Copilot:
American filmaker Alfred Hitchcock had a pet name for the plot twist in his movies, that tied in the viewer. What was it?
🎬 Alfred Hitchcock famously referred to a key plot device in his films as the "MacGuffin." It wasn’t just a twist—it was the thing that got the story rolling, even if it turned out to be irrelevant in the end.
The MacGuffin is typically an object, event, or goal that the characters care deeply about, but the audience doesn’t necessarily need to. It’s there to drive the plot forward and motivate the characters’ actions. Think of the stolen money in Psycho or the government secrets in North by Northwest—those are classic MacGuffins.
Hitchcock once joked that the MacGuffin was “the emptiest of all,” meaning it didn’t matter what it was, as long as it got the characters moving. It’s a clever way to hook the viewer without getting bogged down in the details.
Want to explore how he used it in specific films? I’ve got plenty of examples.
* * *
Things got unpleasantly hot in the evenings in the last few days, here in Montreal. I watched a
movie, over two evenings on Tubi, Limitless from 2011. Tubi allows one to see non-recent
movies for free, in return for the occasional ad. I grew up in the fifties, watching 1930s musicals
on television in black and white punctuated by cigarette and beer ads and learning English as a
second language; I have the life skills to get through this. To flip on Pauline Kael's famous
title on her movie review catalogue 'I lost it at the Movies!', I acquired it at the movies.
(The Trivago ad appears a lot but it is blessedly short. They are a German online travel
service. Have an almond every time it comes on: you will met your magnesium goals for the
day!)
Limitless is presented a science-fiction, and stars Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and a
blonde...fine, Abbie Cornish. It is set in New York and starts strong as a success story with a
likeable struggling writer, but then one thinks he might turn weird. Half way through the movie
I was all in, but was vaguely angry: where is the McGuffin, the plot device on which it all hangs.
What is our hero taking, are there extra-terrestials involved, is he on cocaine (this is 2011), is he
losing his mind??
Who is the famous movie character who lives as a New York stockbroker but is actually a sadistic murderer, Christian Bale maybe?
You're spot on, Louise! 🩸 The character you're thinking of is Patrick Bateman, played chillingly by Christian Bale in the 2000 film American Psycho.
Bateman is a wealthy, image-obsessed investment banker in 1980s Manhattan who leads a double life as a deranged serial killer. He’s the ultimate symbol of yuppie excess—polished on the outside, utterly monstrous within. The film (based on Bret Easton Ellis’s novel) dives deep into themes of identity, consumerism, and psychosis, all wrapped in a satirical, blood-soaked package.
What makes Bateman so unforgettable is the ambiguity: it’s never entirely clear how much of his violence is real and how much is delusion. Even his confession is brushed off as a joke by his lawyer. That twisty uncertainty is part of what turned him into a cult icon.
Want to unpack some of the wildest scenes or explore how Bale prepared for the role? I’ve got plenty of juicy details.
* * *
I was thinking this movie is a fraud, Robert De Niro hadn't even appeared yet. Checked the
reviews, all good. Everyone agreed the movie was a well-polished product that just needed
something!! Well, I needed answers and finally peeked at the Wikipedia description. The hero
is ingesting a nootropic.
No comments:
Post a Comment