MovieChat Forums > Rear Window (1954) Discussion > What a better movie this would have been...

What a better movie this would have been if Thorwald had killed Jefferies


His squeaky-voice, smug manner and constant verbal abuse of Lisa make him pretty detestable. He alone turns what is a good film into a pretty unwatchable one at times. It would have been cool if his wretched personality and wild stories about a neighborhood killer so turned off Stella, Lisa, and Det. Doyle that when Thorwald figured out Jefferies was spying on him and went after him Jefferies' every potential ally had long abandoned him and he had to fend for himself.

It would have served him right.

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I can't argue with any of that. Hear, hear.

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People like him were always getting a deserved comeuppance in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Twilight Zone."

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People like him were always getting a deserved comeuppance in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Twilight Zone."

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That's true! They were presented as busybodies, or misogynists or misanthropes and they got a comeuppance.

Stewart gets a comeuppance at the end of Rear Window. He RE-breaks the one leg, and NEWLY breaks the other leg. Think of the pain. Think of the itching. And a man with two broken legs(one broke twice) using 1954 surgeries will probably have crippling problems for the rest of his life. At minimum a limp, maybe a loss of walking entirely, eventually.

Its quite a punishment, really, and Hitchcock sets it up by having everybody chastise Jeff for his snoopiness and...voyeurism. We accept the two broken legs as punishment accordingly.

Jeff's a hero, too, of course -- he solves a brutal murder and brings the killer to justice at risk to his own life and limb. Hitchcock delighted in letting his villains be nice and his heroes be bad.

I've always felt Jeff's worst, most cowardly moment is when he whimpers in impotent cowardess as Thorwald catches and throttles Lisa across the way. He doesn't yell out to his neighbors, he chews on his hand and says "Stella, what do we DO?" Its as if Jeff would rather that Lisa die than that his voyeurism be exposed to the apartment dwellers. Disgusting.

And perhaps only James Stewart would have been willing to play that role back then..

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I think you're way too harsh on him. James Stewart always has that squeaky voice and rather smug attitude, so I don't think you can really hold that against him. Yes, it's true he was a jerk to Grace Kelly several times, but don't forget he was feeling rather down about the future of their relationship. I think he was preparing for it to end. The fact that he had been bound to a wheelchair for several weeks was also getting to him.

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