Stream Alfred Hitchcock’s 10 Most Influential Films

From the famous screeching score by Bernard Herrmann and the unconventional narrative structure to the title, Psycho didn’t just influence horror — it invented the contemporary psychological thriller. Killing off the main character in the first act is something we’ve seen repeated in various dramas and horror films in the thirty-plus years since the film’s release. Psycho was also the first major blockbuster to cheat the production code by showing an unmarried couple in the same bed, Janet Leigh in a bra, and a woman flushing a toilet (ladies, the production code enforcers thought the general public would be better off not knowing you pee from time to time). Hitchcock’s strict enforcement of his “no late admission policy” for the film made filmgoers even more anxious about the plot through word of mouth. His reasoning? If you didn’t get to know Marion Crane (Leigh) prior to her murder, you wouldn’t have cared if she lived or died. See where you can stream Psycho on GoWatchIt. 

Despite it being one of the most visually stunning of Hitchcock’s films, Vertigo ranks as one of his darkest, most tragic stories. James Stewart plays Scottie, whose romantic delusions towards Madeleine (Kim Novak) represent his fear and simultaneous attraction to death. While Scottie wants nothing more than to move on from his harrowing past as a detective, letting go is almost just as appealing. Hitchcock’s saturation of symbolic imagery — in this case, the spirals — is a directing move replicated by directors like Darren Aronofsky (whose Black Swan owes a major debt to Hitchcock) and David Lynch. See where you can stream Vertigo on GoWatchIt. 

With The Birds, Hitchcock gave us a taste of a totally different kind of thriller: turmoil cause by the supernatural, but not the extraterrestrial. Perhaps the reason this still reigns as one of the creepiest, unnerving horror-thrillers of all time is because those evil crows weren’t always evil — but at some point, they just snapped! Hitchcock’s horror didn’t need to have demons and ghosts popping out at you; rather, he took the surroundings we take for granted and turned them on us. Don’t kid yourself: you know you still get shivers every time you see a swarm of crows sitting on telephone wire. See where you can stream The Birds on GoWatchIt.

Like much of Hitchcock’s later work, Rear Window managed to seamlessly combine a murder mystery with a love story and a portrait of 1950s fashion in New York. Other than James Stewart and Grace Kelly being criminally breathtaking on screen together, the film’s voyeuristic influence has made its way past remakes and cheap rip-offs, becoming a rite of passage in urban settings on screen. Here, Hitchcock was letting us know it’s totally cool to spy on your neighbors from time to time because you never know when they’re up to no good. See where you can stream Rear Window on GoWatchIt. 

Cary Grant stars as John Robie, a retired jewel thief who gets framed for a bunch of copy-cat heists. In his fleeting attempt to catch the culprit, he meets Francie (played by Grace Kelly in her last film with Hitchcock). Francie is utterly bored with vacationing along the French Riviera (who wouldn’t be?) and becomes enthralled with Robie’s dangerous lifestyle. Although plot-wise it doesn’t hold a candle to Hitchcock’s other mysteries, the film’s aesthetic perfection mixed with it serving as Kelly’s last film with the director, proves To Catch a Thief has more sentimental value behind it than meets the eye. See where you can stream To Catch a Thief on GoWatchIt. 

Forget To Catch a Thief — this was the film that changed the cinematic game of cat and mouse, thanks to the thrill-ride script by Ernest Lehman. In addition to being among the first films to use kinetic typography (moving credits over images), GQ also named Cary Grant’s famous gray suit worn throughout the film the best suit in film history. While North by Northwest is certainly one of Hitchcock’s greatest thrillers, it’s more a feast for the eyes, with the experimental use of graphic design and the running sequences that have been copied by every movie starring Tom Cruise. See where you can stream North by Northwest on GoWatchIt. 

Strangers on a Train reminds us why we never talk to crazy people on the subway. Hitchcock purposefully diverged from his usual crew of Grant, Stewart, and Kelly for this thriller because he reportedly wanted a lead actor who looked vulnerable enough to be duped by a psycho. Farley Granger plays Guy Haines, a famous tennis player stuck in a crappy marriage who wants nothing more than to git rid of his wife. When he meets Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) — yes, on a train — the two plot revenge against their own. The catch? Guy is only half-kidding, while Bruno is completely serious. The famous imagery of criss-crossing train tracks symbolizes the relationship between the two men who cross paths and then double-cross each other in the end. See where you can stream Strangers on a Train on GoWatchIt. 

Considered to be one of the greatest British films of all time, The 39 Steps was the film that changed the game for Hitchcock and pushed him to move to Hollywood to continue churning out thrillers for studios. Adapted from the suspense novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, it is considered to be one of the greatest book to film adaptations of all time. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is in the wrong theater at the wrong time and soon finds himself on the run from assassins who think he’s part of a larger spy ring. The plot is a recurring one for Hitchcock, whose thrillers often involve an innocent man on the run, which we’ve seen replicated in countless action thrillers (and just about every Harrison Ford movie). See where you can stream The 39 Steps on GoWatchIt.

In addition to it being chock full of underlying homosexual motifs, Rope remains an underrated directorial masterpiece for Hitchcock. Not only was it his first Technicolor film, he also used unprecedented editing techniques to make the entire film feel like one long 80-minute take. Starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger, the film takes its inspiration from the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder trial. See where you can stream Rope on GoWatchIt.

Based on a story by John Steinbeck, Hitchcock’s unconventional war tale centered around survivors of a German U-boat attack stuck in the middle of the ocean. In the ’50s, Hitchcock was focused on making films with limited settings, even though these often posed challenges for his famous cameo appearances (see the newspaper above). Even though we’re only watching a group of strangers stuck in open water together, Hitchcock, a master of his craft, keeps us on the edge of our seats the entire time. Lifeboat has influenced dozens of films with limited settings that branch out far beyond the genre of war dramas (see also: Cast Away, All Is Lost, and even Gravity). See where you can stream Lifeboat on GoWatchIt.