Quentin Tarantino Once Critiqued This Hitchcock Classic

Quentin Tarantino once shared some strong opinions about Alfred Hitchcock’s films, especially the 1972 thriller Frenzy.

In his book Cinema Speculation, Tarantino dedicated a full chapter to Brian De Palma’s Sisters, and in the process, he compared De Palma’s approach to thrillers with that of Hitchcock.

“While De Palma liked making thrillers (for a little while, at least), I doubt he loved watching them,” Tarantino wrote.

“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 lacklustre. Ultimately he resented having to make them and was bored with the form. Hitchcock’s Frenzy might be a piece of cr**, but I doubt Alfred was bored making it.”

Despite his harsh words for Frenzy, Tarantino acknowledges that Hitchcock at least seemed to enjoy his work.

However, he has also criticized other films by the legendary director. In an interview with Bret Easton Ellis for The New York Times, Tarantino expressed his view on North by Northwest, saying it was overrated.

“People discover North by Northwest at 22 and think it’s wonderful when actually it’s a very mediocre movie,” he said. “I’ve always felt that Hitchcock’s acolytes took his cinematic and story ideas further. I love Brian De Palma’s Hitchcock movies. I love Richard Franklin’s and Curtis Hanson’s Hitchcock meditations. I prefer those to actual Hitchcock.”

He added that Hitchcock’s creative freedom was limited in the 1950s, and by the time he could fully explore his vision in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was getting older. “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,” Tarantino explained.

Frenzy, released in 1972, is a British neo-noir thriller directed by Hitchcock in what would become the penultimate film of his career.

The screenplay, by Anthony Shaffer, is adapted from the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern. The film stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, and Barry Foster, with supporting performances from Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins, and Vivien Merchant.

The story revolves around a serial killer in London and an ex-RAF serviceman who becomes wrongly implicated.

Although Frenzy has faced mixed opinions from modern critics, it was well-received upon release. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it “a passionately entertaining film” with “a marvelously funny script” and a “superb” cast. Roger Ebert awarded it four stars, praising it as “a return to old forms by the master of suspense, filled with macabre details, incongruous humor, and the desperation of a man convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.”

Variety described it as “ingeniously fresh storytelling stamped with the same mischievous, audacious and often outrageous mixture of humor and suspense that first made [Hitchcock] famous.”

Other critics agreed. Penelope Gilliatt of The New Yorker said the film brought audiences “nearly back in the days of his great English films” thanks to a “first-rate, well-equated cast”. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it “Alfred Hitchcock’s best picture in years”.

Time magazine also praised the film, noting it was “smooth and shrewd and dexterous, a reminder that anyone who makes a suspense film is still an apprentice to this old master.” In 2012, The Guardian described Frenzy as “a complex and gripping thriller” and “a rich tapestry of suspense, and a masterpiece.”

Despite Tarantino’s critique, Frenzy remains a standout in Hitchcock’s late career. The film marked the director’s last work in Britain before spending the remainder of his career in Hollywood. It also holds the distinction of being Hitchcock’s only film initially rated R in the United States.

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