Great Scene: “North by Northwest”

It was one of the scenes which inspired Hitchcock to make the movie.

I’m sure there are Hitchcock experts out there who can correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to recall that the genesis of North by Northwest (1959), the classic thriller written by Ernest Lehman and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, began with two images from Hitchcock’s imagination: A chase scene atop Mt. Rushmore and the crop duster chase scene. The latter is today’s Great Scene.

Thornhill looks across at the droning plane with 
growing suspicion as the stranger steps out onto 
the highway and flags the bus to a stop. Thornhill 
turns toward the stranger as though to say some-
thing to him. But it is too late. The man has 
boarded the bus, its doors are closing and it is 
pulling away. Thornhill is alone again.

Almost immediately, he HEARS the PLANE ENGINE BEING 
GUNNED TO A HIGHER SPEED. He glances off sharply, 
sees the plane veering off its parallel course and 
heading toward him. He stands there wide-eyed, 
rooted to the spot. The plane roars on, a few 
feet off the ground. There are two men in the twin 
cockpits, goggled, unrecognizable, menacing. He 
yells out to them, but his voice is lost in the 
NOISE of the PLANE. In a moment it will be upon 
him and decapitate him. Desperately he drops to 
the ground and presses himself flat as the plane 
zooms over him with a great noise, almost 
combing his hair with a landing wheel.

Thornhill scrambles to his feet, sees the plane 
banking and turning. He looks about wildly, sees 
a telephone pole and dashes for it as the plane 
comes at him again. He ducks behind the pole. The 
plane heads straight for him, veers to the right 
at the last moment. We HEAR two sharp CRACKS of 
GUNFIRE mixed with the SOUND of THE ENGINE, as 
two bullets slam into the pole just above 
Thornhills’ head.

Thornhill reacts to this new peril, sees the plane 
banking for another run at him. A car is speeding 
along the highway from the west. Thornhill dashes 
out onto the road, tries to flag the car down but 
the driver ignores him and races by, leaving him 
exposed and vulnerable as the plane roars in on 
him. He dives into a ditch and rolls away as 
another series of SHOTS are HEARD and bullets rake 
the ground that he has just occupied.

He gets to his feet, looks about, sees a cornfield 
about fifty yards from the highway, glances up at 
the plane making its turn, and decides to make a 
dash for the cover of the tall-growing corn.

SHOOTING DOWN FROM A HELICOPTER about one hundred 
feet above the ground, we SEE Thornhill running 
towards the cornfield and the plane in pursuit.

SHOOTING FROM WITHIN THE CORNFIELD, we SEE Thornhill 
come crashing in, scuttling to the right and lying 
flat and motionless as we HEAR THE PLANE ZOOM OVER 
HIM WITH A BURST OF GUNFIRE and bullets rip into 
the corn, but at a safe distance from Thornhill. 
He raises his head cautiously, gasping for breath, 
as he HEARS THE PLANE MOVE OFF AND INTO ITS TURN.

SHOOTING DOWN FROM THE HELICOPTER, we SEE the plane 
levelling off and starting a run over the corn-
field, which betrays no sign of the hidden Thorn-
hill. Skimming over the top of the cornstalks, the 
plane gives forth no burst of gunfire now. Instead, 
it lets loose thick clouds of poisonous dust which 
settle down into the corn.

WITHIN THE CORNFIELD, Thornhill, still lying flat, 
begins to gasp and choke as the poisonous dust 
envelops him. Tears stream from his eyes but he 
does not dare move as he HEARS THE PLANE COMING 
OVER THE FIELD AGAIN. When the plane zooms by and 
another cloud of dust hits him, he jumps to his 
feet and crashes out into the open, half blinded 
and gasping for breath. Far off down the highway 
to the right, he SEES a huge Diesel gasoline-tanker 
approaching. He starts running towards the highway 
to intercept it.

SHOOTING FROM THE HELICOPTER, we SEE Thornhill 
dashing for the highway, the plane levelling off 
for another run at him, and the Diesel tanker 
speeding closer.

SHOOTING ACROSS THE HIGHWAY, we SEE Thornhill run-
ning and stumbling TOWARDS CAMERA, the plane closing 
in behind him, and the Diesel tanker approaching 
from the left. He dashes out into the middle of 
the highway and waves his arms wildly.

The Diesel tanker THUNDERS down the highway towards 
\Thornhill, KLAXON BLASTING impatiently.

The plane speeds relentlessly towards Thornhill 
from the field bordering the highway.

Thornhill stands alone and helpless in the middle 
of the highway, waving his arms. The plane draws 
closer. The tanker is almost upon him. It isn’t 
going to stop. He can HEAR THE KLAXON BLASTING 
him out of the way. There is nothing he can do. 
The plane has caught up with him. The tanker 
won’t stop. It’s got to stop. He hurls himself 
to the pavement directly in its path. There is a 
SCREAM OF BRAKES and SKIDDING TIRES, THE ROAR OF 
THE PLANE ENGINE and then a tremendous BOOM as the 
Diesel truck grinds to a stop inches from Thorn-
hill’s body just as the plane, hopelessly 
committed and caught unprepared by the sudden 
stop, slams into the traveling gasoline tanker 
and plane and gasoline explode into a great sheet 
of flame.

In the next few moments, all is confusion. Thorn-
hill, unhurt, rolls out from under the wheels of 
the Diesel truck. The drivers clamber out of the 
front seat and drop to the highway. Black clouds 
of smoke billow up from the funeral pyre of the 
plane and its cremated occupants. We recognize 
the flaming body of one of the men in the plane. It 
is Licht, one of Thornhill’s original abductors.

A couple of things. First, note how closely the movie tracks per the script, almost shot for shot. Hitchcock was known for blocking out his movies, every shot beforehand — this sequence supports that point. Next notice how well the sequence builds in tension — a flyover, another flyover only this one with machine gun fire, another flyover with machine gun fire, only closer, the mad dash to the cornfields, then a flyover with poisonous dust, the race to the highway and the approaching tanker, building to the climax — each event bigger than the previous. Finally, for all those screenwriting instructors who say that you can only write what an actor can act and a viewer can see, check this out:

Thornhill stands alone and helpless in the middle 
of the highway, waving his arms. The plane draws 
closer. The tanker is almost upon him. It isn’t 
going to stop. He can HEAR THE KLAXON BLASTING 
him out of the way. There is nothing he can do. 
The plane has caught up with him. The tanker 
won’t stop. It’s got to stop.

“It’s got to stop.” How can Cary Grant act that? How can a viewer see that? They can’t. This is a case of the screenwriter Lehman breaking free and providing some commentary on the moment, he is expressing what Thornhill has got to be thinking — and perhaps even what Lehman and Hitchcock hoped the viewer would be feeling: “My God, stop!!!” Lehman makes a ‘novelistic’ choice at possibly the most important point in the story. So if any of your screenwriting instructors tell you you can’t do this, just steer them to Lehman’s script. At the end of the day, who would you rather trust: Your instructor or a screenwriter who was nominated for an Academy Award for writing 5 times?

Here’s the movie version of the scene.

Almost no dialogue. Great visual storytelling.

You can read Lehman’s thoughts about working with Hitchcock here.

For more of the Great Scene series, go here.