Family Plot is an Alfred Hitchcock movie that came out just a few days before I was born in 1976. I’ve not seen it before, so it was a nice treat. The Master of Suspense lives up to his name with this movie.
An elderly lady hires a psychic medium to find her long lost nephew. He had been born out of wedlock and placed for an adoption at birth. She feels bad that he’s never been part of the family and she’d like to leave her inheritance to him. Finding the nephew is the first McGuffin of the film. Indeed, most of the first half revolves around finding him. It’s what happens afterward that is interesting.
The psychic medium and her boyfriend do find the nephew. He’s involved in kidnapping people for ransom with his wife. They go so far as to have a soundproof room built just off their garage. We meet the couple as they successfully steal a precious gem worth a lot of money.
They’re about to start another scheme to hold a Bishop ransom when they’re found. The psychic and her boyfriend must do what they can to stop them, and maybe get a little money for themselves in the process. It seems the real McGuffin is money. Money drives the psychic to defraud her victims. Money drives the nephew to kidnap powerful people. Money sets up the double-cross and money is the undoing of the nephew.
Everything is quite a bit dated and anachronistic because it’s 46 years old. We don’t use pay phones, typewriters, or wear three-piece suits anymore. We do, however, still have psychics and crime is still a problem. I think this movie could be redone to modernize the characters without sacrificing anything in the story and I hope someone decides to do that someday. It’s a wonderful story that is ageless.
