DirectorQuentin Tarantinois of the firm opinion that filmmakers lose their touch as they grow older. “Most directors have terrible last movies,” he said on thePure Cinema Podcast. But, in addition to disliking the later films ofAlfred Hitchcock, Tarantino isn’t a fan of the great director’s masterpieces either. Several of them, includingVertigo,Rear Window, andPsycho, were made available to stream on Netflix this month. Among them is the 1972 filmFrenzy, which Tarantino hates with passion. In his book, Cinema Speculation, Tarantino went so far as to call the film “crap.”
In a chapter dedicated to the movies ofBrian De Palma, Tarantino found himself getting distracted by his dislike of Hitchcock’s films. “While De Palma liked making thrillers (for a little while, at least), I doubt he loved watching them,” Tarantino wrote, adding, “Hitchcockian thrillers were, for him, a means to an end. That’s why when he was forced to return to the genre in the mid-eighties, they were so lackluster. Ultimately, he resented having to make them and was bored with the form. Hitchcock’sFrenzymight be a piece of crap, but I doubt Alfred was bored making it.” In an interview withBret Easton EllisforThe New York Times, Tarantino calledNorth by Northwest"mediocre,” and offered his explanation for why Hitchcock’s later movies didn’t pass muster for him. “The 1950s held him down, Hitchcock couldn’t do what he, left to his own devices, would’ve wanted to do. By the time he could do it in the late ’60s and the early ’70s, he was a little too old,” he said.
Based onArthur La Bern’s book “Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square,“FrenzystarredJon Finch,Alec McCowen, andBarry Foster. It served as thepenultimate film ofHitchcock’s storied career, and was a box office hit, grossing over $12 million against a reported budget of $2 million.Frenzywas seen asa return to form for the filmmaker, following the underwhelming reception ofTopazandTorn Curtain. It holds a 91%Rotten Tomatoes score. Hitchcock wouldhang up his camerafollowingFamily Plot, which was released in 1976, before his passing in 1980.
Tarantino Has Vowed To Retire After His 10th Feature
The famously vocal Tarantino wants to follow through on his promise of retiring from filmmaking after having directed his 10th feature. He’s said to be doing this mainly because he fears ruining his filmography with a stinker, as he’s certain older directors lose their mojo. He was supposedly planning a film titledThe Movie Critic, but the project was never confirmed. He still hasn’t announced what his final film will be, but there have been talks that his script for a sort of follow-up toOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodis being circled byDavid Fincheras a possible directorial project. You can watchFrenzyon Netflix, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
