North by Northwest (1959)

 This is the film where Cary Grant just had to get the girl.

Roger Thornhill (Grant) is a marketing executive in New York City but is mistaken for another man, and his perfectly structured life spins dangerously out of control. He's nearly killed and then arrested for drunk driving when he was actually kidnapped and drugged and then he is hellbent to figure out who this George Kaplan who is mistaken for actually is. The truth is revealed to the viewer early on so it's no spoiler: George Kaplan is a fictional person made up to try and capture Soviet spy Philip VanDamm (James Mason), illegally trading secrets to the enemy and apparently making a fortune doing so, based on his house on top of Mount Rushmore. 

On the run for the alleged murder of an innocent man who just happened to have an empty house, Roger runs into Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint, brilliant) and the two hit it off and she even helps him and they have some epic banter straight out of a rom-com. Turns out, though, she's a double spy so things get sticky really quick and just when Roger is given a chance to resume his normal life, he refuses to surrender Eve to VanDamm as she is innocent and he's sick of her being used by someone that's not himself. 

But this being Hollywood and Cary Grant, he miraculously saves the girl and all is right in the world. Upon watching this film for a second time (the first was easily fourteen years ago), I was able to follow the plot much better and pick up on so many double entendre lines this time around. However, I felt the one scene as Eve and Philip prepare to fly away with Roger desperately trying to save her is way too long and then at the end, there is a giant leap in time to get to the epilogue so the plot pacing is a bit annoying at times, but this film is fully solid and great though something like this wouldn't happen this day in age what with all the social media and cell phones around; however, this was a great thriller without a doubt. Still, I wish Grant didn't always have to be the hero. It would have been nice for the girl to save herself, but this was 1959, Hollywood wasn't there yet. Fortunately, now they would be. Grade: A-

Side Notes:

-Jessie Royce Landis, who plays Grant's mother, is actually basically the same age as her son and looks younger thanks to her vivid red hair.

-One of my favorite lines is Eve's "It's going to be a long night and I don't particularly like the book I've started." 

-Roger has two ex-wives, I wonder what the real story is behind that. 

-If I could get my own, private cabin in a train, I might travel more.

-Food service on that train is remarkably quick.

-Also of note, no minorities have roles save the waiters on the dining cab of the train, which is unacceptable this day in age.