Quentin Tarantino calls Alfred Hitchcock movie ‘North by Northwest’ “mediocre”
As Quentin Tarantino proceeds with the production of his final project, there has been a steady increase in the interest fans have demonstrated when it comes to his incredible filmography. It’s almost impossible to revisit Tarantino’s decades-spanning oeuvre and not recognise the vast ocean of influences that have shaped his artistic sensibilities. To the American auteur’s credit, he’s always the first to acknowledge his sources of inspiration.
For Tarantino fans, it’s common knowledge that he always pays tribute to the works of filmmakers such as Sergio Leone when diving into his own journey as an artist. However, there are some renowned visionaries whose works have failed to pique the Pulp Fiction director’s interest. During a conversation with acclaimed author Bret Easton Ellis, Tarantino singled out Alfred Hitchcock as a member of the latter category and revealed that he has never been a fan.
Through masterpieces such as Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho, Hitchcock played a major role in not only revitalising the American cinematic landscape but also inspiring film movements in global cinema. Many of the French New Wave’s most prominent pioneers cited Hitchcock as a key figure who deeply impacted their own experiments with the medium’s visual language. In the years that have followed, almost every thriller has owed a significant debt to Hitchcock’s legendary creations.
While talking to Ellis about Hitchcock’s legacy, Tarantino declared that time hasn’t been kind to movies like Vertigo because they cannot transcend the frameworks of their time. He began: “I’m not the biggest Hitchcock fan, and I actually don’t like Vertigo and his 1950s movies — they have the stink of the ’50s, which is similar to the stink of the ’80s. People discover North by Northwest at 22 and think it’s wonderful when actually it’s a very mediocre movie.”
Interestingly, the Reservoir Dogs filmmaker heaped praise on Hitchcock’s successors who have operated within his cinematic shadow while developing their distinct interpretations of the genre. Tarantino added: “I’ve always felt that Hitchcock’s acolytes took his cinematic and story ideas further. I love Brian De Palma’s Hitchcock movies. I love Richard Franklin’s and Curtis Hanson’s Hitchcock meditations. I prefer those to actual Hitchcock.”
North by Northwest might not have impressed Tarantino, but it remains among the standout gems from Hitchcock’s unimaginably extensive body of work. Starring Cary Grant in one of the most iconic roles of his career, it uses the exciting genre conventions of the spy thriller to launch a philosophical investigation into the politics of individual identity with comedic undercurrents supporting its elusive narrative concerns.
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