A Traditional Thriller - North by Northwest

An example of a thriller that I have researched into is Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 movie 'North by Northwest', starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. This action filled thriller is about a hapless New York advertising executive, named Roger Thornhill, being mistaken for a government agent by the name of George Kaplan, by a group of foreign spies, and he is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

This thriller provides a number of examples of techniques often used in thrillers, such as suspense, cliffhangers, red herrings used to mislead the audience, as well as obstacles for the hero to overcome, put in place by the villain.

There a number of memorable and distinguished scenes throughout this movie, such as the the UN shooting, the crop field scene, the auction room, the 'shooting' of Thornhill, and the final scene, on top of Mount Rushmoor.

In particular, the use of suspense is particularly apparent in the plane crop-duster attack scene near a Midwest cornfield as we do not know the fate of Roger Thornhill, who could be about to get killed. Also, an example of a red herring in this thriller, is the shooting of Thornhill, by Eve Kendal, where we believe he is killed. It is later discovered that this was a set up in Eve's attempt to escape from Vandamme, and that the bullet shot was in actual fact a blank. Being a red herring, we are led to believe one thing and reach a certain conclusion, only to later discover that this is not the case. The cliffhanger of the film is the finale on Mount Rushmoor.