Frenzy

For other uses, seeFrenzy (disambiguation).

Frenzy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Written by	Anthony Shaffer
Based on	Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square byArthur La Bern
Produced by	Alfred Hitchcock
Starring	Jon Finch Alec McCowen Barry Foster Billie Whitelaw Anna Massey Barbara Leigh-Hunt Bernard Cribbins
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor Leonard J. South
Edited by	John Jympson
Music by	Ron Goodwin
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	21 June 1972(1972-06-21)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$2 million
Box office	$12.6 million

Frenzyis a 1972 Britishthriller filmdirected byAlfred Hitchcock.It is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The screenplay byAnthony Shafferwas based on the 1966 novelGoodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester SquarebyArthur La Bern.The film starsJon Finch,Alec McCowenandBarry Fosterand featuresBillie Whitelaw,Anna Massey,Barbara Leigh-Hunt,Bernard CribbinsandVivien Merchant.The original music score was composed byRon Goodwin.

The plot centres on a serial killer in contemporary London and the ex-RAFserviceman he implicates. In a very early scene there is dialogue that mentions two actual London serial murder cases: theChristie murdersin the 1940s-1950s and theJack the Rippermurders in 1888. Barry Foster has said that, in order to prepare for his role, he was asked by Hitchcock to study two books aboutNeville Heath,an English double murderer who would often pass himself off as an officer in the RAF.

Frenzywas the third and final film that Hitchcock made in Britain after he moved to Hollywood in 1939. The other two wereUnder Capricornin 1949 andStage Frightin 1950. (There were some interior and exterior scenes filmed in London for the 1956 remake ofThe Man Who Knew Too Much.) The last film he made in Britain before his move to the United States wasJamaica Inn(1939).Frenzywas the only Hitchcock film given an R rating during its initial release.Frenzywas screened at the1972 Cannes Film Festival,but it was not entered into the main competition.Some critics – such as Raymond Foery, author ofAlfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece– considerFrenzythe last great Hitchcock film, and a return to form after his two previous works:TopazandTorn Curtain.

Plot

FormerRAFsquadron leader Richard Blaney is fired from his job as a bartender in a pub nearCovent Garden.He laments his loss with his friend Bob Rusk, who runs a fruit and vegetable stall in Covent Garden. Rusk consoles him and gives a tip on a forthcoming horse-race, but Blaney has no money to bet. He visits his ex-wife Brenda, who runs a successful matchmaking agency, and complains loudly about his situation. They briefly argue, but she invites him to dinner. Broke, Blaney ends up spending the night at a Salvation Army shelter, where he discovers that Brenda has slipped money into his coat pocket.

On the following day, Rusk, whom the agency has turned away because of his creepy sexual proclivities, arrives at Brenda's office. Finding her alone, he rapes her, then strangles her with his necktie, revealing that he is the serial killer whom the newspapers have dubbed the "Necktie Murderer". After Rusk leaves, Blaney arrives, hoping to talk to Brenda again, but he finds her office locked. Brenda's secretary, returning from lunch, sees Blaney leaving. When the murder is discovered, Blaney becomes the prime suspect.

Blaney meets up with Babs Milligan, his former pub co-worker, and convinces her that he is innocent. The two stay at a hotel, where they make love, then narrowly dodge the police. They appeal to one of Blaney's RAF buddies for help, but the man's wife refuses to harbour a fugitive. Blaney persuades Babs to fetch his belongings from the pub, so he can flee. While there, Babs runs into Rusk, who offers to let her use his flat for the night. After taking Babs there, he rapes and murders her. He hides her body in a sack and, late that night, stows it in the back of a lorry hauling potatoes. Back in his room, Rusk discovers that his distinctive jewelled tie pin (with the initial R) is missing, and realizes that Babs must have torn it off while he was strangling her. Knowing the tie pin will incriminate him, Rusk goes to retrieve it, but the lorry starts off on its journey while he is still inside. In spite of the bumpy ride, he retrieves the pin that is still clutched in Babs's hand. Dishevelled and covered in potato-dust, he gets out at a roadside café, then returns to his Covent Garden flat. When Babs's body is discovered, Blaney is suspected of her murder as well as Brenda's.

Blaney, unaware that Rusk is the actual murderer, turns to him for help. Rusk offers to hide Blaney at his flat and then tips off the police. In the face of this treachery, Blaney realizes that Rusk must be the murderer. At the trial, the jury finds Blaney guilty. During the trial and while being led away to prison, Blaney loudly protests that he is innocent and that Rusk is the real killer. Chief Inspector Oxford reconsiders the evidence and quietly investigates Rusk. He discusses the case with his wife while trying to avoid eating the unappetizing food she has learned to prepare in an "exotic cooking" course.

Blaney, now in prison, vows to escape and avenge himself on Rusk. He deliberately injures himself and is taken to the hospital, where his fellow inmate patients help him escape. He goes to Rusk's flat; Rusk is not there, but Blaney, thinking that Rusk is sleeping, hits that person on the head. It is revealed that that was not Rusk but a woman already dead in Rusk's bed, strangled with Rusk's necktie. Inspector Oxford, who has anticipated that Blaney would go after Rusk, arrives to find Blaney with the dead woman. Just as Blaney begins to protest his innocence, the two hear a loud banging noise coming from the stairwell. Rusk enters, dragging a large trunk into the flat, and is confronted by Blaney and Oxford. Oxford tells him he is not wearing his tie. Realizing that his game is well and truly up, Rusk drops the trunk in defeat as the credits roll.

Cast

• Jon Finchas Richard Blaney
• Alec McCowenas Chief Inspector Timothy Oxford
• Barry Fosteras Bob Rusk
• Billie Whitelawas Hetty Porter
• Anna Masseyas Babs Milligan
• Barbara Leigh-Huntas Brenda Blaney
• Bernard Cribbinsas Felix Forsythe
• Vivien Merchantas Mrs. Oxford
• Michael Batesas Sergeant Spearman
• Jean Marshas Monica Barling
• Clive Swiftas Johnny Porter
• Madge Ryanas Mrs. Davison
• Elsie Randolphas Gladys
• John Boxeras Sir George
• Jimmy Gardneras Hotel Porter
• Gerald Simas Solicitor in Pub
• Noel Johnsonas Doctor in Pub
• Rita Webbas Mrs. Rusk (uncredited)
• Michael Sheardas Jim, Rusk's friend in pub (uncredited)
• Richard Stapleyas Truck Driver (uncredited)
• Susan Traversas Rusk's final victim (uncredited)

Cast notes

• Alfred Hitchcock's cameoappearance can be seen three minutes into the film in the centre of a crowd scene, wearing a bowler hat. Teaser trailers show a Hitchcock-like dummy floating in the River Thames and Hitchcock introducing the audience toCovent Gardenvia thefourth wall.
• Michael Cainewas Hitchcock's first choice for the role of Rusk, the main antagonist, but as Caine later said, "He offered me the part of a sadist who murdered women and I won't play that. I have a sort of moral thing and I refused to play it and he never spoke to me again."
• Barry Fosterwas cast after Hitchcock saw him inTwisted Nerve(which featuredFrenzyco-starBillie Whitelaw).
• Vanessa Redgravereportedly turned down the role of Brenda, andDeep Red'sDavid Hemmings(who had co-starred with Redgrave inBlowup) was considered to play Blaney.
• Helen Mirren,who later in life played Hitchcock's wifeAlma RevilleinHitchcock,met with the director to discuss the role of Babs Milligan. "I didn't like Hitchcock very much," Mirren said years later, "and he didn't like me very much either... I didn't really want to be in the movie."

Production

Development

After a pair of unsuccessful films depicting political intrigue and espionage, Hitchcock returned to the murder genre with this film. The narrative makes use of the familiar Hitchcock theme of an innocent man overwhelmed by circumstantial evidence and wrongly assumed to be guilty.

3 Henrietta Street inCovent Gardenwas the flat of the 'Necktie Strangler', Robert Rusk

Hitchcock announced the project in March 1968.

Hitchcock approachedVladimir Nabokovto write the script, but the author turned him down because he was busy on a book. He then hired Anthony Shaffer.

"It will be done comedically", said Hitchcock.

The film starred relative newcomers in the lead roles. "I prefer a fresh face", he said.

Shooting

Filming began in July 1971.

Hitchcock set and filmedFrenzyin London after many years making films in the United States. The film opens with a sweeping shot along theThamestoTower Bridge;and while the interior scenes were filmed atPinewood Studios,much of the location filming was done in and aroundCovent Gardenand was an homage to the London of Hitchcock's childhood. The son of a Covent Garden merchant himself, Hitchcock filmed several key scenes showing the area as the working produce market it was. Aware that the area's days as a market were numbered, Hitchcock wanted to record the area as he remembered it. According to the 'making-of' feature on the DVD, an elderly man who remembered Hitchcock's father as a dealer in the vegetable market came to visit the set during the filming and was treated to lunch by the director.

No. 31, Ennismore Gardens Mews, was used as the home of Brenda Margaret Blaney during the filming ofFrenzy.

During shooting for the film, Hitchcock's wife and long-time collaborator Alma had a stroke. As a result, some sequences were shot without Hitchcock on the set so he could tend to his wife.

The film was the first Hitchcock film to have nudity (with the arguable exception of the shower scene inPsycho). The nude scenes used body doubles in place of Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Anna Massey.The nude scene which shows the first victim being raped and strangledwas called byDonald Spoto"one of the most repellent examples of a detailed murder in the history of film".There are a number of classic Hitchcockset piecesin the film, particularly the long tracking shot down the stairs when Babs is murdered. The camera moves down the stairs, out of the doorway (with a rather clever edit just after the camera exits the door which marks where the scene moves from the studio to the location footage) and across the street, where the usual activity in the market district goes on with patrons unaware that a murder is occurring in the building. A second sequence set in the back of a delivery truck full of potatoes increases the suspense, as the murderer Rusk attempts to retrieve his tie pin from the corpse of Babs. Rusk struggles with the hand and has to break the fingers of the corpse in order to retrieve his tie pin and try to escape unseen from the truck.

The part of London shown in the film still exists more or less intact, but the fruit and vegetable market no longer operates from that site, having relocated in 1974. The buildings seen in the film are now occupied by banks and legal offices, restaurants and nightclubs, such as Henrietta Street, where Rusk lived (and Babs met her untimely demise). Oxford Street, which had the back alley (Dryden Chambers, now demolished) leading to Brenda Blaney's matrimonial agency, is the busiest shopping area in Britain. Nell of Old Drury, which is the public house where the doctor and solicitor had their frank, plot-assisting discussion on sex killers, is still a thriving bar. The lanes where merchants and workers once carried their produce, as seen in the film, are now occupied by tourists and street performers.

In a 29 May 1972 letter to the editor ofThe Times,novelist La Bern said he found Hitchcock's production and Shaffer's adaptation of his book "appalling", concluding: "Finally, I wish to dissociate myself with Mr Shaffer's grotesque misrepresentation ofScotland Yardoffices. "

Soundtrack

Henry Manciniwas originally hired as the film's composer. "If the same film was made ten years ago it would've had twice the amount of music in it", he said.

His opening theme was written inBachianorganandante,opening inD minor,for organ and an orchestra of strings and brass, and was intended to express the formality of the grey London landmarks, but Hitchcock thought it sounded too much likeBernard Herrmann's scores. According to Mancini, "Hitchcock came to the recording session, listened awhile and said: 'Look, if I want Herrmann, I'd ask for Herrmann.'"After an enigmatic, behind-the-scenes melodrama, the composer was fired. He never understood the experience, insisting that his score sounded nothing like Herrmann's work. Mancini had to pay all transportation and accommodation costs himself. In his autobiography, Mancini reports that the discussions between himself and Hitchcock seemed clear, and he thought he understood what was wanted; but he was replaced and flew back home to Hollywood. The irony was that Mancini was being second-guessed for being too dark and symphonic after having been criticized for being too light before. Mancini's experience withFrenzywas a painful topic for the composer for years to come.

Hitchcock then hired composerRon Goodwinto write the score after being impressed with some of his earlier work. He had Goodwin rescore the opening titles in the style of a London travelogue - the director had heard his score for the Peter Sellers sketchBalham, Gateway to the South.Goodwin's music had a lighter tone in the opening scenes, and scenes featuring London scenery, while there were darker undertones in certain other scenes.

In 2023, Quartet Records issued a soundtrack album featuring both the Goodwin score and the unused Mancini score.

Reception

Critical reception

Frenzyreceived positive reviews from critics.Vincent Canbyof theNew York Timescalled it "a passionately entertaining film" with "a marvelously funny script" and a "superb" cast.He put it on his year-end list of the ten best films of 1972.Varietyalso posted a rave review, declaring: "Ingeniously fresh story-telling ideas, stamped with the same mischievous, audacious and often outrageous mixture of humor and suspense that first made him and later sustained him, make the Universal release one of Hitchcock's major achievements."Roger Ebertgave the film his highest grade of four stars, calling it "a return to old forms by the master of suspense, whose newer forms have pleased movie critics but not his public. This is the kind of thriller Hitchcock was making in the 1940s, filled with macabre details, incongruous humor, and the desperation of a man convicted of a crime he didn't commit."Penelope GilliattofThe New Yorkerwrote of Hitchcock that "we are nearly back in the days of his great English films", adding "He is lucky to have been able to draw on Anthony Shaffer to doFrenzy's sly screenplay, not to speak of a cast of first-rate, well-equated actors pretty much unknown outside England, so that audiences have no preconceptions about who are the stars and therefore unkillable. "Kevin Thomasof theLos Angeles Timescalled the film "Alfred Hitchcock's best picture in years", with "all the marks of work by a master at his craft and at his most assured".Timeprinted a very positive review of the film: "In case there was any doubt, back in the dim days ofMarnieandTopaz,Hitchcock is still in fine form.Frenzyis the dazzling proof. It is not at the level of his greatest work, but it is smooth and shrewd and dexterous, a reminder that anyone who makes a suspense film is still an apprentice to this old master. "In its 2012 review,The GuardiancalledFrenzya "complex and gripping thriller" praising the film as "a rich tapestry of suspense, and a masterpiece".

Some reviews were more mixed. Gary Arnold ofThe Washington Postwrote that the film "has a promising opening sequence and a witty curtain line, but the material in between is decidedly pedestrian. The reviewers who've been hailingFrenzyas a new classic and the triumphant return of the master of suspense are, to put it kindly, exaggerating the occasion... If this picture had been made by anyone else, it would be described, justly, as a mildly diverting attempt to imitate Hitchcock. "The Monthly Film Bulletinwas unsure what to make of the picture, noting an "old-fashioned air" to it that seemed to suggest that Hitchcock's return to England "signalled a regression to an almost pre-war style of filmmaking". It concluded: "For all its apparent awkwardness of script and characterisation (Jon Finch especially can make little of Shaffer's anemically written hero) there is enough inFrenzyto suggest that, after the routine critical dismissals, it will repay serious assessment. "

Frenzyranked 14th onVariety's list of the Big Rental Films of 1972, with rentals of $6.3 million in the United States and Canada.

The film was the subject of the 2012 bookAlfred Hitchcock's Frenzy: The Last Masterpieceby Raymond Foery.Frenzyholds a 91% rating onRotten Tomatoes,based on 44 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Marking Alfred Hitchcock's return to England and first foray into viscerally explicit carnage,Frenzyfinds the master of horror regaining his grip on the audience's pulse -- and making their blood run cold. "OnMetacritic,the film has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

However,Quentin Tarantinocalled it "a piece of crap."

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Drama	Alfred Hitchcock	Nominated
	Best Director		Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Anthony Shaffer	Nominated
	Best Original Score	Ron Goodwin	Nominated

Sources

• Evans, Peter William (2004). "Hitchcock, Alfred Joseph".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31239.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
• Spoto, Donald(1999).The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock.New York: Da Capo Press.ISBN978-0-306-80932-3.

External links

• FrenzyatIMDb
• FrenzyatAllMovie
• FrenzyatDial H for Hitchcock