You may remember a little comedy film from 1987 entitled Throw Momma From the Train, starring Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito (who also directed). In the film, DeVito fantasizes about killing his overbearing mother, but can't get up the courage to do it himself. While struggling with his community college writing class, his teacher (Crystal) advises that he goes to see a Hitchcock film. The film he sees puts an idea into his head: get somebody else to kill his mother for him, and he, in exchange, will kill an undesired person in that somebody's life. Two unrelated murders, the likely suspects protected by solid alibis – it's foolproof.
The film DeVito's character sees is the fantastic Strangers on a Train, which will be screened tonight at the Louisville Palace as part of their Alfred Hitchcock summer movie series. Farley Granger plays Guy Haines, a tennis star with an unfaithful wife. He meets a stranger on a train (see?) named Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), who wants his father dead. Bruno proposes a brilliant plan: a criss-cross murder. They each murder the undesirable in the other's life and establish an alibi. The problem is that Haines is not so keen on the idea, which turns to conflict when Bruno expects him to fulfill his end of the bargain. Strangers on a Train is playing tonight, Friday.
Tomorrow, the Palace will be screening Dial M for Murder, starring Ray Milland as Tony Wendice, another tennis player with an unfaithful wife. Unlike Haines, Wendice willingly plots the murder of his wife. He hires a man to kill her, but when things go wrong, he must devise a new plan.
All films will be shown at 8:00. Tickets are a mere $5. The Louisville Palace is located at 625 S. 4th Street. Further information about the Hitchcock film series can be found at the Palace website.
Image: Internet Movie Database
