Frenzy (1972)

Mr. Rusk, you're not wearing your tie...

Hitch's penultiment film is often cited as his last great one, and certainly for this legendary filmmaker, Frenzy represents a stark difference in tone from his early work with colour, nudity and swearing all prevalent in this 1972 film. Yet it's the same Hitchcock story that made him famous, a man on the run, wrongly accused of a murder he did not commit.

Opinions on Frenzy vary and whilst there were things I enjoyed about this thriller, I have to come down more on the negative side. I struggled to get behind our lead protagonist at all, the 1970s London seemed more of a 1930s/40s London to me and showed a filmmaker perhaps behind the times. The language, rape and nudity that perhaps shocked audiences who come to know a certain type of Hitchcock film really pails in comparison when held up against the New Hollywood films of the 1970s, this seemed like Hitchcock's attempt to fit in with popular culture and perhaps just falling short. Frenzy ultimately lacks the character identification and this in turn leads to a lack of suspense that Hitchcock is famous for creating in his great works. Hitch's best heroes are usually flawed but still heroic, perhaps this was his attempt at creating an anti-hero, his best villains cool & calm under pressure with an air of sympathy to them, again not the case here, Rusk is a sloppy murderer who lacks any grace, charm or even evil cunning. 

I have not seen a lot of Hitchcock's later films and Frenzy held up as a marked improvement on most of them, perhaps overrated because it was a slight return to form for one of the industry's greatest directors, but ultimately it doesn't come anywhere near his top 10 greatest works for me, and I have to consider this when grading.

BEST SCENE: The first rape scene when our lead character's estranged wife is strangled is pretty gruesome and was the high point for what this film is trying to achieve

BEST CHARACTER: Neither the protagonist or antagonist held my interest, nor did the Chief Inspector. My favourite character was the matchmaking desperate ex-wife of our protagonist, Brenda, played by Barbara Leigh-Hunt. Unfortunately she was killed off early on.

BEST QUOTE: "Lovely!"

RATING:  ★★★ - a light 3 stars. This is not a poor film but I did not respond to it like I have with most other Alfred Hitchcock films. Hitch took a risk trying to mirror society and the sort of films that were becoming popular in the late 60s and early 70s but remaining true to his tried and tested wrongly accused man story. I don't know if I could recommend this as essential viewing or one of the 1001 greatest movies, but if you're a fan of Hitchcock's, it's certainly worth checking out.

MOVIES WATCHED:9
MOVIES REMAINING:992