Hitchcock's Rear Window ending .. WHAT THE HELL!

Just finished watching Rear Window for the first time. I had to watch the last 2 mins three times to understand the ending!

What a shock!!!

[Guest 17507]

Great film - in fact one of my favourites. Much prefer it to vertigo which is widely held as Hitchcocks best. What didn't you understand about the ending?

[Raigmore]

Originally Posted by brunny78

Great film - in fact one of my favourites. Much prefer it to vertigo which is widely held as Hitchcocks best. What didn't you understand about the ending?

Agreed on all counts. In fact, Rear Window is my favourite Hitchcock film and one of my top 10 of all time, whereas Vertigo did not impress me all that much. But I am also wondering about your confusion or even 'shock' at the ending of RW, which was thrilling but pretty straightforward. If fact, it is one of the few Hitchcockian films where there is no twist in the plot at all. Everything is exactly as the Stewart character...and therefore us...believes to be happening. The beauty of the film is entirley in its pseudo-voyeuristic camerawork and low key sound effects.

[DanWilde1966]

Originally Posted by Raigmore

In fact, Rear Window is my favourite Hitchcock film and one of my top 10 of all time, whereas Vertigo did not impress me all that much.

I may have mentioned this in these forums before, but when I saw Rear Window and Vertigo in a double-bill at the NFT in 1984, the audience I was with was enthralled by the former but laughed mercilessly at the latter. Vertigo is a visual triumph, but the story is foolish and has dated horribly. Scotty's insistence that changing Judy's hair "can't matter" to her makes me wince every time...

[Raigmore]

It is not so much the implausibility of the plot that bothers me about Vertigo. Despite the visual execellency, the script and editing lack the usual tight Hitchcockian approach. Kim Novak's mental flashback and so the revelation about 2/3 of the way into the film is unconvincing and neither here nor there. I often wonder why this film ranks so high among people's all time bests. For me, it is quite low down even on the Hitchcock list.

[Alan George]

I think Bernard Herrmann's music helps a lot.

[JoelCairo]

Originally Posted by DanWilde1966

. . . . when I saw Rear Window and Vertigo in a double-bill at the NFT in 1984, the audience I was with was enthralled by the former but laughed mercilessly at the latter.

I'm appalled . . . . and very surprised.

[Raigmore]

I am surprised too. Although I rate Rear Window considerably higher than Vertigo, I don't think that the latter film is anything to be laughed at. But I agree that it has dated very badly in these 50 years and looked at from a modern perspective, the plot would seem naive to the point of silliness. Nevertheless, it remains an excellent visual spectacle.

[Guest 530]

I don't remember anything about the ending that's confusing. :confused:

[Guest 1116]

yeah i'm also actually confused about why you are confused!

Seemed pretty straightforward to me! Were you drunk or something during the previous 100 minutes or so? or like me completely captivated by Grace Kelly to didn't pay attention to anthing else! :norty:

[kfung]

Have good memories of Rear Window, which always seem to be shown on TV at Christmas time when I was growing up!

[kfung]

Also has anyone seen the Christopher Reeves version a few years back?

[Guest 993]

Originally posted by kfung
Also has anyone seen the Christopher Reeves version a few years back?

Yeah. Was okay, but just not Hitchcock. "TV Movie" fare.

Originally posted by JamesW
I don't remember anything about the ending that's confusing. :confused:

spoiler alert ...

Didnt the ending imply that caretaker nurse woman had something to do with the murder and cover up as well? The bit at the end when one of the detectives says something along the lines of 'we've got the evidence that was found in the garden. do you want to see it?'.. and the caretaker replies something like 'no thanks I dont want to see any of her body parts'...

ANyway... I was half concentrating when she says that, and as its only a split couple of seconds I had to rewind a couple of times to really get it

Top ending though.

[Guest 12950]

But..

there were no body parts in the garden. So how could this implicate the nurse? The murderer confessed that he had thrown them in the river

[Guest 12969]

But, wasn't the

dog buried in the garden? Who knows?

[Guest 2760]

Originally posted by brunny78
Much prefer it to vertigo which is widely held as Hitchcocks best.

:confused:

Widely? By whom???

[Guest 12950]

There was nothing buried in the garden. There had been the wife's body but because of the dog sniffing round the murderer confessed that he had removed everything. (This was mentioned at the end of the film)
Also - the dog was buried by the woman upstairs - or at least she had the dog after it was found dead in the garden

[Guest 1116]

Originally posted by feverpitch96
:confused:

Widely? By whom???

ur.. by a lot of people, and many a critic.

though my personal fav is NBNW! Rear Window is second. Vertigo while excellent and probably is Hitchcock's strongest film, visually, and in terms of the themes he deals with, and how well he executes them.. but the film is also pretty dark, grim and a bit spooky, whereas NBNW and RW are pure entertainment! would re-watch them more than Vertigo. No disrespect mind :noid:

[DrZarkov]

Watched this for the first time today (taped it the other night) and thought it was superb. I would love for more films like this to be made today, the atmosphere at times was incredible and I almost found myself sweating like I was in the heatwave. All in all a top film!