(Come on Brian, let's go to the stoning)...

I might not agree with you about Hitchcock and his films, but I do in principle. It's all about personal tastes. I find his films fascinating, but also do like like each and every one of them.

Everyone has a director who they can't "get into." Kubrick is another fine example of a master filmmaker who engenders his own following of rabid fans. I like his work, but some of it is "not for me." I didn't see Eyes Wide Shut mainly because it didn't interest me in the least. I have seen most of his other films, and they are among some of my favorites.

Wow, DjC!
That's an incredibly large blanket you're throwing over Hitch's entire body of work! There are certainly high and low points in his portfolio, but to declare that ALL of his films are devoid of pacing truly IS erroneous. Opinions aside, you damage your credibility by making such a statement.

"The only film of his that I liked enough to say I liked it, was Rear Window. ALL of his other films I would would label, "suck"."

If you were limiting your "suck" label to such Hitchcock misfires as The Paradine Case, Topaz or Torn Curtain, I could agree with you completely. Badly paced, talky, boring stuff, with only mere glimpses of the Hitchcock style peeking through. But for you to extend it into such classic work as Saboteur, Lifeboat, Strangers On A Train, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, North By Northwest and Psycho is unjustified. Many of his masterpieces are BRILLIANTLY paced!

"I know what I am saying is hideous, and could be called blasphemous, but I cannot stand his films. BUT I do respect his technique, and his ways."

Have you seen any of Hitch's silent films?
His technique grew out of the pre-sound era, so if you're not familiar with movies from that time, you may not appreciate his style or structure.

You probably just do not like Hitchcock movies. Period. It isn't necessary to say that they all "suck", because that's not the truth. You just don't like them. A lot of people don't like Pablo Picasso's paintings. They're weird looking. But anyone who says that they "suck" demonstrates their lack of understanding of art history and painting technique.

NP:Obsession Herrmann

Not to mention that it stars the great James Stewart- in my opinion, the most talented actor I've seen.

quote:

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Maybe to some a slow slow slow drawn out pan through a room is a suspense builder, but not to me

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I have to admit that the last time I watched North By Northwest, I felt the pacing problems--but feeling it was slow really didn't count because it was the 40th time I'd seen the movie. What really counts is the first time you've seen a film--how it works or doesn't work then.

I'm the first to admit that with Hitchcock everything is sacrificed to the situation, that the characters are really puppets or "cattle" and the machinations are what matter. Hitchcock understood what moved people emotionally but he remained somewhat distant from people's humanity.

Hitchcock joked to Herrmann that if he hadn't been a director he would have liked to be a hanging judge. The French New Wave who adored Hitch loved him not for the reasons they loved the more humane and understanding Renoir but because of his Christian morality, which in Hitch comes out rather punishing at times.

In one of Renoir's letters with Dudley Nichols, one or the other of them said that Hitchcock was all gimmicks, that he lacked soul.