Hitchcock's Rear Window: An Analysis of J.M. Hayes' Screenplay

Screenwriting 101 on How One of Cinema's Most Layered Protagonists is Introduced

The screenplay for Rear Window makes use of only two locations throughout the entire story. The Interior of the protagonist's, Jeffries', apartment and the exterior courtyard of the apartment that becomes a playground of peoples' private lives.

Hitchcock created an elaborate set for Jeffries' point of view of his neighbors, thus the camera never need change locations. The scenes are a series of shots of Jeffries' reactions to his neighbors through their windows. The reactionary actions of Jeffries serve not only as a tool to the suspense of the plot, but also his characterization. The phone conversation that introduces Jeffries foreshadows both elements of plot suspense and his characterized bachelorhood. On page ten he say's to his editor "if you don't pull me out of this swamp of boredom - I'll do something drastic - I'll get married - imagine me rushing home to a hot apartment to listen to - a nagging wife." As the story progresses we see that in a state of boredom, and a broken leg, Jeffries involves himself in a drastic plot of murder as his girlfriend poses the threat of marriage.

The script's dialogue holds a rich subtext of Jeffries' fears of marriage in which he externalizes through spying on his neighbors. In reading the screenplay this subtext becomes clear as black and white on the page, as opposed to hearing it from complex characters trapped in Hitchcock's Mise`-en-Scene. There is even a line that refers to subtext when Jeffries' nurse Stella says to him, "Behind every ridiculous statement is always hidden the true cause."

The first three pages of the screenplay do a complete visual introduction to Jeffries and his surroundings. We know that he lives in a small urban apartment described as a "neighborhood not prosperous, neither poor, but a conventional dwelling place for people living on marginal incomes, luck - or hope and careful planning." We know that it is summer as windows are wide open, people are sweating, children are playing in a fire hydrant and a thermometer reads 84 degrees.