Family Plot (1976)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: Ernest lehman, Victor Canning

Composer: John Williams

Starring: Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, William Devane, Ed Lauter, Cathleen Nesbitt, Katherine Helmond, Warren J. Kemmerling, Edith Atwater, William Prince

More info: IMDb

Tagline: You must see it twice!

Plot: The trickster Madam Blanche Tyler lures the elder millionaire Julia Rainbird that believes she is a spiritualist. After a séance, she discovers that Julia is tormented by her past, when she forced her sister and single mother Harriet to deliver her baby for adoption to avoid a family scandal. Julia promises the small fortune of ten thousand-dollar to Blanche if she finds her nephew and heir of her fortune using her phony powers. Blanche asks her boyfriend George Lumley, who is an unemployed actor working as cab driver, to investigate the whereabouts of Julia's nephew. Meanwhile, the greedy jeweler and collector Arthur Adamson kidnaps wealthy people with his girlfriend Fran to increase his collection of diamonds with the ransom. When George concludes that Arthur Adamson might be the heir of Julia Rainbird, the reckless Blanche gets in trouble with the kidnappers.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Even with his final film Hitchcock shows his deserving of the title, 'The Master of Suspense'.  It's not a home run but there are moments where the tension grabs you by the short and curlies.  The ending, for one, and the elongated scene with the out of control car.  That scene is a nail biter broken up with some very funny moments which adds a fraction of what's needed to keep you from falling off the edge of your seat. John Williams wrote a fun and playful score.  The last few seconds of the picture has me groaning every time but it's not a deal killer.  The picture is slow at times.  The opening goes on for way too long and it's a bad way to begin with so much unnecessary filler.  It's easily a lower tier Hitchcock flick but it's still got a lot to like.  The cast alone is worth watching for, especially Devane.  He's great.