| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
|---|---|
| Budget | $1 million |
| Box office | $37.9 million |
In the mid-1950s, photojournalist L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies, recuperating from assignment-related injuries, in a cast from his hip to his foot, is wheelchair-bound in his Greenwich Village apartment. His mid-floor rear window looks onto a courtyard with small garden plots, surrounded on four sides by apartments in adjoining buildings. Jeff is regularly visited by Stella, a nurse, and his couture-clad girlfriend, Lisa Fremont, a model and socialite. Jeff and Lisa disagree about whether their relationship can survive different lifestyles.
During a heat wave, Jeff watches his neighbors through open windows, including a newlywed couple; a professional dancer coined "Miss Torso"; a songwriter with writer's block; a spinster who pantomimes dates with pretend suitors, "Miss Lonely-Hearts"; and traveling costume jewelry salesman Lars Thorwald, henpecked by his bedridden wife. One night, Jeff hears a woman scream, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Later that night he observes Thorwald making repeated excursions carrying his sample case. After Jeff has fallen asleep, Thorwald leaves his apartment along with a woman.
The next morning, Jeff notices that Thorwald's wife seems to be gone, and Thorwald is cleaning a large knife and a handsaw. Movers haul away a large trunk. After surveilling with binoculars and a camera's telephoto lens, Jeff grows suspicious of Thorwald's activities. Convinced Thorwald has murdered his wife, he first tells Stella, who becomes morbidly interested in the case, and then Lisa, who doubts him until they notice that Thorwald's wife is no longer in bed and the mattress is rolled up.
Jeff calls his friend, detective Tom Doyle, to request that he investigate Thorwald. A skeptical Doyle investigates, finds nothing suspicious, and posits that Thorwald sent his wife on a vacation upstate. Jeff and Lisa are temporarily mollified by this explanation. Later that night, however, a neighbor's dog is found dead in the courtyard; the previous day, Thorwald had chased the dog away from digging his garden flowerbed. The dog's alarmed owner cries out, drawing the attention of everyone except Thorwald, who sits furtively in his dark apartment. Now convinced his theory is true, Jeff looks at slides taken two weeks earlier and notices that Thorwald has replanted flowers in his garden, possibly to bury a body part.
The following night, Jeff telephones to lure Thorwald away from his apartment, enabling Lisa and Stella to investigate Thorwald's flowerbed. Finding nothing, Lisa climbs into Thorwald's open window to search his apartment. Stella hurries back to Jeff.
While Lisa is searching, Jeff and Stella are distracted watching Miss Lonely-Hearts contemplating an overdose. Returning unexpectedly, Thorwald catches and attacks Lisa, causing Lisa to cry out. Jeff calls the police to report a man assaulting a woman at Thorwald's apartment. The police arrive to intervene as Lisa and Thorwald scuffle. During police questioning, Lisa signals to Jeff that she is wearing Mrs. Thorwald's wedding ring. Seeing this, Thorwald realizes Jeff is surveilling his apartment. Lacking proof to accuse Thorwald of murder, Lisa allows herself to be arrested for breaking and entering to be taken away safely. Coincidentally, the songwriter had finished his song "Lisa", playing loudly; enthralled by the tune, Miss Lonely-Hearts abandons her suicide attempt.
Jeff phones Doyle, leaving an urgent message, while Stella bails Lisa out of jail. Locating Jeff's apartment, Thorwald attacks him; Jeff's only defense in a darkened apartment is snapping his camera flash bulbs in Thorwald's eyes. While they grapple, Doyle and police officers arrive, followed by Lisa and Stella. Police apprehend Thorwald just as he drops Jeff out of his window. Thorwald confesses to his wife's murder, dumping her remains in the East River, and relocating a hat box containing her head after the dog tried to dig it up.
Days later, the heat wave has broken, and life in the apartment complex has returned to normal. Miss Lonely-Hearts is socializing with the songwriter in his studio apartment while he plays piano; Thorwald's neighbors get a new puppy; Miss Torso's unprepossessing boyfriend returns from army deployment, and the newlyweds are more aloof. Having broken his other leg in the fall, Jeff remains wheelchair-bound, now with both legs in casts. As he naps, Lisa, in casual attire, surreptitiously switches from reading a book on travel exploration to a fashion magazine.