Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) is universally hailed as one of the greatest films of all-time. It ran on CoziTV, channel 109 on Cablevision in NYC, last night. I’m not a big fan of it. I think the plot is ludicrous and the narrative drawn out at 128 minutes. I’m not sure why the general public is so fond of it, but I suspect critics are impressed by the psychological complexity of the main character, unusual in American film at the time, played by the great Jimmy Stewart. It is probably the beautiful, voluptuous Kim Novak’s finest performance. Scanning the list of the master of suspense’s impressive body of work, I spotted five films I believe are superior, and several others I enjoy much more. At IMDb it is the 52nd most popular film, rated 8.5 of ten. The most popular is The Shawshank Redemption (1994), rated 9.2 on more than a million votes, 300,000 more than the runner up, The Godfather, also rated 9.2. I think I’m the only person on the planet who does not like Shawshank, which I consider jailhouse bull. The contributors’ comments on Vertigo are interesting, running the gamut of opinion. More than 50 years after its original release, it is still being discussed. If there’s a great beyond, Hitch must be tickled.
I had a nice laugh today when Jack of Chase exited the bank and held the door open for a while. I assumed the customers were getting to him. Turns out one of them had extremely bad B.O.. Of course, I immediately recalled the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's car is affected by a smelly restaurant valet. No amount of cleaning chased the smell and he wound up selling the car. Elaine's hair stunk to the point where the guy she was seeing shunned her. I also found out that Jack worked in the commodity business for half a year, at the time when Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa had moved to Long Island City. They eventually rejoined us at One North End, but by then Jack had chosen a saner line of work. My thanks to him, as he purchased three of the four hardcover thrillers I brought along specifically for him, and to the woman who pounced on a great deal for three John Grisham novels, and to the young man who purchased January Valentine's Love Dreams for his girlfriend. I also had good news this morning when I checked my numbers at Amazon. Both a print and Kindle copy of Exchanges sold this week. I'm hoping enough copies sell so that the publisher will ask me to do another book. My rock n roll epic, Rising Star, awaits.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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