Rear Window (1954)
It only takes one witness to spoil the perfect crime.
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
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| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 1 August 1954 |
| Genre | Thriller, Mystery, Drama |
| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Starring | James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Wendell Corey |
| Runtime | 113 min |
| Rated | PG |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 9.2/10 · Metacritic 100/100 · Rotten Tomatoes 99% · IMDb 8.5/10 · Letterboxd 4.4/5 · TMDB users 8.3/10 |
| Budget | $1 million |
| Box office | $37 million worldwide |
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You can rent or buy Rear Window on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch Rear Window in 49 other countries
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|---|---|
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| Andorra | SkyShowtime |
| Antigua & Barbuda | Max |
| Argentina | Max $9590 ARS |
| Australia | Binge $19.00 AUD, Foxtel |
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| Barbados | Max |
| Belize | Max |
| Bolivia | Max |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | SkyShowtime about |
| Bulgaria | SkyShowtime €6.99 |
| Chile | Max $9590 CLP |
| Colombia | Max $24900 COP |
| Costa Rica | Max |
| Croatia | SkyShowtime €8.99 |
| Czechia | SkyShowtime 259 Kč |
| Denmark | SkyShowtime 109 kr DKK |
| Dominican Republic | Max |
| Ecuador | Max $8.29 |
| El Salvador | Max |
| Finland | SkyShowtime €9.99 |
| Guatemala | Max |
| Guyana | Max |
| Honduras | Max |
| Hungary | SkyShowtime 2590 Ft |
| Jamaica | Max |
| Japan | Prime Video ¥600 JPY, U-NEXT ¥2189 JPY |
| Mexico | Max $149 MXN |
| Netherlands | SkyShowtime €9.99 |
| Nicaragua | Max |
| North Macedonia | SkyShowtime about |
| Norway | SkyShowtime 109 kr NOK |
| Panama | Max $8.29 |
| Paraguay | Max |
| Peru | Max S/35.90 |
| Poland | SkyShowtime 34.99 zł |
| Portugal | SkyShowtime €8.99 |
| Romania | SkyShowtime about 37.45 lei |
| Serbia | SkyShowtime about 1058 din |
| Slovakia | SkyShowtime €8.99 |
| Slovenia | SkyShowtime €8.99 |
| South Korea | Watcha |
| Spain | SkyShowtime €8.99 |
| St. Lucia | Max |
| Sweden | SkyShowtime 109 kr SEK |
| Trinidad & Tobago | Max |
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| Uruguay | Max $U399 |
| Venezuela | Max |
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What kind of watch this is
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller leans on a single, unblinking vantage point. James Stewart plays a photographer stuck in a wheelchair, watching the courtyard below with more interest than he shows for his own life. That limitation becomes the engine. He does not chase the truth; he waits for it to walk into his line of sight. The camera holds still, letting the audience share his isolation. It is a puzzle where the solution is already in front of you, and the tension comes from how long you can stand still before it strikes.
What the critics said
Critics hardly disagreed. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 99% approval rating as of January 2026, while Metacritic assigns it a perfect 100 Metascore. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it a "tense and exciting exercise," though he admitted the commentary on human nature was "superficial and glib." Roger Ebert, writing in 1983, argued the film "traps us right from the first," making the audience accomplices in the protagonist’s voyeurism. It is rare for a movie to make watching feel like a moral compromise, yet here it works because the trap is the point.
How it did with audiences
A $1 million budget and $37 million in worldwide receipts. The United States took the entire haul, a detail that simplifies the accounting. TMDB users score it 8.3 out of 10, while IMDb sits at 8.5 as of February 2026. Viewers seem to have watched it, rated it, and moved on with their lives.
What came next for the cast
Stewart moved from It’s a Wonderful Life to Vertigo, a shift in tone that feels less like a career arc and more like a genre change. Kelly went from High Noon to To Catch a Thief, trading grit for glamour. Ritter, who had All About Eve behind her, faced a quieter road through The Misfits and Birdman of Alcatraz. The timeline does not prove this film started those turns. It just sits in the middle, watching them all leave.
Where it left its mark
The Library of Congress pulled it into the National Film Registry in 1997, citing cultural and aesthetic weight. That move helped cement a theme of voyeurism that other directors couldn’t quite shake. Brian De Palma’s Body Double and Phillip Noyce’s Sliver followed, proving the hook still worked. Critics keep voting for it, with the 2012 Sight & Sound poll placing it 53rd. It’s also a favorite of the AFI, ranking third in their Top 10 Mysteries. The film spent years in a self-imposed exile, part of what fans call the Forbidden Five. Hitchcock held those rights tight for nearly two decades.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Rear Window.
Sources
- Rear Window on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q34414 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Rear Window” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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