Guide Note

Alfred Hitchcock's classic North by Northwest is first and foremost a thriller, but also benefits greatly from the comic timing of favorite Hitchcock leading man Cary Grant.

Grant plays an advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent and is forced into a suspenseful cross-country chase that climaxes at Mount Rushmore. The film also stars Eva Marie Saint as Grant's love interest and James Mason and Martin Landau as the villains.

Fast Facts

1. Producer/director: Alfred Hitchcock
2. Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint
3. Run time: 136 min.
4. Released: July 28, 1959
5. Budget: $4 million USD
6. Nominated for "Film Editing," "Art Direction" and "Original Screenplay" Oscars
7. No. 40 on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films List

For many, the scene in which Grant's character runs for cover from a machine gun-equipped crop-dusting plane in a remote Indiana cornfield ranks highly against Hitchcock's many other famous scenes, including the shower scene in Psycho and the gathering of the killer flock of birds in The Birds. The scene is frequently referenced in screenwriting instructional texts.

Cary Grant | Martin Landau | Eva Marie Saint | James Mason | Alfred Hitchcock | To Catch A Thief