Actors: Bruce Dern, Karen Black, William Devane, Barbara Harris, Ed Lauter
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Family Plot
When Madame Blanche (Barbara Harris), a phoney psychic who uses the investigative skills of her cab-driving boyfriend George (Bruce Dern) to con people out of their money, gets an offer from Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt), an aging dowager, to track down the woman's long-lost niece, she thinks she's hit paydirt. Until it's revealed that no one's seen the man in 40 years, or knows his name or what he looks like.
As George, posing as lawyer Frank McBride, begins poking around the affairs of Eddie Shoebridge, the adopted son of a family friend and who supposedly died in a fire years ago, he begins to get uncomfortably close to the affairs of Arthur Adamson (William Devane), a shady jeweler who, with the help of his girlfriend Fran (Karen Black), has been executing a series of kidnappings for ransom.
When Adamson and Fran snatch a well-known archbishop (William Prince), who also happens to be the only link with Eddie Shoebridge, George and Blanche know they're on the right trail.
--James Craver, Resident Scholar
FAMILY PLOT is the last movie of Alfred Hitchcock released in 1976.
San Francisco. Blanche Tyler, a fake medium, is given the opportunity to earn $10,000 by the millionaire Julia Rainbird if she finds Julia's illegitimate nephew. With the help of her boyfriend George Lumley, a cab driver, she discovers that this nephew has changed identities several times and is now a jeweler known as Arthur Adamson. But this Arthur and his girlfriend Fran also are kidnappers who escaped the San Francisco police and the F.B.I. for months now. The strategy of the couple is simple : they kidnap rich people, hide them in their garage and release them after having received diamonds in exchange. Soon Arthur remarks that George is following his trail and decides to get rid of him and Blanche.
Perfect as usual.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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Analysis of Family Plot
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 45%
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Crime & Police Story?
Yes
Crime story:
- white collar fraud/theft
- criminal kidnappers
If this is a criminal POV story...
- white collar fraud/con man
Romance
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- thief/con artist
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- red
Hair style
- short/standard wavy (man)
- short/standard curly (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavy
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn curly
Body type
- average (woman)
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- businessman, small
- criminal
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- average (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
- mean, arrogant
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
City?
Yes
City:
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
Misc setting
- church/synagogue
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- non-gory references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- excited
- full of laughter
How many deaths in film?
- 0 (not a murder mystery)
- 1
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
- kissing
Kind of violence:
- hand to hand
- guns
Unusual forms of death
- dropped from large heights
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Orchestra/classical
Is this movie based on a
- book
