"What do you do besides lure men to their doom on the 20th Century Limited?"
I think the question (which nobody has asked me lately) has finally been answered. I'm going to go ahead and say that North By Northwest is my favorite movie. I often cite This is Spinal Tap, or Brazil or Stop Making Sense or Dr. Strangelove or Bullitt. Or Pulp Fiction. But no more.
Hmm...Strangelove. Er....Strangelove is pretty great....As is Spinal Tap. And Pulp Fiction.
Dammit.
Ah well. I'll forge ahead. I honestly have no idea how many times I've seen North By Northwest, but it never disappoints. It's beautifully shot. It's hilarious. It's quaint. It's suspenseful (a real "cliffhanger," even...ha). The music is incomparable.
And when Roger Thornhill and Eve Kendall get to talking on the train, it's HOTTT. Not visually explicit, of course. It was 1959, afterall. But the dialogue, the purring innuendo, the batted eyelashes, are all spectacular. There's still that utterly breathtaking shot in Rear Window, which knocks me over every time I see it (IT'S GRACE KELLY, FOR GOD'S SAKE). But this is just as good. I mean, I've ridden trains on three continents, but I ain't never met anyone like Eve Kendall.
So, shit....see North By Northwest. Kathleen Turner's cries of pleasure (to name one of countless thousands of examples, real or faked) , though fun in their way, don't nearly measure up.
It's the perfect movie.
"Now. What can a man do with his clothes off for twenty minutes?"