I have seen the majority of Hitchcock's pictures but this is probably the most famous one that slipped through the cracks. It is a classic suspense piece that's been parodied and copied about a million times since it came out. If you hadn't had a chance to see it before, I urge you to give it a shot. Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is your average advertising executive out at lunch when he is mistaken for CIA operative George Caplan. He is bundled out to a house, where a mysterious man (James Mason) threatens him and then tries to have him killed. Poor Thornhill escapes but is arrested by the police. After his attempt at finding the mysterious man's true identity ends in murder, Thornhill goes out on the lam to try and find Mr. Caplan, in the hopes that he will be able to clear up the matter. On the train to Chicago, he meets the lovely and very accommodating Eve (Eva Marie Saint) but still can't seem to catch a break or clear his name. Because there is no George Caplan. It's a decoy the CIA has created to draw fire away from their undercover agent. Thornhill just happened to blunder into it and must now stay one step ahead of the people trying to kill him.
Filled with Hitch's signature dark humor and some very frank sexuality, this is one of the most polished movies he's ever done. Cary Grant is effortlessly charming, James Mason is cold and calculating, and it even has a very young, very oily-looking Martin Landau. It's kind of amazing.
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