Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

I really enjoyed Hitchcock’s Rear Window. I like how Jeffries apartment building is set up so that he can see into the apartments of many of his neighbors. I’m sure there are many people today who would kill for a set-up like that. He reminds me of a stay-at-home mom who gets bored during the day and watches the cars that drive up and down the block to see which neighbor are receiving visitors during the day. It’s funny to me that Jeffries gives each of his neighbors a nickname that corresponds to their situation. There’s Miss Lonely Heart, the composer, the newlyweds, and Miss Torso. Yet he doesn’t have a nickname for the Thorwalds, perhaps because he already knows their name somehow or because their apartment becomes his main focus throughout the movie. Miss Lonely Heart is named because Jeffries watches her pretending to have a companion when no one is there. I wonder about the depth of her situation and if she once had a lover and lost him or whether she has always been alone. She is a direct contrast to Jeffries in that she longs for love and has no one and he has Lisa to love him but doesn’t seem interested. The newlyweds of course represent what Jeff and Lisa could be if they get married. Jeff compares Lisa to Miss Torso, the ballet dancer, when he sees her with the other men. He points out that she could have her pick of men, and in the end we see her boyfriend return from the army, a short man with glasses who doesn’t seem her type at all. Lisa could also have her choice of men but she picks Jeffries. Everyone’s lives seem to be intertwined somehow without them realizing it. I also really love the way Lisa starts to change from the time she gets involved with Jeffries’ investigation. In the beginning Jeff complains that she is to high maintenance for him and he could never be with her because of that. Because of his suspicion of Mr. Thorwald, Lisa starts to become more adventurous and even changes out of her designer gowns and into casual dresses and jeans by the end of the movie. The more she changes into an adventurous, curious woman, the more he finds her attractive it seems.