As part of a New Year's resolution toward self improvement, I am watching classic movies over my break. I just finished the 1959 classic North By Northwest. It's a really Dickian movie, where you don't know what's real, more specifically, you can't be sure if the protagonist, Cary Grant's Roger Thornhill is the center of a vast conspiracy, the victim of mistaken identity, or crazy. It's paranoia and narcissism in equal measure, like Time Out of Joint.
The movie's send up of the advertising industry, replete with three-martini lunches and overburdened secretaries feels similar to Barney Mayerson and Leo Bulero in The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
Lastly, there are several strong nods to North By Northwest at the end of Blade Runner. During the extended climatic chase scene across the faces of Mt Rushmore, Vandamm says, “That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets.” And of course Baty says to Deckard, “It's not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent.”
What follows is a dramatic rescue where Thornhill saves femme fatale turned damsel in distress Eva Marie Saint’s Eve Kendall by hauling her up by her wrist as she dangles over the precipice beneath Teddy Roosevelt’s mustache.
And that, folks, is the value of a Humanities education.
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