History Film / NorthByNorthwest

** AmbiguouslyBi: Vandamm. "... I think you're jealous. No, I mean it. I'm very touched, very."

The film begins with New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Creator/CaryGrant) being abducted by [[EvilMinions enemy agents]] working for the master foreign spy Phillip Vandamm (Creator/JamesMason), who is currently masquerading as the diplomat Lester Townsend. Vandamm believes Roger to be an American spy, George Kaplan, who has been tailing Vandamm. When Roger insists he is not the spy, Vandamm orders him killed. His henchmen, led by the sinister Leonard (Martin Landau), decide to [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident stage a fatal accident]] by pouring a bottle of bourbon down Roger's throat and then placing him at the wheel of a stolen car on a cliffside road.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Licht, Vandamm's henchman wearing a hat, disappears without explanation midway through the film. In the script, he was one of the two men in the cropduster but there's nothing in the film to suggest this.

* TheMountainsOfIllinois: The film features a treacherous drunken car chase along the Cliffs of Glen Cove, played in this picture by the cliffs of the California coastline. The north shore of Long Island is rocky, but not THAT rocky. Also, the cropduster attack scene was filmed near Bakersfield, California, not in the middle of an Indiana cornfield, although the appropriate highway signs were transplanted. Indiana doesn't look as dry as it does in the movie, even during droughts.

* PlayingGertrude: Jessie Royce Landis, who plays Thornhill's mother, was only seven years older than Cary Grant in real life.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The enemy spies' first attempt to kill Thornhill plays this straight, where they force him to drink a whole bottle of bourbon, stick him in a car and drive it into the ocean so it appears he killed himself drink-driving.

* SilenceIsGolden: Except for some small talk between Thornhill and the guy waiting for the bus, the crop duster scene doesn't have dialogue.

* MythologyGag: Creator/JamesMason, who was mentioned in the earlier Hitchcock film ''Film/{{Rope}}'' as an actor who could be "attractively sinister", plays the villain here.

* CreatorCameo: Creator/AlfredHitchcock is seen getting a bus door slammed in his face, right after his name appears on the screen in the opening credits.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the scene where Eve pretends to shoot Thornhill, you can clearly see a kid in the background (he's wearing a blue shirt) plug his ears in anticipation. Eva Marie Saint notes in the making of special that there were other good takes, and she has no idea why that one was used.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the scene where Eve pretends to shoot Thornhill, you can clearly see a kid in the background plug his ears in anticipation. Eva Marie Saint notes in the making of special that there were other good takes, and she has no idea why that one was used.

* SingleMaltVision: Played disconcertingly straight - after Roger is force-fed a quart of whiskey and put behind the wheel of a car, he's trying to escape his pursuers, and seeing the road before him go two different directions.

* PaperThinDisguise: To try and hide his identity in Grand Central Terminal, Thornhill dons a pair of sunglasses. The man at the counter is GenreSavvy enough to guess who he is, but Thornhill manages to escape.

* UnbuiltTrope: This film was a huge inspiration on many spy films, such as James Bond and ''The Man from UNCLE'' and yet seeing ''North by Northwest'' reveals a lot more original touches:

* TheAlcoholic: Thornhill himself.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: If you listen very closely to the background in the opening scene where Thornhill is sitting in the hotel bar with his associates, you can hear a bellboy announcing there's a page for "George Kaplan." Thornhill puts his hand up for an unrelated reason (he wants to send a telegram), and the spies ''assume he's Kaplan'', answering the page. It's very easy to miss unless you're looking for it.

* PoliceAreUseless: Unusually for a Hitchcock film, this is averted. The police save Roger's life twice [[{Unishment}} by arresting him]], for drunk driving on Long Island and for disrupting the auction in Chicago. A third time, a man in uniform (not clear if he's a Park Ranger, Sheriff, or State Trooper) shoots Leonard as he's about to make Roger fall from Mount Rushmore.

* PoliceAreUseless: Unusually for a Hitchcock film, this is averted. The police save Roger's life twice [[{Unishment} by arresting him]], for drunk driving on Long Island and for disrupting the auction in Chicago. A third time, a man in uniform (not clear if he's a Park Ranger, Sheriff, or State Trooper) shoots Leonard as he's about to make Roger fall from Mount Rushmore.

* BigApplesauce: The story begins in NYC.

* ReverseMole: [[spoiler: Eve is made out to be Vandamm's mistress, but she's working for the government.]]

* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: The movie never mentions exactly who Vandamm and his associates are passing government secrets on to, although it's vaguely implied to be [[SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn some foreign country]]. The line "War is hell, Mr. Thornhill. Even when it's a cold one." is as close as the movie comes to spelling it out.

--->'''Roger:''' Apparently, the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead.

* ChekhovsGun: A literal one. The gun [[spoiler:Eve]] uses on Thornhill in the diner scene [[spoiler:is first revealed as loaded with blanks after Thornhill is revealed to still be alive. It's later revealed by Leonard to Vandamm to be loaded with blanks. Later on the housemaid uses it on Thornhill, and the blasts from inside the house give Eve the chance to grab the MacGuffin statue and escape with Thornhill]]. Could also count as a Chekhov's Boomerang.