Trading Places

One hundred years ago, two illustrious cinematic careers had their inceptions when Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks made their directorial debuts. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate that shared centennial than by focusing on another year, 1959, in which each delivered a box-office hit that epitomized his artistic preoccupations. For Hitchcock, it was North by Northwest, a wrong-man thriller that chases its protagonist, Roger Thornhill (played by Cary Grant), from Manhattan to Chicago and ultimately to South Dakota. For Hawks, it was Rio Bravo, a Western starring John Wayne as a sheriff who meets a challenge to law and order by collaborating with trusted allies, notably a showgirl (Angie Dickinson) who holds her own with the men around her, especially when it comes to repartee.