Family Plot
Original Movie poster
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by	Uncredited: Alfred Hitchcock
Written by	Novel: 'Victor Canning "The Rainbird Pattern" Screenplay: Ernest Lehman
Starring	Karen Black Bruce Dern Barbara Harris William Devane
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Leonard J. South
Editing by	J. Terry Williams
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	April 9, 1976
Running time	121 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$ 3,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Family Plot is a 1976 Universal motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris and William Devane, with Cathleen Nesbitt. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 392 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (494 × 755 pixel, file size: 60 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) movie poster for the American theatrical release of the film Family Plot (1976) Source URL: http://www. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Victor Canning (born 1911) was a prolific British author of spy thrillers and adventure novels. ... Ernest Lehman (born December 8, 1915 in New York City - died July 2, 2005 in Los Angeles, California) was a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. ... Black in Five Easy Pieces, 1970 Karen Black (born July 1, 1939) is an Oscar-nominated American actress, screenwriter, singer and songwriter. ... Bruce MacLeish Dern (born Winnetka, Illinois, June 4, 1936) is an American actor. ... Barbara Harris (born July 25, 1935) is the American Tony Award-winning Broadway stage star and Academy Award-nominated motion picture actress. ... Devane in Knots Landing William Devane (born September 5, 1937)[1] is an American film and television actor. ... Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra during the recording of the score for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... // Events March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas Star Wars science fiction film. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... // Events March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas Star Wars science fiction film. ... Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the major American film studios that has production studios and offices located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County between Los Angeles... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Black in Five Easy Pieces, 1970 Karen Black (born July 1, 1939) is an Oscar-nominated American actress, screenwriter, singer and songwriter. ... Bruce MacLeish Dern (born Winnetka, Illinois, June 4, 1936) is an American actor. ... Barbara Harris (born July 25, 1935) is the American Tony Award-winning Broadway stage star and Academy Award-nominated motion picture actress. ... Devane in Knots Landing William Devane (born September 5, 1937)[1] is an American film and television actor. ... Cathleen Nesbitt, CBE, born on (November 24, 1888 – and died on August 2, 1982) was an British actress of Welsh and Irish extraction. ...

Plot

The story involves a fake psychic, con artist Blanche Tyler (played by Harris), and her taxi driver boyfriend, George Lumley (played by Dern), who attempt to locate the nephew of a wealthy and guiltridden old woman, Julia Rainbird (played by Nesbitt). Julia, one of Blanche's clients, was responsible for her now deceased sister giving up the boy for adoption years earlier and now wants to make him her heir. She will pay $10,000 if he is found. Parapsychology is the study of certain types of paranormal phenomena (parapsychology comes from the Greek para, “beside, beyond,” + psychology, derived from the Greek psyche, “soul, mind,” + logos “rational discussion”). The term was coined by Max Dessoir (1889). ... A confidence trick or confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift, boo-boo, bunko or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... Wealth from the old English word weal, which means well-being or welfare. The term was originally an adjective to describe the possession of such qualities. ... Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent (or parents) other than the birth parents. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

However, the nephew and prospective heir, now a successful jeweler in 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, and his girlfriend, Fran (played by Black), has successfully kidnapped an assortment of millionaires and dignitaries, returning them when the ransom, a valuable gemstone, has been delivered, which they hide in their chandelier. Nickname: Location of the City and County of San Francisco, California Coordinates: Country United States of America State California City-County San Francisco Government  - Mayor Gavin Newsom Area  - City  47 sq mi (122 km²)  - Land  46. ... The term ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner to extort money or property extorted to secure their release, or to the sum of money involved. ... A selection of gemstone pebbles made by tumbling rough rock with abrasive grit, in a rotating drum. ... A chandelier in the U.S. vice presidents ceremonial office in the Old Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. ...

When Arthur learns that Blanche and George are pursuing him, he suspects the worst, putting their lives in danger.

Production

This comedy/thriller was Hitchcock's final movie. It was adapted for the screen by Ernest Lehman, based on the novel The Rainbird Pattern (1972) (ISBN 0-441-70393-3) by Victor Canning. Lehmann wanted the film to be sweeping, dramatic and dark but Hitchcock kept pushing him toward lightness and comedy. Lehman's screenplay earned him a 1977 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Airplane! is considered by some critics to be one of the funniest movies of all time. ... Thriller films are movies that primarily use action and suspense to engage the audience. ... Ernest Lehman (born December 8, 1915 in New York City - died July 2, 2005 in Los Angeles, California) was a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. ... The Rainbird Pattern is a 1972 novel by Victor Canning. ... See also: 1971 in literature, other events of 1972, 1973 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Victor Canning (born 1911) was a prolific British author of spy thrillers and adventure novels. ... The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. ... The Mystery Writers of America are an organization for mystery writers. ...

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 a thriller, No Bail For the 'Judge, a thriller set in London and meant to star Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Harvey and John Williams. Although Hitchcock eventually got a fine screenplay and preproduction, location scouting, and costumes were well underway, that film was never made. Ernest Lehman (born December 8, 1915 in New York City - died July 2, 2005 in Los Angeles, California) was a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. ... North by Northwest is a 1959 MGM comic thriller by Alfred Hitchcock and is generally considered one of his best works. ... Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) was an Academy Award-winning actress of film and theatre, Broadway stage performer, ballerina, fashion model, and humanitarian. ... Laurence Harvey in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode Arthur Laurence Harvey (October 1, 1928 – November 25, 1973) was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films. ... John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer and conductor. ...

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 as the medium. He had previously tried to hire her for other film projects.
• Hitchcock had earlier worked with Bruce Dern in Marnie, in which he had a brief role in a flashback playing a doomed sailor.
• Hitchcock cast Roy Thinnes in the role of nefarious jeweler Arthur Adamson but, when he and the actor clashed, he fired and replaced him.

Burt Reynolds (born Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. ... Roy Richard Scheider (born November 10, 1932) is an American actor. ... Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941, in Bascom, Florida) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Beverly Sills (born Belle Miriam Silverman on May 25, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York) was perhaps the best-known American opera singer in the 1960s and 1970s. ... Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946 in Los Angeles, California) is an Academy Award-winning and Tony Award-winning American actress and singer. ... Barbara Harris (born July 25, 1935) is the American Tony Award-winning Broadway stage star and Academy Award-nominated motion picture actress. ... Bruce MacLeish Dern (born Winnetka, Illinois, June 4, 1936) is an American actor. ... Marnie is a 1964 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel by Winston Graham. ... Roy Thinnes (born April 6. ...

Trivia

• 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.
• 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.

This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearances. ...

External links

• Family Plot at the Internet Movie Database