History Film / FamilyPlot

''Family Plot'' is a 1976 BlackComedy {{Thriller}} directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, starring Creator/BarbaraHarris, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/KarenBlack, and Creator/WilliamDevane. The score was composed by the legendary Music/JohnWilliams.

* PrecisionFStrike: Some swearing (mainly from George), which is a bit jarring for a Hitchcock film (''Family Plot'' is PG but there's actually more swearing here than in the R-rated ''Film/{{Frenzy}}'').

* CityWithNoName: Unlike most Hitchcock films which feature an iconic city or landmark, the location is kept vague except it's obviously in [[HollywoodCalifornia California]]. San Francisco and Los Angeles were both used for exterior shots, with San Francisco's famous black-on-white street name signs visible at several points.

A 1976 BlackComedy {{Thriller}} directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, starring Creator/BarbaraHarris, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/KarenBlack, and Creator/WilliamDevane. The score was composed by the legendary Music/JohnWilliams.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The screenplay was by ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'''s Ernest Lehman, and the theme of average people who unwittingly get wrapped up in a WickedCultured villain's schemes is common to both films. Also, George and Blanche's car danger recalls both the drunk driving scene and the crop duster scene from the earlier film.
* SpoilerCover: The tagline on the poster in the original release flat-out gives away a crucial part of the main plot twist: [[spoiler: "There's no body in the family plot"]].

The scene shifts to the heir Arthur Adamson (Devane) and his girlfriend Fran (Black). They are both WickedCultured. Arthur murdered his foster parents many years before and now works as a jeweler and upper-class house. He and Fran actually earn most of their money from a highly-successful career as kidnappers, their targets being millionaires and dignitaries. By the time the film starts, the thrill of the work has become part of their motivation. Danger turns them on and really helps their sexual activities. These two are dangerous people.

* LinkedListClueMethodology: George and Blanche's investigation: the chauffeur's daughter → the cemetary → the undertaker → the Registrar of Births and Deaths → meeting with Joe Maloney → the funeral of Joe Maloney → Arthur's jewelry store → Arthur's private house.

** Julia Rainbird decides to look for her nephew Edward 40 years after he was abandoned, exactly at the time when Edward is carrying out a series of abductions and extorsions.

** Julia Rainbird decides to look for his nephew Edward 40 years after he was abandoned, exactly at the time when Edward is carrying out a series of abductions and extorsions.

A 1976 BlackComedy thriller directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, starring Creator/BarbaraHarris, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/KarenBlack, and Creator/WilliamDevane. The score was composed by the legendary Music/JohnWilliams.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The Shoebridges and the Maloneys are apparently supposed to be [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormon]], with the stonemason referring to the Shoebridge burial as being done by the "First Church of Latter-day Saints" and a quotation from Literature/TheBookOfMormon (2 Nephi, chapter 9) read at Joe Maloney's graveside service. But the [[ChurchOfSaintGenericus church-related material]] in the film seems more reminiscent of [[ChristianityIsCatholic Catholicism]] or Anglicanism[[note]]Specifically there's a reference to infant baptism, which isn't practiced by Mormons. Also, the clergy wear robes and collars, which Mormon leaders never do. There's also the use of the cross, which the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally avoids, but is common in the next-largest Mormon sect, the Community of Christ[[/note]].

* VehicularSabotage: The brakes on Blanche's car are tampered with, sending he and Blanche hysterically careening down a winding mountain road.

** Julia Rainbird decides to look for his nephew Edward 40 years after he was abandoned, exactly at the time when Edward is carying out a series of abductions and extorsions.