Vertigo

Episode 157: Vertigo (1958)

Theme: HitchOctober Finale
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz and Curtis wrap up HitchOctober with Vertigo — the only movie bold enough to blend the ending of Batman (’89), High Anxiety, Face/Off, and a steaming-hot bowl of Rice-A-Roni into one dizzying fever dream. Jimmy Stewart stammers, spirals, and emotionally implodes his way across San Francisco as Hitchcock gleefully yells, “What if trauma… but art?”

Join your two favorite rooftop-chase dropouts as they unpack:

• How Scotty is simultaneously the world’s worst detective and the most emotionally fragile man to ever climb half a flight of stairs.

• Why Madeleine/Judy is heartbreak in human form — a dual-role performance that somehow feels like three different people.

• The Gavin Elster murder plot: easily the most over-engineered Rube Goldberg device of spousal homicide ever filmed.

• Midge’s devastating “stupid, stupid” moment… because nothing hurts worse than a failed attempt at being cute.

• The final bell tower sequence — a masterclass in tension, tragedy, and nuns appearing like horror-movie jump scares.

From spiraling camera tricks to doomed romance, from sequoia-based trauma to green-neon resurrection, Oz and Curtis break down a classic that’s stylish, twisted, and still able to emotionally steamroll anyone who’s ever loved the wrong person.

Final Verdict

Oz — 10 Jimmy Stewarts
Curtis — 2 Kim Novaks
Both — Still convinced Scotty could’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble by going to literally any doctor besides the one who prescribed “more trauma” as treatment.