It's the one film we get to watch in Humanities 104 - The Modern Era. It's a good film - I don't know if it deserves to be the sole film representative of the contemporary age (maybe Casablanca or Tootsie) - but it was fun.
I watched it with a bunch of honors kids, so the commentary was interesting. By the end of the film, we were shouting advice to the characters as if it was a slasher film.
"That's good. Hide in plain sight. He'll never notice the guy in the wheelchair. Every apartment has one of them."
"Oh &#%*! It's Thorwald!"
"The door, Jimmy. Lock the freakin' door!"
"Wow. Everybody leaves their doors unlocked. It's just like Canada."
NOTE: It's kinda weird seeing Raymond Burr play the villain. I kept watching it and thinking crap, this guy is going to get away with it. Perry Mason ALWAYS wins his case!
Anyway, it was fun watching the movie and cracking up a the morbid comments:
"Let's go down there and find out what's buried in that garden."
"Why not? I've always wanted to meet Mrs. Thorwald."
or
"Why does a man leave his house three times on a rainy night and comes back three times?"
"Maybe he likes the way his wife welcomes him home."
and
"Nobody ever invented a polite word for a killin' yet."
NOTE: All three of the previous comments are actual lines in the movie. It's hard to compete against such good material, but still we tried.
Ah...murder is rarely such fun, or such an enjoyable spectator sport.
"That's right Jimmy. Turn out the lights. THAT won't attract any attention."
"Hey, see that apartment that just turned off their lights? That can't be them."
There were a list of questions we were supposed to keep in mind while watching the film, focusing on usage of camera angles and what the meaning of the title is ("Um... Rear Window. I think that's pretty self-explanatory).
When it gets to discussion time, however, I may have difficulty not cracking up when recalling certain scenes.
"How can a photographer defend himself?"
"Flashbulbs!"
"Hooray!" "Yea!" "Oh yeah..."
I'm going to miss such intellectual conversation amongst the Honors kids next year.
Good night.
'Dont_open_the_door_Jimmy'
