{"id":7090,"date":"2009-06-24T14:41:35","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T21:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7090"},"modified":"2021-06-23T14:53:52","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T21:53:52","slug":"family-plot-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7090","title":{"rendered":"Family Plot (1976)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There is no Eddie Shoebridge. He went up in smoke 25 years ago and came down in the city; he calls himself Arthur Adamson.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Family-Plot-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Family-Plot-Poster-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-61338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Family-Plot-Poster-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Family-Plot-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Family-Plot-Poster-177x270.jpg 177w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Family-Plot-Poster.jpg 494w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA fraudulent psychic (Barbara Harris) and her taxi-driver boyfriend (Bruce Dern) try to locate the nephew of a wealthy woman (Catherine Nesbitt) who is offering a reward for his discovery &#8212; but the nephew (William Devane) turns out to be a psychopathic jewelry store owner who, with the help of his girlfriend (Karen Black), kidnaps people in exchange for enormous diamonds, and will stop at nothing to get Harris and Dern off his trail.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barbara Harris Films<\/li>\n<li>Bruce Dern Films<\/li>\n<li>Con-Artists<\/li>\n<li>Hitchcock Films<\/li>\n<li>Kidnapping<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken Identities<\/li>\n<li>Psychic Powers<\/li>\n<li>Thieves and Criminals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nHitchcock&#8217;s last film isn&#8217;t one of his best by a long shot (it faces some stiff competition!), but it remains a worthy final installment in his lengthy and illustrious career. The script (by Ernest Lehman, who wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2412\"><em>North by Northwest<\/em><\/a>) is a fun mix of comedy and thrills, with a dense but comprehensible plot that keeps one in suspense throughout. In just one of the film&#8217;s many instances of symmetry and &#8220;doubles&#8221;, Harris and Dern provide a welcome comedic counterpart to Devane and Black&#8217;s deliciously nefarious thieves (though I&#8217;ll admit I&#8217;m not a huge fan of Harris&#8217;s overly nutty performance); it&#8217;s particularly nice to see Devane &#8212; normally a supporting player &#8212; given a chance to shine as the central baddie. Naturally, one wonders why Harris and Dern never think about simply finding an impersonator to play Nesbitt&#8217;s nephew &#8212; but, as I noted in my review of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7314\"><em>Strangers on a Train<\/em> (1951)<\/a>, over-analyzing Hitchcock&#8217;s films for plot holes simply ruins the fun! What&#8217;s most disconcerting to me about <em>Family Plot<\/em> (much like the graphic violence in his earlier <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7668\"><em>Frenzy<\/em><\/a>) is hearing such overt sexual puns &#8212; as when Dern assures sex-starved Harris that she&#8217;ll see a &#8220;standing ovation&#8221; that night in their waterbed. On that note, it&#8217;s interesting to contemplate what Hitch&#8217;s film might have looked like had he lived and continued working through the 1980s and &#8217;90s&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>William Devane as Arthur Adamson<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-devane.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-devane.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"312\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7093\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Karen Black as Fran<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-black.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-black.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"312\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7094\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bruce Dern as George Lumely<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-dern.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-dern.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"312\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7095\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ernest Lehman&#8217;s darkly humorous script<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-humor.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/family-plot-humor.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"312\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7096\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>John Williams&#8217; catchy score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as Hitch&#8217;s final film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0074512\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1976\/04\/10\/archives\/screen-hitchcocks-family-plot-bubbles-over.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/21833\/family-plot#articles-reviews?articleId=70875\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1747hitc.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll way down)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/family-plot\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There is no Eddie Shoebridge. He went up in smoke 25 years ago and came down in the city; he calls himself Arthur Adamson.&#8221; Synopsis: A fraudulent psychic (Barbara Harris) and her taxi-driver boyfriend (Bruce Dern) try to locate the nephew of a wealthy woman (Catherine Nesbitt) who is offering a reward for his discovery &#8212; but the nephew (William Devane) turns out to be a psychopathic jewelry store owner who, with the help of his girlfriend (Karen Black), kidnaps&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7090\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7090"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73278,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090\/revisions\/73278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}