Strangers on a Train

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Strangers on a Train is a thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. It was adapted as a film in 1951 by director Alfred Hitchcock.

The film starred Robert Walker, Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll, Marion Lorne and Pat Hitchcock.

[edit] Plot summary

Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner. While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, who develops his idea to exchange murders: Bruno will kill Miriam if Guy kills Bruno's father; neither of them will have a motive, and the police will have no reason to suspect either of them. Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife while Guy is away in Mexico.

Bruno informs Guy of his crime, but Guy hesitates to turn him in to the police. He realizes that Bruno could always claim Guy's complicity in the planned exchange murders, and the longer he remains silent, the more he implicates himself. This implicit guilt becomes stronger as in the coming months, Bruno makes appearances demanding that Guy honor his part of the bargain. After Bruno starts writing anonymous letters to Guy's friends and colleagues, the pressure becomes too great, and Guy murders Bruno's father.

Subsequently, Guy is consumed by guilt, whereas Bruno seeks Guy's company as if nothing had happened. He makes an uninvited appearance at Guy's wedding, causing a scene. At the same time, a private detective, who suspects Bruno of having arranged the murder of his father, establishes the connection between Bruno and Guy that began with the train ride, and suspects Bruno of Miriam's murder. Guy also becomes implicated due to his contradictions about the acquaintance with Bruno.

When Bruno falls overboard during a sailing cruise, Guy identifies so strongly with Bruno that he tries to rescue him under threat to his own life. Nevertheless, Bruno drowns, and the murder investigation is closed. Guy, however, is plagued by guilt, and confesses the double murder to Miriam's former lover. This man, however, does not condemn Guy; rather, he considers the killings as appropriate punishment for the unfaithfulness. The detective who had been investigating the murders overhears Guy's confession, however, and arrests him.

[edit] Differences between novel and film

Hitchcock's film adaptation follows the novel's plot fairly closely until Bruno demands Guy fulfill "his end of the bargain", when it makes a radical departure from the source material. In the film, Guy (played by Farley Granger) is a tennis player intending to go into politics. He refuses to kill Bruno's father, and threatens to go to the police. Bruno (played by Robert Walker) then targets Guy and his fiancée, leading up to a climax in which he is killed by a freak accident while trying to kill his former "friend". Guy's willingness to commit murder, along with his subsequent remorse and arrest, are left out in favor of a more heroic portrayal and a happy ending.

The film also tones down the homosexual subtext of Guy and Bruno's relationship.^[1]

[edit] Influence in popular culture

Both Highsmith's novel and Hitchcock's film have been referenced, imitated, and parodied in films such as Throw Momma from the Train, Once You Kiss a Stranger, Dead End, Bollywood's Strangers, and the Telugu film Visakha Express, and television shows such as CSI, Law & Order, Arthur, and The Simpsons. J. D. Robb's 2008 book, Strangers in Death, references both Highsmith's novel and Hitchcock's film as NYPSD Homicide Detective Eve Dallas attempts to solve two seemingly unrelated murders.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Ron Collins, "Strangers on a Page: Highsmith & Camus"
• Strangers on a Train at the Internet Movie Database

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