QWhat is 'Strangers on a Train' about?
ATennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets total stranger Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) while on the Washington-to-New York train. Bruno has this crazy idea of swapping murders, i.e., 'I'll kill your wife and you kill my father,' and discusses it at length. Guy dismisses it as a joke and leaves the train but is horrified when, several days later, his estranged wife Miriam (Kasey Rogers) is found strangled at an amusement park, and Guy becomes the prime suspect, which threatens his tennis career, his romance with U.S. senator's daughter Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), and his hopes for a political career. When Bruno keeps pressing Guy to keep up his end of the scheme, Guy and Anne try to find a way to stop the psychotic stranger.
AStrangers on a Train has the classic, and probably first genuine, murder swap story, but there have been many imitations. They include: (1) Columbo: A Friend in Deed (#3.8) (1974). A police commissioner covers up the murder of his friend's wife. In exchange, he expects this friend to cover up his own murder. (2) Throw Momma from the Train (1987). Owen (Danny DeVito) wants his mother dead and, inspired by Strangers on a Train, offers to swap murders with Larry (Billy Crystal). (3) In Horrible Bosses (2011), the characters, directly inspired by this movie, decide to kill each others' bosses.
QWhere is Hitchcock's cameo in this movie?
AFamous for placing himself in a cameo in almost every one of his movies, Alfred Hitchcock's cameo in Strangers on a Train occurs 10 minutes into the film. He can be seen carrying a double bass as he gets onto the train. A photo of the scene can be viewed here.
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