Rear Window .

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.