4 Classic Films That Are More Fun Than They Sound

2. North by Northwest (1959)

dir. Alfred Hitchcock The Reputation: One of Hitchcock€™s masterpieces. An ad-man, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), is mistake for a spy and has to go on the run to evade the criminals and the police who think he€™s a murderer. Why It's More Fun Than It Sounds: Hitchcock knows how to work an audience like nobody else. We, the audience, get engaged in this tale of mistaken identity. It€™s an entertaining, riveting movie because Hitchcock knows how to get us engaged with Thornhill, when to make us fear and when to make us laugh. After the first attempt on his life, we get a scene of a very drunk Thornhill trying to explain that he€™s drunk because he was forced to drink a bottle of bourbon. Cary Grant€™s playing drunk and the deadpan cops are priceless. Not only that, but we get some killer lines: Eve: I€™m a big girl now. Thornhill: Yeah, and in all the right places too. They don€™t make innuendo like they used to. As this will become a recurring feature, the great directors and writers knew you have to let the audience off every now and again and laugh, or else they€™ll laugh in places they€™re not suppose to.