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Movie Review - Marnie (1964)  

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Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery
Rated: PG
Length: 130 minutes
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Website: IMDb Listing

PLOT

Marnie (Hedren) is a troubled young woman. She has a habit of robbing her employers, disappearing, and changing her identity to do it all over again. That is, until she applies for a position in Mark Rutland's (Connery) company. You see, Rutland was a client of one of the former employers that she robbed, and he recognizes her. Only, instead of turning her in, he hires her, keeps an eye on her, and eventually blackmails her into marrying him. He, of course, does it all to help her, realizing that something in her past has caused her erratic behavior to ensue.

MS. CALI'S TAKE

Ms. Cali I happened to catch Marnie on TCM (Turner Classic Movies - a reason in itself to shell out the monthly cable bill) last weekend, but I missed the first ten minutes or so, so my review is based accordingly. Who knows, the first ten minutes may make this a better movie, but I doubt it.

It's hard for me to say anything Hitchcock made wasn't worth watching, but here is the movie that can do that. Tippi Hedren's acting is terrible, although Sean Connery is good. The script wasn't much better, and the story was neither suspenseful nor unpredictable. It's pretty obvious what it was that happened in Marnie's childhood to make her act the way she does.

Hitchcock tried to create some suspense by making the color red what sets off Marnie's "mood swings." Instead, it just makes for some cheesy special effects (although, in 1964 when the movie was made, maybe they were great. I'm sure in 50 years or so, we'll look at movies like Spiderman 2 or The Matrix and think *those* special effects are cheesy).

ODDS & ENDS

  • Marnie was Tippi Hedren's second starring role, the first being Hitchcock's The Birds (In which she was much better, and which I will be reviewing soon). Hedren was also in other classics, such as the 1990 TV movie, Return to Green Acres and the 1994 TV movie The Birds II: Land's End in which she played a different character than the original.


  • Tippi Hedren is the mother of Melanie Griffith (from her first marriage to Peter Griffith), which makes her Antonio Banderas' mother-in-law.


  • Sean Connery was in a lot of stuff before Marnie. His best role, however, came years later, when he played Indiana Jones' father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
HITCHCOCK CAMEO

About 5 minutes into the movie Hitchcock can be seen in the hotel corridor as Marnie walks by.

MAMA'S APPROVAL

The story has its PG rating for a reason. There's nothing offensive here. There is one scene towards the end of the movie that gets a little graphic, but it's not too bad. Probably not the best movie for children to see though.

THE GIST

I would recommend this movie only if you are already an established Hitchcock fan and have made it your life's goal to see everything he made. I definitely would not recommend it to a new fan, or to somebody who has never seen a Hitchcock movie before. Even though the story is not well written and is very predictable, it does have some interesting moments that can make it watchable. I can't remember what they are right now, but I know there is some reason I didn't turn the channel before I looked at IMDB and realized this was a Hitchcock film.

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