Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller stars James Stewart and Kim Novak. Scottie Ferguson (Stewart) is a retired detective in San Francisco who is called on by his old friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), to investigate the strange behavior of his much-younger wife, Madeleine (Novak), whom Elster believes is being possessed by the spirit of her great-grandmother. As Scottie begins to spend time with Madeleine, he finds himself falling in love with her. Slowly, secrets begin to unravel, and the chance of finding out the truth keeps slipping away from Scottie because of his one major setback: suffering from acrophobia, or extreme fear of heights. This film is considered to be one of the best films of all time, having recently surpassed Citizen Kane to sit atop the rankings of several different lists. I, however, was somewhat disappointed and underwhelmed. The film excels at being suspenseful, due mostly in part to Hitchcock's long, tense takes. The plot is also pretty ingenious. What bothered me, though, is that there are certain details in the film that went past the point of believability, and it is, at points, quite sexist. It is overall a fine film, but by no means did I find Vertigo deserving of any best-of-all-time honor.
Should you see it: Yes
Grade: B+
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