North by Northwest (1959)

Academy Awards, USA 1960

Nominated Oscar	Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen Ernest Lehman
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color William A. Horning Robert F. Boyle Merrill Pye Henry Grace Frank R. McKelvy
	Best Film Editing George Tomasini

MGM
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Ad executive Cary Grant is mistaken for a government spy and kidnapped. They attempt to murder him by forcing him to drink a bottle of alcohol and putting him behind the wheel of a car, but he manages to steer the car to safety. He goes to the UN to find the man who tried to have him killed, but someone else answers to that name and is assassinated before he can get more information. Accused of the crime, Grant goes on the run to prove his innocence. He meets pretty Eva Saint Marie on a train and they spend the night together. However, she turns out to be working with the kidnappers and sends him on a wild goose chase to the middle of nowhere. He survives another attempt on his life, this time by crop duster plane, in perhaps Hitchcock's best known scene. He soon discovers Eva's real identity and confronts her at an art auction, where once again he uses his wits to escape. However, when she turns out to be a secret agent working undercover he tries to convince her to leave with him. She refuses and plans to leave with the killer, but when her cover is blown Grant must save her life in a spectacular ending taking place on Mount Rushmore. Perhaps the ultimate Hitchcock film, with multiple false identities, a perfect hero in Grant and incredible but still somehow plausible plot twists. Hitchcock manages it all with a steady hand and perfect pacing.