Tommy Doyle from John Carpenter's Halloween
Rear Window
March 24, 2014
Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window gives the viewer with an interesting point of view. The
audience often sees things through the eyes of L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, which
causes the audience to question what they really see. Is what Jeff seeing
really real or is it just his imagination running wild due to boredom? The
audience ultimately learns that Jeff was telling the truth all along. Jeff is
not that old creep staring at the pretty young things outside his window. The
audience at first should question whether or not Jeff is telling the truth, or
if his perceptions of reality are alerted by his surroundings. As Jeff weaves
the story for his friends, he puts himself and his friends in danger. Jeff does
not know everything; as a result there are pieces of the puzzle that he must
leave others to figure out. This creates the danger in the fact that what if he
accuses an innocent man of murder. Jeff’s own boredom with life could create
chaos for an innocent man who did nothing to Jeff. Jeff’s own impotence, in the case of the
missing Thorwald woman, causes him to seek help from his girlfriend and nurse/
friend. Jeff is causing these innocent people to stand in for his own
cowardice. Even if Jeff wasn’t injured, would he really just be an armchair
warrior trying to solve a “murder” to spice up his own mundane life or would he
be Sherlock Holmes? Jeff’s fetish is that he likes to watch, he is a voyeur who
enjoys watching and watching others in danger. Jeff often looks at a woman
called Miss Torso. Miss Torso is a pretty young woman who dances provocatively
in front of her open window. Jeff is enthralled by his neighbor, just like his
enthralled by solving murder he did not see. Jeff is a photographer, who makes
a living off of stalking his victims and taking their essence in the form of a
picture. Jeff voyeuristic profession curbs his appetite for the flesh. While Jeff is locked up in his own cage, the
cast on his leg, the beast is clawing at the wall begging to be let loose.
Thorwald loosens the chain but doesn’t let out the animal. Jeff kind of releases
his own tension through the use of his nurse and girlfriend. Jeff goads Lisa
and Stella, the nurse, to find evidence and have them report their findings to
him. Jeff is vicariously getting his thrills by putting his loved ones in
danger. Rear Window is an exercise in how a dangerous mind and a dangerous
point of view can skew reality.
Side Notes
John Carpenter, director and writer of Halloween, uses a lot of Hitchcockian
techniques in his films as seen in Halloween:
·
Doctor
Samuel Loomis. Sam Loomis is the name of Janet Leigh’s boyfriend in Psycho.
·
Jamie
Lee Curtis plays the main heroine in Halloween. She is the daughter of Janet
Leigh. Janet Leigh plays Marion Crane in Psycho, who gets killed in the famous
shower scene.
·
In
Rear Window, the detective is named
Thomas Doyle. In Halloween, the kid Laurie Strode is babysitting is named Tommy
Doyle.
·
Carpenter
also uses crane shots and dolly shots much like Hitchcock does in his movies.
·
Rear Window was remade as a
TV movie in 1998. Christopher Reeve plays the James Stewart character and Daryl
Hannah plays the Grace Kelly character.
Christopher Reeves final role.
·
The
movie has spawned imitations some good, some bad
Good imitation
Fright Night (1985)
Bad imitation
Disturbia (2007)
·
The
TV show Castle has a homage episode
dedicated to Rear Window
Fright Night (1985). Fright Night draws inspiration and
adapts from Rear Window. Fright Night is a great movie and a
great companion to Rear Window. Avoid
the remake of Fright Night, if
possible. Fright Night has a young Amanda Bearse, Marcy Darcy from Married with Children, in it. The cast
also include Roddy McDowall.
