Thursday Thoughts: August 28, 2025

As much as I love the classics, there are so many older movies that I’ve never seen.  Things like Casablanca or Citizen Kane.  Which is a tragedy, honestly, because I think that they’re classics for a reason and that I’m missing out on something by not having seen them.  The exception being musicals since both of my parents loved them.  My dad’s all-time favorite move was The Music Man after all.

While looking something up at IMDB.com last week, I stumbled upon a list of the top 10 Alfred Hitchcock movies.  Curious, I took a look at it to see if I’ve seen any of them.  I am somewhat ashamed to say that I have only seen one on the list – Shadow of a Doubt – and that’s only because it was mentioned repeatedly in a Riley Sager novel called Survive the Night.  I enjoyed the novel, so it made me seek out the movie, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

And, as these things happen, watching one enjoyable Hitchcock movie made me want to watch more.  However, there are so many, I never knew where to start or if there were ones to avoid.  This list seems like a great place to start checking off some Hitchcock classics.

You can find the list here, if you’re so inclined.

The movies, in order, are:

North by Northwest

Rear Window

Vertigo

Psycho

Notorious

Shadow of a Doubt

Rebecca

Strangers on a Train

The Lady Vanishes

The Birds

Some of the movies listed are so iconic that I’m stunned I haven’t ever watched them.  I mean, seriously, I’ve never watched The Birds?  What is wrong with me?  (Actually, I know the answer to that, but no one wants to hear my middle child trauma drama.)

It is interesting because I have seen Psycho IV, but never the original.  The only reason I’ve seen #4 is because I had a very odd psychology teacher in high school.  He thought that since the premise of this installment was Norman Bates looking back at his childhood, that it fit into a basic psychology class.  Which isn’t exactly wrong, but even so, probably not the best thing to show a bunch of teenagers.  How he managed to get away with showing that in a public school, I’ll never know.  I did enjoy it though.

Over the years, I’ve seen clips from many of these movies.  The Psycho shower scene is one that immediately comes to mind.  It gets featured in shows and in documentaries about so many things.  Yet, somehow, I have failed to see the whole movie.  I’m not very familiar with North by Northwest, Notorious, or The Lady Vanishes, but the others are very much ingrained in pop culture.  As I mentioned, Shadow of a Doubt features heavily in Survive the Night by Riley Sager.  Sometimes, because of this, it feels like I’ve seen them, even though I know I haven’t.

I’m very anxious to get started watching some of these classic and iconic movies.  Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho most of all.  But they all appeal to me and intrigue my sense of adventure.

The only movie on this list that I’m worried about is Rebecca.  Several years ago, I attempted to read the original novel by Daphne du Maurier, and abandoned ship about 20% in.  A few years later, Netflix released a new adaptation of Rebecca and my daughter and I made it about thirty minutes in before we gave up.  To make matters worse, I read My Cousin Rachel, another highly rated book by the author, and did not care for it at all.  I am hoping that there will be something special about Hitchcock’s version of the story that changes my mind.

Are you a fan of Hitchcock’s movies?  What are your favorites?  Do you have a suggestion for where I should start my journey?    I’m always open to suggestions, so if you have a favorite not on this list, let me know.  Also, if you have a favorite director similar to Hitchcock, drop that information, too.  I have a big list of things I want to watch and am always adding to it.  Grab some popcorn and join me!