Really what it is is the dialogue and the sentences that are thrown out, and then the conclusions that you draw in your mind and the things that you imagine based on what they're saying, keep in mind, this is so, so early, right? This is long before we even get the bloodless slasher Halloween. This is before we get the little to no blood and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So this is is is in a time where America still feels fairly innocent in cinema.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Okay, but if a movie has less gore than the birds, I'm gonna be mad.

SPEAKER_06 17:12

I I didn't expect that much. I for some reason imagined we would see the murder scene, perhaps, uh from afar. I don't know why I I expected that, but you know, I think Hitchcock is the master of suspense, not necessarily fear, and so it it lived up to my expectations. It's not scary, um, but that's also with a 2021 perspective and not 1954.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Yeah, there's for sure a moment in this film where there's a phone call that's made, and one of the great things about this movie is that it uses purely like diegetic sound. So aside from the the score and the opening in the film, everything else that you get takes place within the world of this movie. So there's a point where the sound kind of drops out a bit and you hear footsteps coming up to a door, and the way that that is used creates so much tension. Sure, it's not that scary now, right? But in 1954, oh shit. Even when I was younger, there are moments from this movie that I specifically remember being terrified of uh in terms of you know feeling like I had to keep my windows closed, things like that. I remember there's one time I fell asleep as a kid in Texas, and my window had been open across my room, and I just woke up and I could see this moment, specifically where Thorwald is sitting in his dark apartment across the way, and this cigar is lighting up, and it's all you see. And I I thought I could see that in my window and had to like rush to close the curtains. So this movie, while it wasn't really scary for me, I think it could absolutely leave a lasting impression of feeling like creepy.

SPEAKER_06 18:46

I think if it has an effect on you in any way, even if it's like making you think twice about locking your door or leaving a window open or something like that, then it did its job.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Yeah, I definitely was like, maybe I shouldn't just leave my windows open. Also, I'm house sitting and they are notorious for leaving their front windows open. They have huge bay windows and they have the light on. I mean, you can see everything. And this is also the neighborhood that they're in. But I'm like, you know, I don't want anyone to know what I'm watching on TV. One because I'm usually watching creepy stuff.

SPEAKER_06 19:13

It did remind me of when I lived in the Netherlands. What? And everybody had their Where did you live in the Netherlands? I was I was younger. I lived, I lived, uh lived in the Netherlands. By the military? Yes. What a gag. I I lived there for three years, and everybody there has like there's like a main window uh on their house, you know, like a front window. Imagine like a really large window in a townhouse, but they were all wide open, like shades fully open, no curtains, uh, you know, covering up anything. So you could like walk down the street and see everybody eating their dinner or watching TV, and like no one thought anything of it. It was like normal, but it was also normal for your neighbors to walk by and look into your house while you were eating.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

I mean, I do that.

SPEAKER_06 19:50

That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I love doing it when I'm on vacation because I'm like, oh, I like the design of that kitchen. Your neighbors, I love their kitchen, by the way.

SPEAKER_06 19:58

Yes, they have a nice kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

They have see, okay, we were both looking in your neighbor's house.

SPEAKER_06 20:02

Yeah. Well, they again, they just leave it wide open. Um, but you know, maybe it's a cultural thing. It just makes us, I think, think twice about leaving your shades open. Because I mean, I truly don't care. Like if somebody wants to watch me watching TV in my boxers, go for it. Good luck. Like, at least charge.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

So here's the thing. I don't care if people see the activities, but where I have a problem is that I'm so used to living on higher floors, leaving my windows open because I like natural light. Every single time I I leave my window open, my mom is freaking out thinking somebody's gonna see your big ass TV and break in. And I'm like, oh shit, that actually is a very real possibility here.

SPEAKER_03 20:38

That's true. Welcome to America.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Whoops.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

I have to say, Chris, that is a scary thought, but not as scary as the idea of no screens in windows. This movie apparently took place in a world without bugs, birds, or any type of critters that can get into your home.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

The birds were all busy in Bodega Bay.

SPEAKER_03 20:55

Truly.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

That's good.

SPEAKER_06 20:58

These windows are definitely old style. Like, if you think about it, there was no air conditioning. We're talking about New York City. I mean, there's barely air conditioning in New York City right now. So, like, in in 1954, air conditioning, no. So you'd be lucky to have a fan, to be honest. So leaving your windows open was the only option. And there's even, I think, a clip in here of uh the iceman. So literally a person delivering a block of ice, and that was a thing. One of my great-grandfathers actually did that. And I just can't imagine you're worried about the screens. I'm worried about the heat. It's 80 degrees and there's no air conditioning.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

You are worried about the heat.

SPEAKER_06 21:31

I'm very worried.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

That's my life right now. No air conditioning.

SPEAKER_06 21:34

Oh, that is scary.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

In this house with this room with cement walls and a tile floor. Oh my gosh. This is the alternate definition of hot boxes. Oh my.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

In these conditions, I would absolutely be that neighbor dancing around in my bra and panties with the windows wide open.

SPEAKER_06 21:53

It it's interesting while watching it, though, because you've we've mentioned a couple other movies that seem, you know, really similar to it. And I feel like that makes this movie not just original, but kind of the original. I feel like it's the archetype that everything is based off. Because I'm watching this and I'm sitting there thinking, like, okay, this is the plot of about five of the movies I can think of at the top of my head, right? And this particular scene and the fear that it's invoking, this is something that somebody tried to copy in at least another five to ten movies. So it's it's interesting to watch a movie this old that I think holds up pretty well, and then being able to say, like, somebody clearly just pulled from it directly.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Absolutely. Yeah, I totally feel that way. Like, this is so original. Um, especially, you know, coming from 1954. I can't imagine that there was anything like this before that. And I like the idea that this like voyeurism is, and like I said, and you guys have said too, it's definitely something that's been very popular in cinema since then. So not original now, but original then. Still original now. Still original.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Because it is the original one.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yeah, I mean like the stuff we see now. Yeah. First gen.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

As somebody who has never passed a history class, I'm going to give this originality points by default. I can't think of anything that happened before this. But in addition to what Mac is saying, sitcoms also love to reference this for an episode where like somebody's stuck in a house and they see something outside a window, nobody believes them, blah, blah, blah. So it was interesting to be like, okay, so every point of reference that I have for this has come from this source material. So that was interesting.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Yeah. Even the window of the friends apartment.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Oh my god, I literally thought about friends when I'm watching this.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah. Okay, so let me just be clear. I don't know that that's intentional. I don't know that friends specifically did that. It's probably just a very like specific New York architecture, but I I saw that and I was like, oh, I can imagine Phoebe and Chandler standing there.

SPEAKER_06 23:53

And the ugly naked guy across the way.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 23:56

But think about how easy it is for filmmakers to apply this movie to just like 12 other settings. Like they could be like, yo, what if you made rear window but it's in a hotel? What if we made rear window, but it's in a motorhome in a submarine, on a cruise ship, anywhere. A log cabin.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

I'm gonna be honest. Rear window on an aircraft carrier works pretty damn well.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

But one of the best parts about this movie, I feel, is how it wraps up, not necessarily with the the final outcome. I could have done with a little bit more brutality. I could have done with a little bit more weight to the ending itself. But the third act and that rise to the climax, absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Oh yeah, Chris, definitely the last 10 minutes were phenomenal. And it was something I was waiting on, and it delivered.

SPEAKER_06 24:46

You know, before Paraspeaks, because let's see him shaking his head and giving us the faces.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Honestly, the most exasperated look he's ever given.

SPEAKER_06 24:53

He just doesn't understand. But I I think the ending was very satisfying, albeit there was a very comedic action shot that literally made me laugh. And that's just due to time. So I'll I'll give it that. I'll give it that. But I did enjoy the ending. I feel like it wrapped up things well. Um, it wrapped them up in like a nice bow, and and that's not something these days we typically enjoy. We like, you know, suspense movies, thriller movies, and especially horror movies to end brutally and horribly and for nothing to go right. Um and this one ends it's in a very 1954 way, and and I I actually enjoy that.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

So while I can agree that the third act of this movie was definitely the best part and the most interesting, uh the climax itself, including the action Mac is referring to, was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in my life. Uh I also laughed, but also it was like a sad laugh. I was like, no, this can't be it. There has to be more, right? But there wasn't more. And then the end end, we just get like a sad outcome for characters that deserved better. Interesting. That is so interesting.

SPEAKER_06 25:53

Okay. Because I think we have some disagreements going on there. And that's what makes this podcast fun.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Before we get into the actual ratings of this movie, we have a little bit of work to do. Alexis, what's the body count?

SPEAKER_00 26:05

We have a measly one in this one, sadly. And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Well, there's two animals in this movie. One of them dies, and the other one is at the replacement. So it's not good.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

So this might be a little tough to watch aside from that low body count, but let's go ahead and dive into the scoring rear window from 1954 into the hacker slash.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

It's weird because if you'd have caught me like maybe 10 years ago, I probably would never have liked this movie or would have ever wanted to see something um made before the 2000s, uh, to be quite honest. I took a film class, it was probably way then more than 10 years ago now I'm thinking about it. It was high school, sadly. But anyway, watched It's a Wonderful Life, and I just like fell in love with like certain like aspects of older movies that you don't get nowadays, and seeing the uh the birds, and I was like, oh, I really like Hitchcock a lot. So I was super excited about this movie. And let me tell you, for me, it delivered. I love, I love, love, love the character development in this. I love the dialogue, the richness of all that. Usually I would be kind of bored, but I think it's because I usually see movies now where it's so it's not deep, it's so like lighthearted. So I like that. Um, I love the detail in this movie to every little thing, including a fire hydrant in the background. You know, how you can find out who this person is through a set, you know, and I love the amount of detail that's given to that. So because of all the work that's been put in this, I'm definitely gonna have to give this a slash.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Okay, I have a carrier pigeon from Ryan. She did watch the movie, but she was unable to make it to recording. But she had this to say. It's a solid hack for horror, but I'd watch it in the same way. I love watching the old James Bond movies anytime. The plot is thin, but the characters are ridiculous in the best way. And then she wanted to leave us with the overall sentiment that, ladies, if a man tells you he never wants to marry you, keep it pushing.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Agree. So she gave this a hack?

SPEAKER_03 28:10

It's a hack, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Oh, okay. But what I really want to know is what her feelings were towards Grace Kelly. That's what I'm really here for.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

They were ultimately positive.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Did she crush on Grace Kelly the same way she crushed on Miss Daniels?

SPEAKER_03 28:23

We'll have to ask her when she gets back. But I will double down with Ryan's hack and add another hack of my own. I can barely understand why we even reviewed this movie. In ancient times, yes, I bet this was horrific. Today, not at all. At one point a woman says, You heard of that market crash in 29? And I was like, Does she mean 1929? Is she referring to the year 1929 in real time? And that just goes to show you how old this movie is. Nearly a century at this point. For me, it just didn't hold up. Now, I found some nice things to say about this, and they are Grace Kelly. They are the use of set. There's so many really great layers in this movie. It takes a really good use of perspective, and it really forces a vantage point that gets you into the story. But I fell asleep a bunch of times. One time I never woke back up. I did have to finish this movie this morning, and I can't, I don't think there was any dimension or timeline in which I gave this movie a slash. So I apologize, but this is who I am. I have no reverence for the past, no respect for history. This is a hack for me.

SPEAKER_06 29:27

Oh, Paris. Just wait for history to repeat itself. Do you remember how we used to, you know, when we were in the 90s, we would refer to the 70s and the 80s, and now that we're in the future, we talk about the 80s and the 90s. We don't really mention the 2000s that much anymore because we were also young, we like to forget it. But just think about it in one year or even two years, you'll be able to look back and say, hey, remember in 21 when we did this or that?

SPEAKER_04 29:48

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 29:49

And that's gonna feel weird. Remember that podcast we had in 2021? But we won't we won't even have to say 2000. We'll just say 21. All the way back in 21.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

You remember the market crash of 08? It ruined us all before we ever got started.

SPEAKER_06 30:04

Uh oh boy. Let me let me refocus here. What to say, what to say about this movie. First off, it's a slash. The story's good, the characters are interesting, the visuals are beautiful, the set is insanely cool, the lighting is gorgeous, the dialogue seems to make sense for its time, uh, although it's um, I think, exceptionally quippy. Even though it's all offset by casual misogyny that unfortunately was par for the chorus in the 1950s, it's a solid watch, and most definitely the basis for like 20 other movies that have come since.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

You know, what else can you say besides this is a classic Hitchcock masterpiece? This movie is full of people who have either been nominated or won Academy Awards in their time. You have Star Power in 1954 baked into this film. There's a lot in this movie that I dislike now in terms of its characters, but I think they were played exactly the way they needed to be played. Stella was the unsung hero, the real MVP for me this time around, and she's someone that I probably never really paid attention to when I was younger. You know, Jeffries, James Stewart, huge James Stewart fan, love that man, but his character kind of sucks, right? And I think, you know, Mac, you just said it, right? The the the casual misogyny that was par for the course, this is where I struggle. But looking at this film, it aesthetically holds up so well. And having watched this film what felt like the millionth time, right, knowing exactly what's gonna happen, I still wasn't bored. And I think that says a lot in particular when you can look at it so many different ways throughout your life and actually s find a little bit of yourself in some of these characters. So while I dislike a lot of Jeffree's character, the cinematography holds up, the set design holds up, the lighting holds up, Grace Kelly always holds up, Stella, even better. Jeffries, uh, he is who he is, but it's still gonna get a slash from me. And with that, rear window from 1954 has earned three slashes and one official hack. Ryan mailed hers in, but we're not setting a precedent here. You can find this movie streaming online. And if you're in the US, it's available on Amazon Prime Video. Check it out. Join us in the second half so we can bask more in Paris' lack of reverence for history.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

Must we bask in it?

SPEAKER_02 32:24

We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_05 32:34

When you wake up in the morning, do you feel tired like the sun keeps showing up earlier and earlier? Do you have that restless feeling? It's time to spruce up that home with Thorwald Privacy Blinds. Uh our patent pending light blocking blinds. We'll keep the sun at bay and let you sleep soundly all day. Do you get up to private things that you don't want to share with your peeping tom neighbors? Thorwald Privacy Blinds will do just the trick. Keep the outside out and the inside in. Let you sleep in until noon, walk around naked, or even kill your bedridden spouse. All of the light blocking power of Thorwald Privacy Blinds.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for rear window, which has earned three slashes and one hack. And we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, we have the matter of gore violence death to get to. Alexis, what's the gore score for this movie?

SPEAKER_00 33:31

If non-existent was an option, we'd go with that. But um, considering the time, I know that they wouldn't consider this. Gore it'd be more violence. I'll give it a low, you know. Okay. One death you never see. You it's just imp implied that they're stuffed in suitcases.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Well, in the absence of the gore for this movie, you guys want to hear about the murders that this is actually inspired by? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

Please. Anything.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

So in in 1910, there was a doctor, was an American living in London, and he actually poisoned his wife, then cut up her body, and then told the police that she had moved to Los Angeles. And he almost got away with it if it weren't for someone seeing his secretary wearing her jewelry. Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

No.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Yeah, they figured out the affair.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

That's so cheap.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Yeah. Scotland Yard got involved. They fled to England under false names, and then they end up getting caught. They found parts of the wife's body in the cellar.

SPEAKER_06 34:29

So cliche, though, that it's the secretary that, you know, gets the goods after she's gone.

SPEAKER_02 34:34

Yeah, yeah. Then there's also a 1924 case where a man murdered his pregnant mistress and dismembered her body. And it's claimed that he threw the parts out of a train window piece by piece, burned the head in the fireplace.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

So train to Busan.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

So eerie. Other rumors indicate maybe he uh quartered the body up and stored it in a large trunk, then removed the internal organs, putting it in some biscuit tins and a hat box and boiling others on the stove. Two very different stories there.

SPEAKER_06 35:05

You know, I'm just curious about these real life stories because why wouldn't you just go, hey, this isn't working? Maybe we should just see other people.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Because they're fucking psychopaths, man. Come on.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

Yeah, Mac.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

You can't judge everybody else by your standards of living.

SPEAKER_06 35:18

These people can't be reasoned with. That's true, because their their first thought was this isn't working. Maybe I should cut them up into little pieces and discard them. In a biscuit tin. Oy vee. We usually just put sewing materials in our biscuit tins.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

I don't know. These are pretty chilling stories, though.

SPEAKER_06 35:33

Much more chilling than the murder that we see in this movie. Because we don't I mean, so we get the one scream, and I actually really love the fact that Hitchcock doesn't love to show everything. I think it adds so much to the film because it's not really about the scene of it happening, you know, it's it's about everything else like surrounding it here. So I I love when we're like, we hear the scream, he goes to look out the window and like looks around for it, and we don't see anything. And I think a lot of times in movies that are like this these days, you know, they'll they'll look in and they'll see a woman like fall to the ground or they'll see a bloody knife raised and they're wondering who did it, or whatever the case is. But here, nothing. You just don't see anything, and there's just assumptions and implications.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

So for me, I literally wrote An Hour and a Half In, and it's still not a horror movie. And then I wrote, Grace Kelly needs to be flayed and torn limb from limb and forced down the garbage disposal for this to be a horror movie.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_03 36:24

And we knew that wasn't gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Grace Kelly could never. Alright. Should never.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Of course she would never.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

It's already bad enough that she actually did suffer a very tragic death in life, but we did not like she was the one thing keeping this movie together, her and Stella.

SPEAKER_06 36:39

Truly. I did find it interesting when I was reading that she thought uh Jimmy Stewart was incredibly attractive. Like she found him to be like very manly and very sexual.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Um, he is.

SPEAKER_06 36:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

I can also kind of see it.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

So, yes. However, I think this is not prime James Stewart. I think he aged really, really well. But let's be real. When he's getting his massage and he's topless, he got some flabby nips.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

You know, yeah, real soggy body.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

It was very old man chest.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

I mean, he uh he's rocking the dad bod. It's okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

That was granddad bod.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Granddad bod. You know what? You're gonna see it eventually, you might as well see it.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

It's the kind of bod that cannot turn down Lisa Fremont.

SPEAKER_06 37:20

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

Let's be clear. Yeah, got a lot of exactly.

SPEAKER_06 37:24

I actually, when I when he was looking around and seeing all the neighbors, when he looked at Miss Lonelyheart, I was like, you guys might be a good match. You live so close together. You look right around the same age. Like it might work better than you trying to date this super young woman. I don't think he wants any woman. I think he just wants to be left alone.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

He seriously said he's like, if only you were ordinary. He wants someone who's not as successful, right? Because again, Lisa Fremont, a working woman, successful of her own accord. She doesn't need him. He does not feel worthy of her. We're gonna get into that in a bit wh when we get into the characters. But looking at you know how he sees Miss Lonely Hearts, looking at how he's able to view these other characters in this film, visually, this movie is a masterpiece, right? If if only for the set design and the intricacies put into the set.

SPEAKER_06 38:16

You know, that was my first thought was the set, because the set is truly a thing of beauty. Like so much planning had to be done to make this happen. But I don't know if it's the most impressive thing. I think visually it's the choreography with all the actors on screen and all the different apartments in multiple levels in like three different buildings. I think to me that was the most amazing because if the buildings were empty, you wouldn't think anything of it. I think the thing that made it really impressive was seeing them all go about like regular business, having the camera pan through all the different apartments across three different buildings, and they're all like doing things, and you know that they had to like time it really well and get perfect directions to make that happen. And that was just like, especially the opening scene, absolutely amazing to look at. Choreography is such a good word, Mac.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Yeah, I loved it, the set too. It was interesting, especially, you know, you're talking about that first scene. Is I'm so used to when you see backdrops that they're like most likely fake, or at this point, CGI, but this had like a working backdrop. Like there was a shop, there was like dogs, like a dog sitting down, and I was like, oh wow. At some points it felt flat, but I feel like that just added so much depth and richness to the set that I super like enjoyed. And like you Mac, the panning was my favorite too. But I specifically like it, you know, when there's you know, Lars bringing in the suitcase, and then you know, you have Miss Torso in the bathroom, so they they look like they're like right next to each other, possibly in the same room, but they're not, and I just like that juxtaposition that they that that creates.

SPEAKER_06 39:51

It really reminded me of those like miniature scenes that people build into bookcases, like in between the books, you look in, there's like diagonale or something in there.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

That's becoming really popular right now, at least on TikTok.

SPEAKER_06 40:02

Yeah, and so that that's kind of like the the appearance of it, like you know that it's got depth, but it's a controlled depth.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Do you remember the Richard Scary books?

SPEAKER_03 40:11

The busy world of Richard Scary?

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yes. Yes. That gives me this kind of energy, right? Everybody's just out there going about their own business.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

Oh, because it was a busy world.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

But it was not scary. My favorite visual element, I'm gonna be Paris on this episode, and I'm gonna say it was Grace, Kelly's, Fashions. Every look was so good. Specifically, she comes in with like a green coat and like a headpiece, and like as she's like settling into the house, she kind of like takes off different layers, and every layer that's revealed reveals like another cohesive look underneath, and it was just really beautiful to behold. The costume budget on this movie was very well utilized.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Did you appreciate the parallels between her green ensemble versus Tippy Hedrons and the birds? Because they're designed by the same costume designer.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

I did definitely think of that, but I thought you were gonna say, Did you appreciate when she scaled that building in a couture gown and heels? And the answer is yes, I did.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Yeah. I think that's a really great thing to point out, Paris, especially when you look at her ensemble in that particular scene. Because at that point, you've already seen Miss Lonely Hearts, and you've already already seen Miss Lonely Hearts in green, and her wearing green is supposed to represent the rip the relationships that she has with Jeffries. So there's all of this nuance of color theory baked into this movie, and Alfred Hitchcock is nothing if not incredibly intentional with every little detail. I know we're gonna be exploring that a little bit later in fact or fiction. I think my favorite part, and it actually leads into my favorite scene. It's when Thorwald comes in to Jeffries' apartment and you have the camera flashes going off. Now, camera flashes going off, I think I I enjoyed a bit of it in like the original Saw movies, and then I enjoyed it in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I remember specifically the trailer of hearing that flash go off. And this one, it's one of the few times you see it from Thorwald's perspective, and you actually see it through his eyes, having been briefly blinded by the flashing bulbs, and you get like these orange circles that kind of fill up the entire screen. And I loved it because they actually went into a dark room, they took a bunch of crew members, and they flashed them with these bulbs, and they said, What do you see? And they all saw like these orange circles. So it was their eyes responding to it, so they all saw these orange circles. And originally the effect was gonna be a bunch of white circles like bouncing around the frame, and they were adamant in making it as accurate as to what the actual experience was in a dark room with those specific bulbs, and it was just orange circles filling the screen. That leading in to that entire scene, absolutely loved it. That confrontation, this realization that Jefferson is kind of the dick, right? He's like terrorizing this man. Obviously, this man deserves no sympathy. He murdered his wife, but he's not even like acknowledging really anything until the guy asks for the ring back. But the moments before that where you have the phone call, you don't hear anything on the other end, he realizes that it's Thorwalled, you hear the footsteps coming into the apartment, and then you just see his silhouette in the door, and James Stewart half-lit from the shin down, his wheelchair pushed back further into the room. It's a beautiful scene, it's a tense scene, and it's scary as fuck to imagine some stranger just walking into your house that way.

SPEAKER_06 43:28

I was thinking about it when I was watching them the film, because like how do people get into his house to like come in and help him, like the nurse, or you know, when his girlfriend comes in to hang out? Like he just has to leave it unlocked. He left that door unlocked the whole time. Yeah. And so if you have this neighbor and he realizes at one point that like he's seen us, so wouldn't you think then he might try to come over here and I leave my door unlocked, and perhaps that's not a good combination? Wasn't it raised? There was like a a step up in his place, so he like couldn't wheel up there. Exactly. Yeah, I mean. That was such an ominous shot of seeing him and like they're kind of both in the shadow at that point, talking to each other, but he's fully in the shadows looking down from that from that uh step, whatever it is, like two or three steps up. Um, that was like a great shot. He looked way scarier there than he did with his fake hair any anytime in the rest of the movie. That definitely was giving wig.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

My favorite scene was right before that. So you have, I think it's just this mystery. I still at that point was like, has has Lars done anything? What's going on? So when I see the ring and she's wiggling it, and I'm like, Oh, there's the ring, because I really thought this jewelry was just, you know, some hocus pocus going on. But um, see that, and then finally Lars catches that and looks over the entire movie. I don't know about you guys, but if there's an open window, usually I'm looking out to see who's looking in. I mean, it's just like a natural habit to look out of a window and look across. I'm really surprised Lars just never saw it. So I was always every time he was they were watching each other, or well LB was like watching him, I was like, okay, he's gonna look up one time. And I just always had that fear, and then finally he looks over, and then I was like, Man, this feels so good right now.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Yeah. It reminds me of that show based on a comic Invincible, where it's him as a superhero, he's in high school, he there's another person in his high school that's also a superhero, and they casually just fly up to the top of the school and they're just like chilling, sitting on the building. He's like, Aren't you worried someone's gonna see us? And she's like, You'd be surprised how people never look up. And it's that very thing, right? It's like you don't realize what you're missing out on because you're not situationally aware.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

Yeah, or you're like me, I just never look up. Maybe it's just like a weird thing. I just don't want to make eye contact with anyone.

SPEAKER_06 45:52

You subconsciously know that there's someone there, but you don't want to know.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

Specifically at the gym, yes.

SPEAKER_06 45:57

Uh I had a very different favorite scene. It's kind of an odd one to choose, but it's when Miss Lonelyheart gets herself dressed at the nines, goes out to a restaurant, and comes home with a younger man. Now we realize that he was a rapist piece of shit, but she fights him off and kicks him right the hell out because she's fully capable of being alone and won't settle for fuckboys. And I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

Yes, I enjoyed it when she was about to kill herself. I thought that was a really unexpected, compelling moment from that character.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

What?

SPEAKER_03 46:26

Remember when she was gonna kill herself?

SPEAKER_02 46:28

Yeah, but that's usually not led by I really enjoyed when.

SPEAKER_03 46:33

I mean, at that point I was desperate for someone to die, and I was like, this is unexpected. For her to be the death in this movie, tragic, sad, compelling. I'm glad she didn't. But my favorite scene had to be when the dog died, because what the fuck, Paris?

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Wow. I guess I know you wanted the gore.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

After the dog died, when everybody came out of their apartments and they were all out at the same time, kind of just like arguing amongst themselves, like who killed this dog? I really enjoyed it because it brought everybody into a common space and it really I think solidified the use of vantage point that we had established thus far in a unique way that was kind of like, oh, everybody's out at once, like you can see them up there and them up there. And it was a really interesting, um interesting sense of scale in that like you never really have a scene like that where there's people on all different levels, all different sides coming together from such a distance. It was something I'd never really seen before, and I thought it was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

Then you have classic blacked out apartment by Thorwald. Every time his apartment was in pure darkness, I absolutely fucking loved it. It's like what kind of sinister shit's going on in there, you know?

SPEAKER_06 47:43

Like sleep.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

It's what we do in the shadows.

SPEAKER_06 47:46

It is interesting to think that at in the middle of the night, nobody has their lights off while they're sleeping. Like just everything's just well lit all night long. But I guess it's New York, so that all night long for them is still like middle of the day, really. The city that never sleeps.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

Mm-hmm. I do think that scene does a really good job of again bringing together everyone that you've established as incredibly rich characters, despite how little they actually impact the entire movie. Every one of them was incredibly lived in. And honestly, we're gonna get to the worst and best parts of this movie in a bit, but the dog dying for me was the worst part of the movie, and I wish they had subbed that with a human death. It would have really thrown some things up. I'm thinking the chick who tried to tell him not to fucking dig so deep, right?

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Yeah, that would have been good.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

Yeah, that would that would have been good. But Alfred Hitchcock and his particularities for how he casts his film, for the direction that he gives, it made for such a perfect ensemble for this entire world to play out. Now, looking at like the three main people that we have in Jeffree's apartment the entire time. So we have him, we have Lisa, we have Stella. I can't believe I never picked up before on how deep Lisa's character was. Like she always struck me as wise, but there are moments where you know she has a quote where uh she's looking at Miss Torso's apartment and she says, I'd say she's doing a woman's hardest job, juggling wolves. And there's that point where they're looking at Miss Lonelyheart's apartment, she's having dinner with herself, pretending that she's on a date. The camera pens back to Jeffree's, and Lisa is there now, and she's looking, and she's gazing at Miss Lonelyheart, but there's like a sense of familiarity there. This I also don't have it all. I'm also lonely because the person I love, the person that I want to be with, isn't acknowledging me enough to consider a future with me seriously, and I know I deserve better than that. I can't believe how much I've missed out on Lisa's character my entire life.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

Love her in this movie. Um, especially, you know, horny Lisa gives me all the vibes when she's like this seductress, and I I love it. It's like I think because she looks kind of innocent, and then that comes out that I'm like, ooh, I love the sassiness for sure. I love Stella though. Stella, very witty, bunch of one-liners that I really liked, and I thought brought that comedic relief that you see weirdly in Hitchcock films, which I loved.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

Yeah, Stella was definitely a star. She reminded me of Alice from the Brady Bunch, in that she was just kind of like brassy and like there all the time. And nobody really paid too much attention to her, and because of that, she kind of like got away with saying things that maybe nobody else would.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 50:33

Um, I was really surprised by her, and I was pleasantly, pleasantly surprised at that. But Lisa obviously was the star of this movie. Definitely, Chris, like you said, wise is a great way to describe her. I hadn't really considered that. There's really one quote that I really felt was like such a such a well delivered line, and it's when Jeffries tells her, You've got this town in the palm of your hand, and she kind of like looks back at him as she's leaving and she says, Not quiet, it seems. And I was like, damn, the woman who you'd think has it all doesn't have the one thing that she wants, and it's because this man's an idiot. But seeing her internal struggle with that situation was like really the thing that kept me tethered to the story.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

Yeah, and that's that's one of the things that I think this movie does really, really well. Because when we first see Lisa, she's like showing up and giving him this lobster dinner, right? But right before that, when he's talking to Stella, he's like, When I get married, it'll be to someone who thinks of life not just as a new dress and a lobster dinner and the latest scandal. And those are the three things that Lisa does as soon as she gets in. He overlooks this romantic effort that she puts in, the lengths that she went to to give him one incredible last week before his cast is off. He disregards all of that and really puts her in a box. And this movie is Lisa showing him that she doesn't fit in that kind of a box, and he's an asshole for thinking that she does. Because when she goes over there, it's not like this movie changes Lisa, right? Lisa is just being herself, and he's finally learning to see that because he's confined to one spot and he's put in extraordinary circumstances to confront that reality. But going over there, breaking into the apartment, taking the ring, being clever as fuck, and the entire time she's like, You don't think either one of us would be willing to change? And he's just like, no. But she's been willing to change the whole time. That's emotional intelligence perfectly portrayed in a character.

SPEAKER_03 52:30

Let the record show that Lisa is too good for him.

SPEAKER_02 52:33

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03 52:34

Side note, I did suspect, because at one point they're kind of like vaguely implying, like, did she steal those nice things that she has? I thought when the police came and they found her like red-handed in that part apartment with the jewelry, that they were gonna be like, You're the cat burglar we've been looking all over town for. And I was like, ooh, that's an exciting plot development.

SPEAKER_06 52:52

So when she when she asked him, like, does he think that I stole those things? And he was like, No, I don't think he does. My thought process the whole time was like he was telling the the cop friend to be careful because he was going to insinuate something inappropriate. Yeah, like they were gonna fuck. Right, which was I mean, I honestly that's what I thought was going to happen anyway. So I just thought he was saying, like, don't don't talk about this, like that would be improper. Yeah, mind your damn business. Yeah, I didn't think there was anything about theft going on, like in in his brain at least. But maybe I mistook that scene.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

He's like, Jeffreys, you old dog.

SPEAKER_06 53:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

Or you're having someone in here before your wedding and that poor cop, you know, there's something wrong.

SPEAKER_06 53:30

He's he's got a condition where whenever he sees a woman, he doesn't know how to speak or to look at them.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

Or to exist as a decent human.

SPEAKER_06 53:38

Yeah, like when he sees what what's what's her name? Miss Torso uh across the way there. Um the beautiful young woman, you know, just living her life and doing her thing, and he just like gawks at her open mouthed. And then, you know, he meets Lisa and he just stares at her with the most uncomfortable stare on earth, and he's like, Yeah, nice to meet you. You are attractive. I cannot look away.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

Well, he was looking at her slippers like he was about to do something new.

SPEAKER_06 54:04

Visibly so. Maybe, maybe, you know, there's subtext. There's definitely subtext. He was kind of a jerk off. But I mean, gosh, Jeff starts this film out as like a typical douche. He can't be nailed down. He complains about a woman being too perfect to be with. He tells women to shut up mid-sentence. He thinks his career is far too adventurous for an obviously amazing woman uh to ever be able to keep up with. And he complains that married men lose their freedom more often than Al Bundy. Uh he finally reins it in though at the end when he realizes that, you know, Lisa's more than he thought she was, like especially when she starts getting into the detective work and the adventurous stuff, and it gives him a total boner. But thankfully, he ends up with two broken legs to give him more time to chill out. You know, I mean Lisa knows what she's got though, and she knows how to work it. She gives Jeff like so many chances, way more than he ever deserves. But you can't really be mad at her because only she decides who gets to be around her. So she'll give him chances if she pleases because she's the only one who gets to determine her fate. Not even not even we, the audience, are allowed to change our mind.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

Hell yeah. That's Mac being a feminist.

SPEAKER_06 55:05

Alright, so I mean Lisa's amazing, but the worst part of this film is the manner in which everyone speaks to Grace Kelly. Uh, I'm sorry, but shut up. Better watch your tongue, sir. Her feminine intuition is gonna slap you in the face.

SPEAKER_03 55:19

Yes. Thank you, Mac. As somebody who doesn't get a worst part because I hacked it, I appreciate that you've said this. I'd like to just tack on to their all of the men mumbling the whole time, like they have a mouthful of gravel, was very annoying and made me sleepy. Maybe you're just not a fan of Jimmy Stewart. Just saying. I mean, I I guess it's like a love-hate thing with Jimmy Stewart because I can see the appeal, but also just like, why are you talking like this? It's not very conducive to me staying away.

SPEAKER_02 55:47

I think you should watch another Jimmy Stewart movie.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

I won't be doing no such thing unless absolutely required to for this podcast. Give it time, I'm sure it'll happen. And this is super basic, but the best part of this movie is Grace Kelly. She's a vision, she's a star, she's an icon, and she's the only reason I was able to finish this thing. So thank you, Grace Kelly. May she rest in peace.

SPEAKER_06 56:07

To be fair, when she shows up and he's waking up and she like kisses him, I thought he was having a dream. Wait, that slow-mo scene, is that what you're talking about? Yeah, she's like he's waking up, she's walking in the door, she like lays a kiss on him, and he's like, Who are you? I legit thought he was just having a dream, like a really pleasant dream. Oh no, that's how you make an entrance Mac.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

So you know, Grace Kelly's granddaughter has a gender-neutral fashion line. She's a New York-based designer. Love it.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

What's her name?

SPEAKER_00 56:33

Um I can't pronounce that name, but it's in the group chat. Well, mine is uh pretty lame for my worst part, but it definitely was the red circle, and mark my words, I said shit. Um, it was just very interesting. If someone takes a photo of me, granted I it's 2021 at this point. One, no one really uses flashes, but had they done that recently, I see white and they're like spots everywhere. So it's interesting that some of these people said that there was a red circle, but different types of bulbs.

SPEAKER_06 57:06

Yeah, you mean like you see how he has to like reload it each time he uses a flash.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Yeah, it was pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_06 57:11

Because basically now they're just flashlights that flash once.

SPEAKER_00 57:14

Okay, okay. Well, didn't know that either way, was not a fan of it, like at all. It was like the first time I saw red-ish orange in this movie, and it kind of just like turned me off a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 57:26

The only thing that bothered me about that is how fast he got his night vision back.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Oh, yeah, I was like, mm-mm. Actually, the one thing that did bother me about it is the fact that this man just never fucking shut his eyes or looked away.

SPEAKER_03 57:37

He just took it and fully stopped in his tracks with every flash.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

You try to do that shit in in Dead by Daylight with a flashlight save, the killer's gonna look up, down, left, right, literally anywhere but your fucking flashlight. And this guy's like, let me stare into the abyss of light. Well, despite these best parts, despite these worst parts, why don't you watch it again?

SPEAKER_06 57:59

Oh, this film oozes classic vibes all over. Absolutely deserves a rewatch.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

Totally watching this again. I kind of want to watch a whole bunch of Hitchcock films after watching this and the birds.

SPEAKER_03 58:10

I know Ryan already said that she will re-watch this in the same way that she rewatches old Bond movies, but I cannot say that I agree. I'm actually wondering, will there ever be a Hitchcock film that I enjoy? I'm thinking no.

SPEAKER_02 58:24

Maybe. This is such a classic, and I will undoubtedly be continuing to watch this on a rainy day, cozying up with some old films. I also, when I was doing pre-production for this episode and filling out the entire episode card, I listened on Apple Music. There is a playlist of Alfred Hitchcock uh scores, and it has uh the prelude from North by Northwest, Jukebock number six from this movie, it has the sweet from Psycho, it has a ton of good stuff, and I think that's one of the the other things to appreciate about Hitchcock films is when there is music used, it is whimsical and also terrifying at times. It takes you on this full-on roller coaster of emotions. I'll drop a link to that playlist in the show notes if you're an Apple music user. Ten out of ten would recommend.

SPEAKER_06 59:11

I think when watching this film, it occurred to me, you know, Paris, you said it kind of feels like a play. Just imagine every Hitchcock film as a musical. And uh I mean there's no music like there's no singing that makes it that way. Just watch it and imagine them singing, and maybe it'll change your your idea.

SPEAKER_02 59:26

It's a big no from him dog. But I know we we discussed a lot about the behind the scenes so far on this film, but let's see what Mac has in store for fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_06 59:36

Alright, number one. We mentioned this earlier. Hitchcock has this intense intentionality. So Hitchcock suggested costume alterations to make Grace Kelly look less uh busty in her fancy pants sleepwear when she stays the night at Jeff's place.

SPEAKER_00 59:50

Fiction. I don't know on what pretense, but I'm just going with that.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

I feel like, yeah, he's super intentional, but I feel like the intent was for her to be like totally smoking in that look. So fiction.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:03

Yeah, this is fiction. Of course, it's quite the opposite. He suggested patting her costume to make her appear bustier. But the costume designer, Edith Head, only made a few alterations combined with the magic of posture, and Hitchcock was fooled. Ugh, thank you, women in costume design. Number two, due to the extensive lighting setup needed for a set of this magnificent size, the night and day scenes had to be filmed one after the other. So night scenes first, then day scenes next, due to the time needed to change over from night to day.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

I think it requires the same amount of work, whether it's day or night, when you're on a set like that. So getting the lighting right, I don't know. I don't know anything about sets, but fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

I'm gonna say fact, because that just seems like the way you would want to shoot it. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's fiction and they actually built two completely identical sets with different lighting setups. Well, they didn't have to do that.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:54

This is a fiction. The set was pre-lit with a thousand arc lights. The crew could switch over from day to night in less than an hour. That's still a lot of time.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

Yeah, I was like, why is it taking an hour?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:04

You guys kidding me? I mean, when you're when you're shooting scenes, like you're lucky to get like an hour, that's nothing. That's like we're gonna break for something because we have to fix someone's hair.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:14

But can we agree it would have been more efficient to shoot all the day scenes and then shoot all the night scenes?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:20

That's probably true, actually. But they didn't have to spend time like switching over, you know? It's like all right, we're gonna t we're gonna get a little food break. We're gonna, you know, switch the lights over and we're okay, we're back. Lunch is over. Alright, number three. Just in case you were interested in living the exhibitionist lifestyle, all the apartments in Thorwald's building could be lived in, complete with running water. Wait, what?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

I'm confused. This is a set.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:42

Mm-hmm. That's correct.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

I'm sure there was functioning stuff. I doubt they invested water, but they may have. I don't know, fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:52

Just to just to cover our bases, I'm gonna say No, wait, I wanna say fact too, never mind. I feel like every apartment had at least one visible sink, so maybe fact. This is a fact.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:02

Now, I'm not saying you could go rent them right now, I'm just saying like if you were there on set, you could have like gone to bed and you know, probably used the toilet. I don't know. But they were livable. I love that. Do you think it was rent controlled? I hope the shades were closed, that's all I'm saying. Number four, Grace Kelly typically refused to smoke cigarettes on screen in fear of relapsing into her nicotine addiction, but was convinced by Hitchcock to make an exception for this film.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

Um, I like to think she didn't have a nicotine issue, but for the time it was. I'm just gonna say fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:31

I'm gonna say fiction. Back then it was sexy for a woman to smoke, so I feel like she had no problem with it. This is a fiction.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:38

So while she did refuse to smoke on screen, I made that whole thing about, you know, her being a smoker, that's that's BS. But she was 100% a non-smoker, and Hitchcock was able to get a cigarette smoking scene by having her hold a lit cigarette as you know, she's like putting it out. So she doesn't actually smoke it. So he gets a smoking scene and she doesn't violate her rule of not smoking. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:59

Again, an icon, a legend of queen.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:02

I love it. And number five. The scene of the couple fighting with the mattress in the rain was added last minute, so the couple had no time to rehearse, leading to that on-screen version of the struggle to get themselves in the mattress inside in the pouring rain.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:15

Seemed like a struggle, saying fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:17

Fiction. The rain took 18 hours to prepare, so they had to rehearse it to make sure it was right.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:23

This one's a fiction, but perhaps not for the reasons you might think. Hitchcock is not just a creep, but apparently also a prankster. He had the couple on walkie-talkie earpieces and gave them deliberately conflicting directions. You know, so one of you move yours this th this way, and then he would tell the other one, move yours this way. So making it nearly impossible for them to actually maneuver the thing inside the building. I'm sure he thought it was hilarious, but he liked it so much he decided to keep it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

Well, that's clever and fun, and it seems like it didn't harm anybody, which is rare for productions in these days. Just get a little wet.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:52

At the very least, he did not launch birds and tie birds to anyone's body during the production of this film.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:59

Oh, the croning. Well, that's been factor fiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

Well, there you have it, folks. Rear window has earned three slashes and one hack. We've talked about a lot here. This is a classic, so undoubtedly there are so many opinions out there that we can't wait to hear. Keep in mind there are a number of ways that you can reach out to us to share those very opinions.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:19

You can find us at our website, hackerslash.com, or on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you have a story of a voyeuristic neighbor, you can also reach out to our Hackerslash Hotline. You can leave us a voicemail at 757-606-0128 or visit hackerslash.com slash contact to send us an audio message.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:42

Or if you're watching us record this right now from your apartment window, one, please don't. But two, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

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SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, sometimes it's worse to stay than it is to run. Bye.