Family Plot (1976)

In director Alfred Hitchcock's final film, both a mystery-crime thriller and a dark comedy parody - it told a meticulously, well-constructed tale of character disguises and deceit, kidnapping and extortion, an empty family grave plot, swindlers and the lure of money. The movie's clever title was either a reference to a cemetery's 'family plot,' or to a story-line plot amongst family members. One of the film's taglines aptly advertised it as a "diabolically entertaining motion picture." Another stated: "There's no body in the family plot." It was Hitchcock's sole film with a John Williams musical score.

The film's script by Ernest Lehman was based upon Victor Canning's 1972 novel The Rainbird Pattern. The macabre and light-toned, playful screwball-comedy plot was comprised of two story strands highlighting the nefarious activities of two very different but disreputable couples who eventually intersected and intertwined with each other: (1) a fake psychic-clairvoyant huckster Blanche and her taxi-cab driving, con-man partner George who were promised $10,000 dollars if they could locate a missing heir, and (2) a larcenous, deadly and scheming jewelry dealer Arthur and his pretty female partner Fran whose criminal enterprise involved kidnapping prominent individuals and ransoming them for diamonds.

• in the opening title credits, green shapes (lava-lamp like) shimmered within a crystal ball, accompanied by a choir and a stringed orchestra
• the opening sequence was set in the mid-1970s in the elegant Victorian mansion of elderly, 78 year-old gray-haired, matron-spinster Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt); a seance session was being conducted in the evening in the parlor by a dubious spiritualist or psychic 'Madame' Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris); in a trance, Blanche's high-falsetto voice turned into a deep male-voiced growl as she was channeling her other-worldly spirit "control" guide (named Henry) to respond; the voice warned of a reluctant, pained and sorrowed presence in the room; the fearful Julia confessed that she still felt torment and guilt in her mind and conscience about an incident 40 years earlier, and was regularly suffering from nightmares
• as the over-dramatic 'Madame' Blanche peeked from behind her fingers covering her face (a tip-off that she was a phony spiritualist), Julia Rainbird believed she was conversing with her recently-deceased sister Harriet Rainbird, who she feared was angry with her because her son had been denied Julia's inheritance fortune of millions of dollars; she promised to make things right: ("If he's still alive, I'll find your son. And I'll take him in my arms and love him...I'll make him one of us. And give him everything...I'm willing to do anything. Anything at all"); Julia stated that she wished to find the missing boy from 40 years ago, and make him her heir - with Blanche's assistance
• after coming out of her trance, Blanche summarized the "gist" of their encounter with Harriet; as a single mother, Harriet had given birth to an illegitimate baby boy 40 years earlier, and to avoid scandal, Julia had facilitated the adoption of Harriet's son, but she had no further details about the boy, other than his estrangement from the Rainbird family; to avoid public embarrassment, Julia rejected the idea of using a detective agency to locate the grown-man, and instead offered Blanche $10,000 dollars to seek out her only heir: ("Find her son, whoever he is, wherever he is, and I'll pay you $10,000")

Phony Seance Session With Psychic Blanche Peeking Through Her Fingers

Blanche's Boyfriend, Taxi-Driving George Lumley (Bruce Dern)

• Blanche left the mansion and walked out to the driveway to an awaiting bright-red 1971 Plymouth Satellite taxi driven by her demanding boyfriend George Lumley (Bruce Dern); Blanche slowly divulged that she had acquired a possibly lucrative assignment for them: ("This is a big one, George. A great big whale"); amateur detective George immediately took credit for having thoroughly sleuthed and researched Julia Rainbird's case of sleeplessness with the "local druggist"; he also pointedly reminded Blanche that her guide Henry from "The Great Beyond" was as fake as she was: ("It was me. It's always me. Without my research, you're about as psychic as a dry salami...I'm sick and tired of having you hang me by the crystal balls")
• during their confrontational discussion, George admitted that he was a self-professed "actor" who had been forced, by his unemployment, to resort to taxi-driving for the Central Cab Co.: ("I happen to be an actor, not a cab driver"); he refused to continue sleuthing for her for free, until she revealed that she had been offered "ten big ones" ($10,000 dollars) to simply "find one man, that's all," but there were absolutely no leads to go on; the couple became teasingly amorous, and George promised her an outstanding "performance" later on a waterbed: ("You're not gonna have to worry about my performance tonight, honey. As a matter of fact, uh, on this very evening, you're gonna see a standing ovation")
• as he was distracted for a few moments from his driving, in the film's most important segue, he almost struck a mysterious black-clad blonde wearing dark sunglasses who cut across in front of them in the street's cross-walk after emerging from a public bus [Note: Little did they know - until later - how consequential this encounter was. The lady in black was the 'girlfriend' of the missing nephew they would be looking for.]
• the blonde wielding a gun - later identified as Fran (Karen Black), was led into a police station; she was there representing one of two kidnappers who was demanding a ransom payment in exchange for her kidnapped hostage, wealthy and influential Victor Constantine (Nicholas Colasanto); she surprised police by being female, since she had been calling herself "The Trader"; after being handed a large diamond in exchange for the safe return of her victim, she handed the detectives a written note, assuring them that Constantine would be returned unharmed (although drugged and unconscious with an injection of ketamine, an anesthetic) if her getaway was successful; the detectives led the woman to a helicopter that had its radio communications removed; without speaking, she communicated using hand gestures to the pilot (Alan Fudge) to guide him to a golf course, and when the pilot doubted that her gun was loaded, she shot a hole through the pilot's window

In the Woods, a Drugged and Unconscious Hostage - Constantine

Blonde With Her Kidnapping Partner Examining Their Ransom - a Huge Diamond

Helicopter Pilot Finding Drugged Constantine on the Ground

• after the helicopter landed, the blonde walked to a wooded area where her male accomplice Arthur Adamson (William Devane) was awaiting her with the hostage for the exchange; Arthur examined the huge diamond with an eye piece, exclaiming that it was "brilliant"; as the two kidnappers fled in their car and left Constantine on the ground, the pilot followed her into the woods and found their groggy hostage left behind
• inside the getaway car, Fran complained about her six-inch high heels as she removed her hat and blonde wig, but also assured boyfriend Arthur that she had made no mistakes; Arthur smugly reminded her that the police would be looking for a tall blonde woman; he also vaguely indicated that he was already planning a second kidnapping using the same tactics
• after returning home, Arthur and his live-in girlfriend Fran cleaned up the secret, sound-proofed chamber room in their basement (behind a fake brick wall) where they had kept their hostage Constantine; Fran and Arthur were amorously stimulated by their dangerous business of kidnapping millionaires and other important dignitaries and demanding expensive gemstones as ransom; before retiring up to the bedroom with Fran, Arthur secretly taped and concealed the diamond within the crystal chandelier near their home's main staircase; after hiding it, he told her he had put it "where everyone can see it" - and coyly suggested it would be hard to get him to divulge its location: "You'll have to torture me first"

Diamond Hidden or Concealed in Arthur Adamson's Crystal Chandelier (Revealed in a Zooming Closeup)

• the next day, an aggravated Constantine was questioned in his office by FBI Agent Sanger (Martin West) and a few police detectives, but was unable to describe any details about his kidnappers: ("From me, you'll learn absolutely nothing")
• meanwhile, after George arrived at Blanche's place and walked in the back kitchen door, he found Blanche in the midst of another seance and psychic reading in her living room with Ida Cookson (Louise Lorimer), a close friend to Julia Rainbird, to find out information about her deceased husband Walter - a dead end that would lead nowhere; after George signaled Blanche from the kitchen, she feigned a trance in order to leave the living room and ask what he wanted; George urged her to lend him her car keys so he could drive off to visit and question another individual - the daughter of the Rainbird's deceased chauffeur

George Interrupting Blanche During Another Fake Seance

Another of Blanche's Seance Victims - Ida Cookson (Louise Lorimer)

Blanche During the Seance Session

• George drove in Blanche's 1966 white 2-dr Ford Mustang to a department store to speak to one of the counter clerks named Vera Hannagan (Marge Redmond); George claimed he was a lawyer named Frank McBride; Vera told him about her father who was the Rainbird's deceased chauffeur (named Michael O'Keefe); her father was a drinking and pool-playing buddy in their village with poultry shop owner Harry Shoebridge and his wife Sadie; after Sadie's several miscarriages, the couple moved to Barlow Creek and adopted an infant boy whom they named Eddie; both later died in a house fire, and she thought that the young son also had died with them; she urged "Frank" to visit the Barlow Creek Cemetery where he could find Eddie
• George proceeded to drive to Barlow Creek's Cemetery, where he wandered around before locating the graves ("family plot") of the three Shoebridges (with only two headstones), all of whom died in 1950; he murmured to himself: "Dead end, Blanche. Dead and buried"; the elderly cemetery caretaker (John Steadman) ambled over, but wasn't willing to answer any of George's probing questions about the son's separate and newer looking stone, and why there were only two graves for three people; he returned to his grave-digging work
• in town, George next visited Wheeler's Memorials and Masonry workshop to speak to the proprietor Mr. Wheeler (Charles Tyner); the owner-engraver was the one who had created the headstones for the Shoebridges in 1950 (paid for by the local Church of LDS); he then recalled that 15 years later (in 1965), he had created the newer-looking headstone for Eddie; he recalled the deceased's poor reputation in town: "Some say he set that fire himself to get rid of his family, and then disappeared to make it look like he died in the fire too. They never did find his body"; he looked up records and found that a garage tow-truck driver had paid $395 cash for Eddie's granite headstone in late 1965, although there was no body in the grave; and the driver had installed the headstone himself
• George proceeded to try and locate Eddie's death certificate in the County's "Registrar of Births & Deaths"; in addition to director Hitchcock's silhouetted cameo appearance in an adjacent room, George learned that garage mechanic Joseph P. Maloney (Ed Lauter) had applied for Eddie's death certificate, but his request was denied due to his lacking any proof of death
• George (still continuing to use his alias as a lawyer named McBride) tracked down Maloney, the mechanic/tow-truck driver, at his Union 76 gas and service station in Barlow Creek and began questioning him; Maloney became openly suspicious, and refused to answer anything about why he put a headstone on Eddie's empty grave, or went to the country courthouse but had been turned down for a death certificate for Shoebridge; as George drove away, Maloney jotted down his license plate number (885 DJU, CA) on a piece of scratch-paper
• afterwards, Maloney visited Arthur Adamson's jewelry store and asked to speak to Adamson; in his private office, Maloney greeted Arthur as "Eddie"; the film's major revelation was now disclosed - successful jeweler Arthur Adamson (nicknamed "The Trader") was missing nephew "Eddie Shoebridge" posing with a new identity
• Maloney (whose conversation revealed he was a long-time "sponger" and a criminal doing dirty-work for Arthur) informed Arthur about an inquisitive "smart-ass" lawyer's questions in Barlow Creek, and how he had traced the phony lawyer's car to Blanche's address; Lauter was worried: "The son of a bitch says he thinks you're still alive. He's lookin' for you, Eddie. And any son of a bitch who's lookin' for you is lookin' for me"; Eddie/Arthur all but confessed to ordering Maloney to murder his adoptive foster parents (Harry and Sadie Shoebridge) 25 years earlier when Maloney recalled: "You only planned the fire, and locked your old man and old lady in the bedroom. I poured the gasoline. I lit the rags"; Maloney pulled out his switchblade knife and offered to murder the "lawyer" and Blanche, but Eddie/Arthur declined ("Put that thing away"), and told him to lie low in Barlow Creek until he was contacted
• the two were interrupted in Arthur's private office and told about the arrival of two police detectives out in the jewelry store: Andy Bush (John Lehne) and Lt. Peterson (Carl Byrd); they were there to ask routine questions after the Constantine kidnapping; Arthur was asked about the "ransom-stone" involved in the exchange for Constantine, and queried if he had noticed any unusual transactions in the business, but he claimed he hadn't; when Arthur returned to his office, Maloney had apparently fled through an open window; Arthur decided to close up his shop early; in his hurried flight, Maloney had left behind his scratch piece of paper with Blanche's license plate number and address
• in the early evening outside Blanche's house on Castle Hts. Rd. (cross-street Bates Ave. - a random reference to Psycho (1960)), Arthur was parked during a stakeout while Fran was noticing that no one was home; she inferred that "Madame" Blanche was a spiritualist medium (advertised on her front shingle); they identified Blanche's male partner as the pipe-smoking taxi-cab driver who pulled up in front and helped Blanche unload two shopping bags of groceries; Arthur realized that the cab driver was the one who "called on Maloney"; they overheard the "sex-starved" Blanche loudly arguing about her male partner pooping out on her, and references to how the two were out to collect a "huge sum of money" during their ongoing search for Eddie Shoebridge; they heard the taxi-driver insist that he couldn't resume their search until after a full day's work shift driving his cab; Fran cluelessly hypothesized that the money they were talking about might be the reward being offered for the capture of Constantine's kidnappers ("Couldn't that be the reward that's on our heads?")
• later that evening, at the Rainbird mansion with Julia during another seance, Blanche channeled - through her spirit guide Henry - all of the information that George had already gathered about the Rainbird chauffeur Michael O'Keefe (who had befriended the Shoebridges in Barlow Creek), including the deadly house fire and their headstones in the cemetery; Julia claimed her memory was jogged with an additional detail and clue - a Bishop Wood (William Prince) at St. Anselm's Cathedral had baptized Harriet's child and might provide more leads on her missing nephew's whereabouts
• during the Bishop's Sunday morning services in the cathedral in front of the congregation, a few moments after George had entered the rear of the church and was speaking to a Priest (Darrell Zwerling), Fran and Arthur (disguised as an elderly woman and deacon, respectively) were also in attendance and conspiring together; the two observed as Fran fainted in front of the Bishop before Arthur approached and injected him with ketamine and then dragged his limp body away to their car before escaping - another kidnapping; it was payback, according to Arthur, for years living in the village of Barlow Creek where he was made to feel like he was "something evil"

The Kidnapping of Bishop Wood by Arthur and Fran

• during their getaway to their SF home, Fran mentioned how she was paranoid about the presence of George in the church (described as "the man with the pipe" and "the silly cab driver"), fearing he was still after them; Arthur was persuaded to change his mind and confirmed that he would now order Maloney to kill George and Blanche; Fran wondered if Blanche's ESP or psychic powers could have led her male partner to the church to pursue them; Arthur again stated he would eliminate the "quarrelsome lovers" with a "fatal accident" and promised Fran that she wouldn't learn about it
• later that afternoon, Maloney called Blanche (traced through her license plate) and claimed to have information on Eddie Shoebridge for her "lawyer friend" - and agreed to a payment of $200 dollars; he instructed them to meet him in two hours at Abe and Mabel's café located in a remote, mountainous area on the road to Mt. Sherman off Rte. 22; George was skeptical ("smells fishy to me"), but Blanche insisted, and once they arrived at the diner and were waiting inside having a few beers, Maloney had pulled up outside (in his 1969 green Plymouth Belvedere) and was cutting the brake line on the rear wheels of Blanche's car; after Maloney didn't show up, the two decided to leave, and as they drove down the steep winding cliff-side road, brake fluid began to leak and the brakes began to fail

Scary Drive Downhill With a Severed Rear Brake Line

Swerving Around Corners

Surviving After the Car Turned Onto Its Side

• during their tense and dangerous runaway car drive down the mountain, George ran Blanche's vehicle off the road and it turned onto its side, but they were uninjured; George immediately suspected that Maloney was the one who had sabotaged their car and wanted them dead: ("You can bet it has something to do with your mysterious friend, Eddie Shoebridge. Maloney's probably got him buried in his backyard. Doesn't want us to find out"); Maloney drove up to their car and acting innocently, he offered a ride to them, but when George refused: ("We don't ride in hearses"), Maloney maliciously attempted to drive his car into both George and Blanche who were walking on the side of the road; when he swerved to avoid an oncoming car, his vehicle drove off the steep cliff, and he died in a fiery explosion
• the next day in San Francisco, Fran disguised herself and posed as a curious jewelry customer as she entered Arthur's jewelry store to speak to her accomplice; she told him about their next ransom demand in exchange for the Bishop - a Harry Winston 53 carat stone in New York, to be picked up the following night at 9:30 pm; and then she showed him the newspaper report of Maloney's recent death: ("MAN DIES IN FREAK HIGHWAY ACCIDENT"); she was aghast and left the store when he suggested that they continue to collaborate together and both murder Blanche and her partner right after the ransom exchange: ("Now we'll have to eliminate these two ourselves")
• the next day, during Maloney's funeral in Barlow Creek Cemetery, a tearful, widowed Mrs. Maloney (Kathleen Helmond) appeared to run away from George and avoid his tough questions - seen in a bird's eye-view crane shot; he trailed after her on a graveyard pathway, and eventually caught up to her and asked: "Why didn't he want me Iooking for Eddie Shoebridge?...Just tell me, where is Eddie Shoebridge?"; under pressure, she confessed to George about the terrible dark secrets in her life -- her knowledge that Eddie Shoebridge was now named Arthur Adamson: ("There is no Eddie Shoebridge. He went up in smoke 25 years ago and came down in the city. He calls himself Arthur Adamson"); she added how fearful she was of Adamson: "If he finds out I told you, he'll kill me"; while scurrying off, she kicked the fake headstone for Eddie Shoebridge
• as George was ordered to work a full taxi night-shift (from 4:00 pm to midnight) and feared losing his job, Blanche took it upon herself to initiate a reckless, one-person quest to locate the correct Arthur Adamson in the San Francisco area; after an exhaustive search for a few hours at many businesses (a doctor's office, an A/C company, a garage, etc.), just before closing, she entered Adamson's Jewelry Store, and offered to leave a personal note for Arthur with his assistant Mrs. Clay (Edith Atwater); however, the tricky Blanche then lied that she was a friend of Arthur's and convinced Mrs. Clay to provide his home address instead, to send him a telegram
• meanwhile, at the Adamson house at 1001 Franklin St., as Arthur and Fran (again clad as a black-clad blonde) retrieved their latest kidnap victim Bishop Wood in the secret basement room for their upcoming ransom exchange in about half-an-hour at 9:30 pm, Blanche arrived and rang the doorbell; Fran neglected to answer the door, and thought she had left; as Fran and Arthur attempted to drive out of their garage, they realized that Blanche had blocked their exit with her parked car

Blanche's Vehicle Blocking Driveway Exit for Fran and Arthur - And Her Excitement Over His Aunt Julia's Bestowal of Her Fortune to Him as Her Nephew-Heir

• Blanche excitedly informed Arthur about how delighted she was that his Aunt Julia Rainbird fortuitously wanted to make him the heir of her fortune: ("The whole, lovely millions and millions of it"), but he interpreted her (and her partner's) pursuit of him as threatening, and accused her and her partner of being "two eager bloodhounds"; Blanche continued to be overjoyed after finally locating him and telling him: "Tracing you from a foundling baby to a young boy named Shoebridge to a man named Adamson!"
• but then, Fran opened her car door and Blanche glimpsed their latest, unconscious kidnap victim who flopped out in full view; Blanche was trapped inside the closed garage and promised she wouldn't "breathe a word," but Arthur slapped her to the ground, and during a violent struggle with her, she was sedated with an injection into her arm; he carried the unconscious Blanche into their now-empty locked hidden room in their cellar, before they departed to make the drop-off and exchange of the Bishop for the ransom - "the new diamond for our chandelier"
• a few hours later after his late-night taxi shift, George located Blanche's car parked outside Arthur and Fran's home at 1001 Franklin St.; when no one answered the door, he stealithy entered through a basement window and continued to search for her; in the garage, he found her discarded and ripped handbag with bloodstains on it; when Arthur and Fran returned from their hostage-ransom exchange, George was hiding upstairs; he overheard Arthur suggesting that they stage Blanche's murder-suicide on some deserted road, although Fran again objected to his ruthless violence: ("You can keep both diamonds all to yourself if you'll just end it")
• George quietly followed Arthur to the cellar when he went to check on Blanche ("Sleeping Beauty"); he watched as Arthur opened the secret brick-wall door entry, and believing that she was still unconscious, he left the door unlocked; George entered the open room and realized that Blanche had only been faking unconsciousness; the two devised a plan of escape
• Arthur's idea was to drive away with Blanche in his car, while Fran would follow in Blanche's car; the plan was to set up a suicide-murder scene - Blanche would be asphyxiated with carbon monoxide fumes from her own car; when Arthur and Fran returned to get Blanche and carry her out to Arthur's car, she lept up, evaded them, and quickly escaped outside as George locked the two kidnappers in their own secret hidden basement room [Note: it was a complete irony that Arthur would have inherited $10,000 dollars if he simply cooperated with Blanche and George.]
• during George and Blanche's search for a hidden diamond in the house (to turn it into the police for an even-greater reward along with the kidnappers), Blanche went into a genuine-looking 'trance'; she climbed part-way up the main staircase, paused, and then with the use of a lengthy dolly-and-crane shot, she pointed at the location of the huge diamond concealed in the chandelier; when she awakened from her trance, she claimed that she couldn't remember anything; George was thrilled by the thought that she was a true psychic: ("Blanche, you did it! You are psychic!...You're not a fake. You actually found one")

George: "Blanche, you did it! You are psychic!..."

• in the film's climax, George called the police to report the 'good news' of their capture of the kidnappers and the retrieval of the diamond, while Julia Rainbird would also be told the 'bad news'
• the film concluded with a smiling Blanche who sat on the stairs, looked at the camera and winked at the audience (breaking the fourth wall)