100
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertRear Window lovingly invests in suspense all through the film, banking it in our memory, so that when the final payoff arrives, the whole film has been the thriller equivalent of foreplay.
- 100EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanFlawless, essential viewing that would earn more than its five stars if only Empire would allow it.
- 100Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversThe film leaps off the screen with a thrilling immediacy.
- 100The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyAs much as I admire all of these, especially "Vertigo," I can't imagine that any one of them will top the feelings of exhilaration that are prompted by Rear Window, this most bittersweet of Hitchcockian suspense-romances. Make no mistake about it: Rear Window is as much of a romance as it is a brilliant exercise in suspense.
- 100Hitchcock confines all of the action to this single setting and draws the nerves to the snapping point in developing the thriller phases of the plot. He is just as skilled in making use of lighter touches in either dialog or situation to relieve the tension when it nears the unbearable. Interest never wavers during the 112 minutes of footage.
- 100The GuardianThe GuardianWhat's extraordinary, for a film that works on these different levels, is that it also manages to be a riveting thriller.
- 100ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliSimply put, Rear Window is a great film, perhaps one of the finest ever committed to celluloid. All of the elements are perfect (or nearly so), including the acting, script, camerawork, music (by Franz Waxman), and, of course, direction. The brilliance of the movie is that, in addition to keeping viewers on the edges of their seats, it involves us in the lives of all of the characters, from Jefferies and Lisa to Miss Torso. There isn't a moment of waste in 113 minutes of screen time.
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA superb example of suspense filmmaking, especially when one considers the technical limitations of its single set.
- 90The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherMr. Stewart does a first-class job, playing the whole thing from a wheel chair and making points with his expressions and eyes. His handling of a lens-hound's paraphernalia in scanning the action across the way is very important to the color and fascination of the film.
- 90Time OutTime OutQuite aside from the violation of intimacy, which is shocking enough, Hitchcock has nowhere else come so close to pure misanthropy, nor given us so disturbing a definition of what it is to watch the 'silent film' of other people's lives, whether across a courtyard or up on a screen.