North by Northwest Review

Messages: The transformation of the main character sends the message that people can change for the better and that sometimes there's more to someone's character than first appears.

Role models: Thornhill is a twice-divorced ad exec who spouts his philosophy at the beginning of the movie as "In the world of advertising there's no such thing as a lie, there's only expedient exaggeration." When he's set up we see a big shift in his character -- he risks his own life for the truth and then for love. The CIA is shown as unscrupulous, willing to let Thornhill die to cover their tracks. Eve is played as mysterious and cunning and joked about as promiscuous -- but she's a damsel in distress ready to be saved by Thornhill in the end.

Violence: Roger Thornhill is kidnapped at gunpoint, then force-fed a bottle of bourbon (not shown) and put behind the wheel of the car, which he almost crashes numerous times on a windy road. A character gets knifed in the back. A crop duster fires shots and chases Thornhill, later exploding when it hits a truck. A death is faked by shooting and more shots are fired at the main characters as they dangle from a great height.

Sex: Some kissing with clothes on and the implication that Thornhill and Eve slept together in a train bed. Lots of forward sexual banter along the lines of "what can a man do with his clothes off for 20 minutes?" after Thornhill sends his suit to be pressed.

Language: "Treacherous little tramp" is as strong as the language gets.

Drinking, drugs and smoking: Plenty of hard liquor drunk and mentioned. Some smoking typical of the era, including a matchbook with Thornhill's initials used to seductively light Eve's cigarette. Thornhill is force-fed bourbon then drives drunk to evade the bad guys, ending in a "funny-drunk" scene at the police station.