Alfred Hitchcock’s final directed film was “Family Plot.”
Released in 1976, “Family Plot” is a black comedy thriller about a fraudulent medium, Blanche Tyler, and her taxi-driver partner, George Lumley. Their attempt to locate a missing heir draws them into a complicated kidnapping and jewel-theft scheme.
The film was adapted from Victor Canning’s 1972 novel “The Rainbird Pattern.” Screenwriter Ernest Lehman reshaped the material into a lighter, more playful story, matching Hitchcock’s interest in mixing suspense with dark comedy. Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, and William Devane star.
“Family Plot” is sometimes confused with “Frenzy,” Hitchcock’s previous film, or with “Topaz,” his earlier espionage thriller. Neither was his last directed feature. Hitchcock, who had suffered serious health problems during production, also made one of his characteristic cameo appearances in silhouette in “Family Plot.”