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In New York City, advertising executive Roger Thornhill
attends an informal business meeting at The Plaza hotel where, intending
to send his mother a wire, he summons a bellboy who has just paged
George Kaplan. Across the room, two men, Valerian and Licht,
believe Roger’s summons is acknowledgment that he is Kaplan and, when
Roger leaves the bar, they forcibly take him to a waiting car and drive
him to the private home of Lester Townsend in Glen Cove. There he
is met by the suave Phillip Vandamm, who Roger believes is Townsend.
Vandamm dismisses Roger’s claim that he is not Kaplan and urges him to
reveal the information he wants. When Roger continues to deny
being Kaplan, Vandamm directs his secretary, Leonard, to handle the
situation. Leonard forces Roger to drink an entire bottle of
bourbon then places him behind the wheel of a car on a mountain road.
Roger revives and, although completely befuddled by the liquor, drives
erratically down the hill until he is picked up by police.
At court the next day, Roger and his lawyer describe his
abduction and near murder, prompting the judge to order an investigation
by county detectives. In the company of his mother and the
detectives, Roger returns to the Townsend home, but there is no sign of
the kidnapping incident. A woman claiming to be Mrs. Townsend
indicates Roger attended a party at the house the previous evening and
reveals that Townsend is at the United Nations addressing the General
Assembly.
Roger and his mother return to The Plaza hotel in search
of Kaplan. In Kaplan’s room, Roger finds a newspaper photograph of
Vandamm who he still believes is Townsend, but is forced to flee when he
realizes Valerian and Licht have followed him. At the U.N., Roger
requests to see Townsend, but is confused when man he meets is not the
man he met at Townsend’s house. Perplexed, Roger is about to show
Townsend the newspaper photo he found in Kaplan’s room when Townsend is
struck in the back by a knife hurled by Valerian, who then flees.
As Townsend collapses into Roger’s arms, Roger grabs the knife in shock
and is photographed by a nearby photo journalist. Horrified, Roger
runs away.
Later that day at the U. S. Intelligence Agency, a group
of agents led by a man known as the Professor, discuss Townsend’s murder
and Roger’s involvement. The Professor and his group are
investigating Vandamm for selling government secrets and have created a
fictitious agent named George Kaplan in hopes of forcing Vandamm into
the open. When the agents wonder if they should intervene on
Roger’s behalf, the Professor refuses, declaring that despite the danger
to Roger, he is diverting attention from another agent working
undercover with Vandamm.
Meanwhile, Roger is labeled by newspapers as the U.N.
murderer. Having learned that Kaplan has checked out of the hotel
and is heading for Chicago, Roger sneaks aboard the Twentieth Century
Limited. On board Roger meets an attractive blonde, Eve Kendall,
who misdirects the police while he hides. Roger evades the
conductors after the train gets underway, then visits the dining car
where he is seated with Eve. Roger and Eve flirt with one another
when she admits to tipping the waiter to seat Roger with her, but she
also reveals to having seen the newspaper coverage accusing Roger of
Townsend’s murder. When the train makes an unscheduled stop to
allow two police detectives to board, Eve offers to hide Roger in her
compartment overnight. Unknown to Roger, Eve is an associate of
Vandamm, who is also onboard the train with Leonard.
Upon arriving in Chicago the next morning, Roger
disguises himself as a porter and escorts Eve off the train.
Having concluded that Kaplan can lead him to Vandamm, Roger intends to
meet Kaplan, and Eve offers to make the arrangements so that Roger might
maintain a low profile. After Roger changes clothes he meets Eve,
who claims she has contacted Kaplan at the hotel and received explicit
directions for their meeting. Roger follows Eve’s directions and,
by mid-afternoon, waits for Kaplan alongside a deserted road in the
middle of empty farm fields where a crop duster works in the distance.
After several cars go by without stopping, the crop duster abruptly
turns towards Roger and, to his amazement, makes several attacking
passes at him. Roger seeks refuge in a cornfield, but the plane
dusts the field with a chemical powder, forcing Roger back into the
open. Spotting an oncoming tanker truck, Roger desperately flags
it down and stands directly in its path, forcing the tanker to stop.
Still pursuing Roger, the plane swoops down at him and smashes into the
tanker.
When passersby stop to gape at the scene, Roger steals a
pickup and drives back to Kaplan’s Chicago hotel. There he is
stunned to learn that Kaplan checked out before Eve’s purported
conversation with him from the train station. Moments later, Roger
spots Eve in the lobby and follows her to her room where she is startled
to see him. Insisting that they cannot get involved with each
other, Eve demands that Roger depart.
Later, Roger follows Eve to an auction at an art gallery
where she joins Vandamm and Leonard. Roger angrily confronts them,
hurt over Eve’s betrayal. Vandamm and Leonard scoff at Roger’s
indignation, then bid on and win a small Mexican Tarascan Warrior
figure, unaware of the Professor’s presence in the bidding audience.
When Valerian and Leonard block the exits, Roger creates a scene,
starting a fight in order to get himself arrested. The patrolmen
report Roger’s seizure and are instructed to take him to the airport
where he is met by the Professor, who explains about the fictitious
Kaplan and the need to capture Vandamm with incriminating evidence
before he departs the country from his ranch in South Dakota.
Roger refuses the Professor’s request to continue posing as Kaplan until
the Professor admits that Eve is their inside operative, and that she is
now in grave danger of being exposed unless they can convince Vandamm of
her loyalty.
Upon arriving in Rapid City, Roger sets up a meeting with
Vandamm at the cafeteria of the Mount Rushmore memorial and stages an
argument with Eve, climaxing in her shooting him with blanks. With
Vandamm and Leonard convinced that Roger is critically wounded, the
Professor takes Roger to meet Eve secretly and the two apologize to each
other for their misunderstandings. Roger is dismayed, however,
when Eve discloses that she must accompany Vandamm out of the country
that night. The Professor allows Eve to return to Vandamm and
places Roger in protective custody at a hospital.
That night, Roger escapes and takes a cab to Vandamm’s
ranch, beside which a small airplane runway is lit. Roger hides
near an open window where he overhears Leonard and Vandamm discussing
the secret microfilm hidden in the warrior figure. Leonard then
tells Vandamm that his long suspicion of Eve has been justified and
demonstrates that Eve’s gun is filled with blanks. Deeply angered,
Vandamm tells Leonard he will get rid of Eve during their flight that
night. Alarmed, Roger climbs up the side of the house to warn Eve,
but she leaves her room before he can talk to her. Writing a
warning message on a matchbook bearing his initials, Roger then tosses
it into the living room where Eve waits with Vandamm and Leonard as
their private plane lands outside. After reading Roger’s note, Eve
meets him in her room where he tells her of the microfilm and Vandamm’s
plan to do away with her. When Eve joins Vandamm outside, Roger
attempts to sneak out of the house but is held at gunpoint by the
housekeeper.
They escape from the housekeeper, Roger steals Valerian’s
car, and he races to retrieve Eve, who has snatched the warrior figure
and fled Vandamm. Stopped by a locked gate, Roger and Eve proceed
on foot, followed by Valerian and Leonard. Realizing they are
trapped on top of Mount Rushmore, Roger and Eve start down the monument,
but Roger is attacked by Valerian and Eve tussles with Leonard.
After Roger hurls Valerian off the mountain, Leonard takes the figure
and pushes Eve down the cliff where Roger comes to her aid as she
dangles perilously on the edge of the monument. As Leonard menaces
the couple, the Professor and his men come to the rescue, killing
Leonard and arresting Vandamm in the process. Roger and Eve return
to New York as man and wife, sentimentally taking the train. |
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