The crop duster scene from "North by Northwest" is one of the most iconic in cinema history, quoted and talked about endlessly in the last half-century. This great video examines what makes the unique sequence so amazing.
First, if you've never seen it, you can watch the original scene below:
Coming to you from Cinema Tyler, this great video essay examines that iconic crop duster scene from Hitchcock's "North by Northwest." The scene is particularly memorable as it really goes against the grain of traditional action sequences, choosing to build suspense merely through the realization that Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is in an inescapable situation with no real place to hide. What always made the scene particularly fascinating to me was Hitchcock's choice to forgo music for the sequence (despite having one of film's best composers, Bernard Herrmann) and stick to purely diegetic sound. I think it really adds to the desolation of the landscape that Thornhill experiences. The sparse dialogue, the wide open space, and the lack of music (I always found the buzzing of the airplane engine approaching and receding to be especially effective) all combine to increase the tension and suspense of the scene, driving it toward its conclusion.
