How I felt about it. The rise of the 'R' rated movie liberated Hitchcock. He was finally able to make a different king of Wrong Man film; one that contains nudity, cursing, and a rape, among other unpleasantness.
Censors be damned, and the result is the best film from the master since Psycho. The Birds will always be more popular, and Torn Curtain certainly has more big name stars. But the obscure British cast of Frenzy does just fine.
Psycho and Frenzy have more in common than similar titles. They both have a creepy, homicidal anti-hero. This nasty, sneaky fellow Rusk is even less sympathetic than the lunatic from Strangers on a Train (which in my book is about tied with Rebecca for best Hitchcock movie.)
The Wrong Man on the run from the law with a pretty girl in tow. He is believed a killer, but he's not, and he has to remain free to find the real killer. This hoary plot is from The Thirty-Nine Steps and Saboteur, and pieces of it are in many more Hitchcock films, including one actually entitled The Wrong Man.
Although I didn't much care for Saboteur, most of these films are pretty good to great. Why did the Master of Suspense return again and again to the Wrong Man theme? Because it works. We soon learn who the killer is and isn't. Both get into great troubles. The mystery is limited, but the suspense is relentless.
The most fun comes when the villain is in a tight spot. Anthony Perkins in Psycho, when the private eye shows up at the motel. Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train, trying to get the all-important cigarette lighter from the sewer grate. And Rusk in the potato truck, trying to retrieve his tie pin from a stiff stiff.
Whose side are we on? Normally, we pine for the hero to get out of trouble. Feelings are all over the map for Norman Bates and his screwed-up kind. Which probably helps explain why publicized and imprisoned killers get so many marriage proposals from strangers. Still, its odd that our focus is on The Wrong Man and the villain. What about the victims? They get the worst of it.
How others will see it. Frenzy, being one of the last Hitchcock films, is among the most modern. As such, it is accessible, and the tried and true Wrong Man theme continues to fascinate. Only those who believed Hitchcock above 'R' movie ugliness can object to this lesser but effective thriller.