Family Plot [1976] dir Alfred Hitchcock

Family Plot (1976)



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074512/




Family Plot is a 1976 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his final completed film. It stars Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, William Devane and Karen Black.



Barbara Harris ... Blanche Tyler

Bruce Dern ... George Lumely

William Devane ... Arthur Adamson

Karen Black ... Fran

Ed Lauter ... Maloney

Cathleen Nesbitt ... Julia Rainbird

Katherine Helmond ... Mrs. Maloney

Warren J. Kemmerling ... Grandison

Edith Atwater ... Mrs. Clay

William Prince ... Bishop

Nicholas Colasanto ... Constantine

Marge Redmond ... Mrs. Hannagan

John Lehne ... Bush

Charles Tyner ... Wheeler

Alexander Lockwood ... Parson



This comedy/thriller was adapted for the screen by Ernest Lehman, based on the novel The Rainbird Pattern (1972) (ISBN 0-441-70393-3) by Victor Canning. Lehmann wanted the film to be sweeping, dark and dramatic but Hitchcock kept pushing him toward lightness and comedy. Lehman's screenplay earned him a 1977 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.



The novel on which the film is based had earlier been rejected by Ernest Lehman, to whom it had been submitted as a potential project for him to either produce and/or direct. Although Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman had attempted to work together on several projects following their huge success with North by Northwest, this was their only other project to be filmed. Lehman had incurred Hitchcock's anger by declining the offer to write the screenplay for No Bail For the 'Judge, a thriller set in London and meant to star Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Harvey and John Williams. Although Hitchcock eventually got a fine screenplay and preproduction, location scouting and costumes were well underway, that film was never made.



Hitchcock, who often liked to specify the locales of his films by using on-screen titles or by filming famous landmarks, deliberately left the story's location unspecific, using sites in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. The chase scene in the movie, which writer Donald Spoto called a spoof on car chases prevalent in films at the time, was filmed on the extensive Universal backlot. The restaurant used in the film was also built on the backlot and was shown on studio tours in 1975.



Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In Family Plot he can be seen (38 minutes into the film) in silhouette through the glass door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths.



The film was the only Hitchcock production to be scored by John Williams, a rising staff composer at Universal who had recently had a major career breakthrough when he scored Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws.



Following Family Plot, Hitchcock worked on the script for a projected spy thriller, The Short Night. His declining health and eventual death in 1980 prevented the filming of the story, which was published in a book on Hitchcock's last years. Universal reportedly chose not to film the script with another director, although it did authorize sequels to Hitchcock's Psycho.



An advertisement for this film can be seen in the 1993 comedy film Dazed and Confused, when characters pass a drive-in movie theater.





Hitchcock considered such actors as Burt Reynolds and Roy Scheider (for Adamson), Al Pacino (for George), Faye Dunaway (for Fran) and Beverly Sills (for Blanche) for the film. High salary demands were partly responsible for his turning to other actors. Although Liza Minnelli was among the stars recommended to Hitchcock, he was especially delighted to work with Barbara Harris as the medium. He had previously tried to hire her for other film projects.



Hitchcock had earlier worked with Bruce Dern on episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and on the film Marnie, in which he had a brief role in a flashback playing a doomed sailor.



William Devane was Hitchcock's first choice for the role of nefarious jeweler Arthur Adamson, but Devane was unavailable when the film went into production. Hitchcock finally settled on Roy Thinnes as Adamson and shot several scenes with him. When Devane became available, Hitchcock fired Thinnes and re-shot all of his scenes. Later, Thinnes confronted Hitchcock in a restaurant and asked the director why he was fired. Hitchcock simply looked at Thinnes until the actor left. Some shots of Thinnes as the character (from behind) remain in the film.