Curator Watchlist
A breezy, late-career Hitchcock caper that trades peak-suspense intensity for wit, charm, and a playful criminal puzzle. It’s not among his greatest films, but it’s entertaining, slyly offbeat, and rewarding if you enjoy crime stories with a comic edge.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 2h 0m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black
Spiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Alfred Hitchcock
Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black
A breezy, late-career Hitchcock caper that trades peak-suspense intensity for wit, charm, and a playful criminal puzzle. It’s not among his greatest films, but it’s entertaining, slyly offbeat, and rewarding if you enjoy crime stories with a comic edge.
Family Plot feels like Hitchcock loosening his tie for one last joke. The premise is pure misdirection: a fake psychic, a cabbie, kidnappers, and a missing heir all circling one another in a sunny California crime maze. The film is more amused than alarming, but that tone gives it a peculiar charm.
What it lacks in the icy precision of Hitchcock’s classics, it makes up for in personality. Barbara Harris and Bruce Dern keep the movie lively, and the supporting turns add to the sense that everyone is in on the con. The suspense is gentler than expected, yet the plotting still has enough snap to keep the pieces moving.
As a final film, it’s less a grand farewell than a knowing wink. That may leave some viewers underwhelmed, especially if they come expecting Vertigo or Rear Window-level brilliance. But as a late-career caper with a mischievous streak, it’s an easy recommendation for the right audience.
Josh Lewis (3★) · 455 likes
alfred hitchcock ending his career with a literal wink into the camera feels appropriate.
theriverjordan (3.5★) · 226 likes
Alfred Hitchcock goes out with the last laugh - to a joke that, more or less, only he would find funny. Perhaps, himself — and his wife, Alma. “Family Plot,” about a fake psychic that crosses paths with real serial killers, is an old man’s afternoon daydream of parlor grotesquery. The film is just perverse enough to cause an eyebrow raise. But, not enough to get grandpa’s Viagra prescription reduced. The movie dialogues best in Hitchcock’s filmography with “The Trouble… more
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (2.5★) · 148 likes
Action! - The Master & The Fan: Hitchcock's Bumping Road To Mastering Suspense And with this intricate crime drama laced with cheeky humour, we bring our Master of Suspense marathon to a close, although I have a film and Hitchcock adjacent later today as you can see on the schedule. And, as you can see, it was a tough journey, but by the second half, when I got to the best films, I could see why many deem him one of… more
WraithApe (2.5★) · 148 likes
Hitchcock's swansong is a film out of time. There's a quaint charm to it but quaint charm isn't what I typically look for in a thriller from the mid 70s - this is the same year in which Scorsese gave us a blistering deconstruction of masculinity and contemporary society with Taxi Driver, Lumet put out the incendiary satire Network, and Brian de Palma was lighting his own telekinetic touchpaper with Carrie. It's almost as if cinema was passing Hitch by
Slig001 (4★) · 121 likes
Alfred Hitchcock's final film is this is this little mystery thriller. Sure its not up there with the films at the top of great director's filmography, but it's a good fun time in its own right. Family Plot focuses on a pair of intersecting scams, as a fake psychic and her taxi driver boyfriend end up on the tail of a jewelry dealer turned kidnapper. Bruce Dern and Barbara Harris make for a pair of likable leads, while William Devane
A polished blend of romance, mystery, and playful deception with a breezy, elegant tone.
A stylish caper built on charm, planning, and comic criminal teamwork.
Shares Hitchcock’s taste for macabre humor and a lightly mischievous tone.
For viewers who want a classic crime puzzle with meticulous plotting and tension.
A sly, comic con-game film that leans into absurdity and criminal improvisation.
A glossy, playful crime comedy with a similarly relaxed, teasing rhythm.
An urbane cat-and-mouse caper centered on cleverness, style, and flirtation.
A dry, twisty heist comedy that keeps piling complications onto a simple scheme.
A crowd-pleasing con-artist film with layered deception and old-school charm.
A wry 1970s detective story that mixes crime, deadpan humor, and California texture.
A great match for viewers who like 1970s paranoia and careful observational suspense.
A comic mystery built around genre playfulness and ensemble eccentricity.
fake psychics, kidnapping, con artists, missing heir, mistaken identity, dark comedy, late-career farewell, California crime story
crime-comedy, mystery, thriller, caper, dark humor, 1970s cinema, suspense, con artists, kidnapping, lightly macabre