History Film / RearWindow

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rear_window_poster.jpg]]

L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries (Stewart) is a photojournalist who broke his leg during a dangerous assignment. He is confined to his small [[BigApplesauce Greenwich Village]] apartment while recuperating and, out of boredom, begins to spy on his various neighbors across the courtyard. He sees one of the neighbors, Lars Thorwald (Creator/RaymondBurr), acting suspiciously. He eventually becomes convinced that Thorwald killed his wife Anna (Irene Winston), a bedridden invalid who has gone missing. Jeff's girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont (Kelly), doesn't believe him at first, but soon changes her mind. After trying and failing to convince Jeff's police-detective friend Lt. Doyle (Wendell Corey) of the crime, Jeff, Lisa, and Jeff's nurse Stella (Creator/ThelmaRitter) come up with a plan to catch the killer themselves.

* AdaptationTitleChange: As noted above, the source material's original title was "It Had to Be Murder", which was presumably renamed to keep the audience guessing about Thorwald.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Jeff becomes a victim of this InUniverse: when Thornwald catches Lisa's signal to Jeff, he immediately turns to look at Jeff and decides to invade Jeff's apartment.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Jeff becomes a victim of this InUniverse: when Thornwald catches Lisa's signal to Jeff, he immediately turns to look at Jeff and decides to invade Jeff's apartment. This scene also doubles as a FourthWallPsych for the audience since Thornwald is directing his stare at Jeff's InUniverseCamera.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Jeff becomes a victim of this InUniverse: when Thornwald catches Lisa's signal to Jeff, he immediately turns to look at Jeff and decides to invades Jeff's apartment. This scene also doubles as a FourthWallPsych for the audience since Thornwald is directing his stare at Jeff's InUniverseCamera.

* TheFourthWallWontProtectYou: Jeff becomes a victim of this InUniverse: when Thornwald catches Lisa's signal to Jeff, he immediately turns to look at Jeff and decides to invades Jeff's apartment. This scene also doubles as a FourthWallPsych for the audience since Thornwald is directing his stare at Jeff's InUniverseCamera.

* ConvictionByCounterfactualClue: Lisa argues to Jeff that no woman would go on a trip and leave her wedding ring behind, and he agrees. So when [[spoiler: Lisa finds Anna Thorwald's ring in the Thorwald apartment, this is seen as irrefutable evidence something has happened to her, and even the previously incredulous Doyle is now convinced Lars Thorwald may have murdered his wife.]] In real life, there might be numerous reason why someone wouldn't wear their wedding ring, especially if they're going through marital strife, as was the case with Mrs. Thorwald.
** It's downplayed somewhat by not being clinching proof -- it's just Jeff showing Doyle he needs to look deeper. Also, Jeff points out there would be no need for Thorwald's wife to call him if she'd just telegrammed him. None of this is definitive, but it would likely be enough probable cause for Doyle to question Thorwald, who would probably break pretty easily.

* YouBastard: The main character is a PeepingTom, who secretly observes his neighbors for entertainment as his broken leg keeps him stuck in his apartment. It's almost as if Jeff is watching a movie.

* MaybeEverAfter: Jeff and Lisa. Early on, Jeff says that their relationship can't work out, because their lifestyles are too different. Lisa can't really counter this, but they still remain together. The ending scene shows the ambiguity of their future; Lisa is wearing a shirt and pants instead of her earlier, impractical high fashion outfits, and she reads a book called ''Beyond the High Himalayas.'' However, once she notices that Jeff has fallen asleep, she trades the for a fashion magazine and smiles, suggesting that she hasn't quite given up on her fashionista lifestyle.

* HenpeckedHusband: A running theme. Jeff notes that the Thorwalds across the street consist of a nagging wife and her husband. He claims that all women inevitably start nagging when they get married, and he fears that Lisa will do the same should he marry her. Doyle seems perpetually unenthusiastic about returning home to his wife. When he wryly claims that modern women don't "nag," they "discuss," it sounds like he's repeating something his wife told him. In the end, we see that the young newlywed wife across the way has already started nagging her husband.

* ConvictionByCounterfactualClue: Lisa argues to Jeff that no woman would go on a trip and leave her wedding ring behind, and he agrees. So when [[spoiler: Lisa finds Anna Thorwald's ring in the Thorwald apartment, this is seen as irrefutable evidence something has happened to her, and even the previously incredulous Doyle is now convinced Lars Thorwald may have murdered his wife.]] In real life, there might be numerous reason why someone wouldn't wear their wedding ring, especially if they're going through marital strife, as was the case with Mrs. Thorwarld.

L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries (Stewart) is a photojournalist who broke his leg during a dangerous assignment. He is confined to his small [[BigApplesauce Greenwich Village]] apartment while recuperating and, out of boredom, begins to spy on his various neighbors across the courtyard. He sees one of the neighbors, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), acting suspiciously. He eventually becomes convinced that Thorwald killed his wife Anna (Irene Winston), a bedridden invalid who has gone missing. Jeff's girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont (Kelly), doesn't believe him at first, but soon changes her mind. After trying and failing to convince Jeff's police-detective friend Lt. Doyle (Wendell Corey) of the crime, Jeff, Lisa, and Jeff's nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) come up with a plan to catch the killer themselves.

* {{Subtext}}: One interpretation of the movie is that it is a commentary on the institution of marriage, and the story is ''really'' about Jeff and Lisa more than it is about Thorwald.
** And the fact that the once happy newlywed couple has begun to bicker raises the ominous hint that they might end up like the Thorwalds.

** Also, at the beginning of the movie, after watching Miss Torso dance around in her underwear, he reaches into his pants and... Relieves an itch with a wooden backscratcher under his cast. The look of relief on his face is amazing.

* FireForgedFriends: [[spoiler: At the end, Miss Lonelyhearts and the Songwriter got together after her music got her out of her suicidal attempt and after Jeff's successful yet perilous run-in with Thorwald (where the neighbors were rushing out to the courtyard)]].
* FreeWheeling: The photographs seen in the opening credits indicate that this is how Jeff broke his leg: being struck by a flying wheel while photographing a crash at a motor race.

* InterruptedSuicide: Miss Lonelyhearts sets a fistfull of pills beside a glass of water by her bedside, sits down with a Bible, and later can be seen writing something out at her desk. Jeff doesn't catch on until it's almost too late and calls the cops. [[spoiler:Luckily, she's inspired by the Composer's music to call it off]].

* AcousticLicense: The audibility of sounds from across the courtyard varies widely for dramatic weight. Some sounds carry, while others that would be just as loud or louder aren't audible. For example, Some conversational words are clearly audible, while shouted speech in other situations is just a faint muffle. Early in the film, Jeff is awoken by the sound of a door closing from a hundred feet away.

* BlindingCameraFlash: Used to stall the killer.

* WeaponizedCamera: The BlindingCameraFlash that Jeff uses against Thorwald.

* YourCheatingHeart: Implied. Thorwald makes a number of long-distance phone calls. When Anna catches him, she mocks him derisively. Jeff suspects that he's calling a woman he's having an affair with. If so, the woman might have been a conspirator in the murder, explaining why Anna Thorwald was seen leaving town.

* PoliceAreUseless: Jeff's friend, Doyle, a police detective, hears Doyle out and looks into Thorwald, but quickly dismisses his suspicions, forcing Jeff to do his own investigations.

* YourCheatingHeart: It appears the reason Thorwald killed his wife is because he was having an affair.

* UglyGuyHotWife:
** The pretty ballet dancer who has spent the film fending off the advances of several male model types is seen happily welcoming home her chubby, bespectacled lover at the end of the movie.

* AuthorAppeal: Grace Kelly is one of many blonde leading ladies for Hitchcock.

** Jeff and Lisa, though they're still only contemplating the prospect of marriage. Stella's describes Lisa as the perfect woman and tells Jeff he would be crazy to turn her away. Jeff's buddy Doyle is visibly shocked by how attractive Lisa turns out to be.

* TooDumbToLive: Despite knowing full well that Thorwald's seen him and knows who knows his secret, Jeff's nurse ''leaves him alone'' in his apartment--with the door unlocked!--while she goes to bail Lisa out of jail. Jeff's just damn lucky everyone returned when they did.
* UglyGuyHotWife: The pretty ballet dancer who has spent the film fending off the advances of several male model types is seen happily welcoming home her chubby, bespectacled lover at the end of the movie. And what little we see of Mrs. Thorwald implies that she's better-looking than her husband.

* AwfulWeddedLife: The two scenes of the Thorwalds before Mrs. Thorwald vanishes make it clear their marriage is this.

** Almost Jeff's fate, as his injury leaves him unable to flee or fight back.

* DeathOfAChild: The dog and technically, Mrs. Thorwald--she's an adult, but she's disabled, a demographic usually covered by this trope.

* HeatWave / EmpathicEnvironment: At the beginning of the movie, the camera shows a thermometer that reads about 90 degrees but it's a more comfortable 70 something after the murderer is caught and the other residents of the building begin to happily go on with their lives.

* InsatiableNewlyweds: See ComeBackToBedHoney
* InterruptedSuicide: Miss Lonelyhearts. [[spoiler: The composer playing music stops her from taking the pills.]]

* KickTheDog: Thorwald kills a neighboring couple's dog because it had discovered the corpse (well, part of it) of his wife in the flower bed.
** Initially averted, though -- when he first catches the dog digging around, you expect him to do something but he gently shoos it away.

* MaybeEverAfter: Jeff and Lisa. Early on, Jeff says that their relationship can't work out, because their lifestyles are too different. Lisa can't really counter this, but they still remain together. The ending scene shows the ambiguity of their future; Lisa is wearing a shirt and pants instead of her earlier, impractical high fashion outfits, and she reads a book called ''Beyond the High Himalayas.'' However, once she notices that Jeff has fallen asleep, she puts the book away, and starts reading a fashion magazine- either indicating that Lisa will stick to her hobbies alongside her new adventurous side or that it was just a phase and she's returning to her primarily fashionista self.

* MoodKiller:
** Lisa kisses Jeff in SlowMotion and strikes a semi romantic conversation, but the darkness of the apartment at the time prompts Jeff to ask: "Who are you?"
** Later, when they're making out, Jeff kills the mood again with talking about the suspicious things going on in Thorwald's apartment.

* NoAccountingForTaste: Jeff and Lisa know that their relationship wouldn't work, because their lifestyles are way too different, but they're still unable to break up.

* OhCrap: Thorwald ''and'' Jeffries when Thorwald finally notices Jeffries watching him. It's quite an experience watching this scene with an audience.
** Jeff's reaction after he picks up the phone and starts babbling to Doyle... Only to be greeted with dead silence and realize that it wasn't Doyle calling him, it was Thorwald.

* ThePeepingTom: Jeff. And by extension the viewer.

* PoliceAreUseless: Jeff's friend, Doyle, who is a police detective, dismisses his theory, but it's subverted in that his arguments are very convincing.

->''"I'm not much on [[TitleDrop rear window]] ethics."''

* NotSoDifferent / ShadowArchetype: There is a theory floating around that Miss Torso and Miss Lonely-Hearts are this to Lisa. This isn't so far-fetched when you consider that many of the movements Miss Lonely-Hearts makes are similar to Lisa's in the same scene and that Lisa empathizes with Miss Torso (and bears a slight resemblance to her) fending off advances of "wolves."
** Plus the possibility that Jeff and Lisa's relationship might not work out. Lovely and charming as she is, Lisa might end up just as lonely as Miss Lonely-Hearts -- who, ironically, is finally taking steps to come out of her shell and improve her life as the film ends.
** She explicitly draws a comparison between them, albeit as a bitter aside to Jeff in their first scene together after their big argument.
** There are similarities with Mrs. Thorwald as well, seen sniping at her husband as he serves her dinner, again mirroring the strained relationship between Jeff and Lisa.