Frenzy 4K UHD (1972)

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Another element of the film I have a huge problem with is the iconic potato truck scene.

SPOILERS AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY

I get what Hitchcock was going for. He wanted to recreate the vibe of The Trouble with Harry in a single scene.

However, there's a MASSIVE difference between Frenzy and The Trouble with Harry.

In TTWH, we don't get to know the corpse as a character for 90 minutes before the comedic elements with the cadaver begin. In addition, we soon learn that he was a nasty, abusive husband, so we have no sympathy for him.

In Frenzy, Babs is a sweet, naive, likable person, who is then brutally raped and murdered. It's truly appalling to see the body of that sympathetic character subjected to the potato truck scene, and I can never enjoy the intended humor in it, because it's just so repellent.

I kind of think Hitchcock realized this, because he cast an actress with exaggerated, somewhat comical features, and a grating voice, and directed her to act in a fairly broad way. I think he was trying not to make Babs TOO sympathetic.

Even just having her be killed, as the second woman we've gotten to know well in the film to suffer such a horrific fate, is profoundly unpleasant, and makes the protagonist feel totally helpless, because both of the women he cares about are made to suffer so much.

[Show spoiler]At least Babs's death is not right in front of our eyes, like Brenda's, and I do think the shot pulling out of Rusk's apartment onto the street as Babs dies offscreen is absolutely masterful, the work of a generational genius at the top of his game.

Why wouldn't you just spoiler tag that whole section instead of just the final paragraph?

[Show spoiler]Anyway, I like the potato truck scene, not just for the darkly humorous elements, but also because of the way Hitchcock manipulates us into actually feeling the tension that Rusk does during that moment, even though for the rest of the film we are supposed to dislike him.