Family Plot
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{{Infobox_Film |
name = Family Plot |
image = Family_plot_movie_poster.jpg |
caption = Original Movie poster |
imdb_id = 0074512 |
amg_id = 1:16713 |
director = [[Alfred Hitchcock]] |
writer = '''Novel:'''<br>'[[Victor Canning]]<br>"The Rainbird Pattern"<br>'''Screenplay:'''<br>[[Ernest Lehman]] |
starring = [[Barbara Harris (actress)|Barbara Harris]]<br>[[Bruce Dern]]<br>[[William Devane]]<br>[[Karen Black]]<br>[[Cathleen Nesbitt]]<br>[[Ed Lauter]]<br>[[Katherine Helmond]] |
producer = '''Uncredited:'''<br>[[Alfred Hitchcock]]|
music = [[John Williams (composer)|John Williams]] |
cinematography = Leonard J. South|
editing = J. Terry Williams |
distributor = [[Universal Pictures]] |
released = [[April 9]], [[1976 in film|1976]] ([[USA]])|
runtime = 121 min. |
budget = [[United States dollar|US$]] 3,000,000 |
language = [[English language|English]] |
}}
'''''Family Plot''''' is a [[1976 in film|1976]] [[Universal Studios|Universal]] [[film|motion picture]] directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]], his final completed film. It stars [[Barbara Harris (actress)|Barbara Harris]], [[Bruce Dern]], [[William Devane]] and [[Karen Black]].
==Plot==
The story involves a fake [[parapsychology|psychic]], Blanche Tyler (played by Harris), and her [[confidence trick|con artist]] taxi driver boyfriend, George Lumley (played by Dern), who attempt to locate the nephew of a [[wealth]]y and guiltridden old woman, Julia Rainbird (played by Nesbitt). Julia, one of Blanche's clients, was responsible for her now-deceased sister giving up a boy for [[adoption]] years earlier and now wants to make him her [[inheritance|heir]]. She will pay $10,000 if he is found.
However, the nephew and prospective heir is now a successful jeweler in [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] known as Arthur Adamson (played by Devane), who has a secret and lurid past, having apparently murdered his adoptive parents and faked his own death. With his girlfriend Fran (played by Black), he has successfully [[kidnap]]ped an assortment of millionaires and dignitaries, returning them when the [[ransom]], a valuable [[gemstone]], has been delivered, which they hide in their [[chandelier]].
When Arthur learns that Blanche and George are pursuing him, he suspects the worst, putting their lives in danger.
==Production==
This [[comedy film|comedy]]/[[thriller film|thriller]] was adapted for the screen by [[Ernest Lehman]], based on the novel ''[[The Rainbird Pattern]]'' ([[1972 in literature|1972]]) (ISBN 0-441-70393-3) by [[Victor Canning]]. Lehmann wanted the film to be sweeping, dark and dramatic but Hitchcock kept pushing him toward lightness and comedy. Lehman's screenplay earned him a 1977 [[Edgar Award]] from the [[Mystery Writers of America]].
The novel on which the film is based had earlier been rejected by [[Ernest Lehman]], to whom it had been submitted as a potential project for him to either produce and/or direct. Although Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Lehman had attempted to work together on several projects following their huge success with ''[[North by Northwest]]'', this was their only other project to be filmed. Lehman had incurred Hitchcock's anger by declining the offer to write the screenplay for ''No Bail For the 'Judge'', a thriller set in London and meant to star [[Audrey Hepburn]], [[Laurence Harvey]] and [[John Williams (actor) |John Williams]]. Although Hitchcock eventually got a fine screenplay and preproduction, location scouting and costumes were well underway, that film was never made.
Hitchcock, who often liked to specify the locales of his films by using on-screen titles or by filming famous landmarks, deliberately left the story's location unspecific, using sites in both [[San Francisco]] and [[Los Angeles]]. The chase scene in the movie, which writer Donald Spoto called a spoof on car chases prevalent in films at the time, was filmed on the extensive Universal backlot. The restaurant used in the film was also built on the backlot and was shown on studio tours in 1975.
'''[[List of Hitchcock cameo appearances|Alfred Hitchcock's cameo]]''' is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In ''Family Plot'' he can be seen (38 minutes into the film) in silhouette through the glass door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths.
The film was the only Hitchcock production to be scored by [[John Williams]], a rising staff composer at Universal who had recently had a major career breakthrough when he scored Steven Spielberg's thriller ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'', noted for its pulsating bass tones whenever the shark attacked.
Following ''Family Plot'', Hitchcock worked on the script for a projected spy thriller, ''The Short Night''. His declining health and eventual death in 1980 prevented the filming of the story, which was published in a book on Hitchcock's last years. Universal reportedly chose not to film the script with another director, although it did authorize sequels to Hitchcock's ''[[Psycho]]''.
An advertisement of this film can be seen in the [[1993]] comedy film ''[[Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused]]'', when characters pass a movie theater.
==Cast==
Hitchcock considered such actors as [[Burt Reynolds]] and [[Roy Scheider]] (for Adamson), [[Faye Dunaway]] (for Fran) and [[Beverly Sills]] (for Blanche) for the film. High salary demands were partly responsible for his turning to other actors. Although [[Liza Minnelli]] was among the stars recommended to Hitchcock, he was especially delighted to work with [[Barbara Harris (actress)|Barbara Harris]] as the medium. He had previously tried to hire her for other film projects.
Hitchcock had earlier worked with [[Bruce Dern]] on episodes of [[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]] and on the film ''[[Marnie (film)|Marnie]]'', in which he had a brief role in a flashback playing a doomed sailor.
[[William Devane]] was Hitchcock's first choice for the role of nefarious jeweler Arthur Adamson, but Devane was unavailable when the film went into production. Hitchcock finally settled on [[Roy Thinnes]] as Adamson and shot several scenes with him. When Devane became available, Hitchcock fired Thinnes and re-shot all of his scenes. Later, Thinnes confronted Hitchcock in a restaurant and asked the director why he was fired. Hitchcock simply looked at Thinnes until the actor left. Some shots of Thinnes as the character (from behind) remain in the film.
==External links==
*{{imdb title|id=0074512|title=Family Plot}}
* [http://www.eyegate.com/cine/Family_Plot/ ''Family Plot'' Eyegate Gallery]
{{Alfred Hitchcock's films}}
<!--Split film/book article intentional - Please do not remove this comment-->
[[Category:1976 films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Edgar Award winning works]]
[[Category:Films based on thriller books]]
[[Category:Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock]]
[[Category:Mystery films]]
[[Category:Psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Detective films]]
[[Category:Comedy thriller films]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
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[[sv:Arvet (1976)]]
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