Family Plot (1976)

(On Cable TV, November 2020) Considering a career that spanned slightly more than half a century, there are some really weird things in Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography that are seldom mentioned in the same breath as his acknowledged classics. I have a really soft spot for his 1941 screwball comedy of remarriage Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but his final feature film Family Plot is no less quirky. A comedy thriller pitting two teams of criminals against each other thanks to clashing schemes, it almost works as an apology for the unbearable bleakness of his previous film Frenzy. I’m not suggesting that Family Plot is a barrel of laughs: it’s often surprisingly long, hits a few very dramatic notes late in the third act, and often seems confused about where it’s going. But its dark sense of humour seems far more befitting of earlier Hitchcock films à la The Trouble with Harry, and feels like a minor but ironic coda to a storied career. The comic caper may feel loose at first, but it does tighten up quite a bit toward the end, and the ending is a release of tension as effective as many of his previous films. The 1970s period detail adds an interesting patina to the film, and the result is an entertaining but definitely second-tier Hitchcock film.