1963 - THE PRIZE, the term Hitchcock like thriller comes to mind.

An American writer accepting his Nobel prize in Sweden gets mixed up in cold war espionage in this very blatant borrowing (ripoff?) from some of Alfred Hitchcock's films.

Method actor Paul Newman tries for the light comedic touch of Cary Grant but seems to be smirking a lot.  Old school actor Edward G. Robinson and German model Elke Sommer are actually more credible then Newman and seem less affected in their performances.

The writer of The Prize is Ernest Lehman who had written Hitchcock's North By Northwest and he probably had a lot of explaining to do because in this case imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery it's more like stealing.  The director is Mark Robson a Hollywood veteran who made some good films and some mediocre ones in his career.  Their approach is to use the Hitchcock formula of suspense and comedy and if they "borrow" a scene or two so be it.

The Prize is a decent time killer of a film, it has nice glossy photography and a couple of actors who are easy on the eyes, it wasn't the first film to steal from Alfred Hitchock and it certainly wasn't the last.

134 minutes.