Family Plot, released in 1976, was the last film Alfred Hitchcock ever made before his retirement from the movie business. The film follows the kidnapping of an heir and a diamond theft by bad guys played by Karen Black and William Devane, whose trail is picked up by a psychic (Barbara Harris) and her boyfriend (Bruce Dern). The plot is very complicated and after two viewings I still found it quite tricky to follow! It is quite lighthearted and comic, despite occasional darker moments.

I’m not a massive fan of Hitchcock’s Seventies films, preferring his earlier efforts, and Family Plot is no exception. I do find it entertaining, and there are some good lines and exciting set-pieces (such as the moment when Harris and Dern realise someone has tampered with the brakes on their car and it is unstoppably rolling down a winding cliff-side road!). There is tension in the film, as well as the dilemma of whether Harris’s psychic powers are actually real or not. Having said that, I do find the film hard to follow at times and it is occasionally a little dull. It certainly doesn’t scream ‘classic’ like some of Hitchcock’s previous films, and as far as I can tell doesn’t have any major Hollywood stars (which basically just means that I don’t recognise any of them – they could have been famous in the Seventies for all I know!). Having said that there’s nothing wrong with the acting.

Overall, Family Plot is a reasonably entertaining film that is worth a watch, but it isn’t one of my favourites and it doesn’t compare to classics like Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho. It is rated a PG, which seems a reasonable rating.