Fish(er) Tales

One of my favorite movies is Hitchcock’s North by Northwest. It’s a fun ride with a terrific performance from Cary Grant. Bernard Herrmann’s music is, of course, wonderful (don’t miss this score!). The film holds up pretty well by today’s standards as history is often not kind to these older films.

NNW also has one of my favorite film mistakes (or blooper). It’s a bit of a spoiler if you’ve never seen the film, so be forewarned. During the scene in the Mt. Rushmore restaurant, Eva Marie Saint pulls a gun on Cary Grant. Just before she fires, notice the kid in the background.

Do you think the gun is gonna be loud?

That kid isn’t taking any chances with his hearing.

The scene is rather dramatic when you first see it, but once you notice the kid with his fingers in his ears, it kind of loses some of its power. What’s funny is that Hitch cuts to another shot right after she fires the gun. If he’d cut a touch earlier, the kid’s performance would be lost forever on the cutting room floor.