Rear Window Freedom and Confinement Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Rear Window.

Quote #4

STELLA: You'd think the rain would've cooled things down. All it did was make the heat wet.

Heat plays an interesting role in the movie, specifically in terms of confinement. Remember, air conditioning wasn't something a lot of people had in their homes in 1954, and with New York's heat hitting triple digits, it's apt to make everyone feel really trapped and stir crazy. We don't see a single air conditioner in any of the windows Jeff looks at. Small wonder someone pops and kills a spouse every now and again.

Quote #5

LISA: According to you, people should be born, live, and die in the same place.

Here, Lisa turns Jeff's logic about freedom and confinement against him. She's happy to let him go all over the world, as long as she's with him. He seems to be condemning her to a life stuck in New York just because of his assumptions about what she can and can't deal with.

Quote #6

LISA: I wonder where he's going now?

JEFF: I don't know.

LISA: Suppose he doesn't come back again?

JEFF: He will. All his things are still piled on the bed.

Jeff is not the only one bound to his apartment. Thorwald is trying to get out and away from the scene of the crime as quickly as possible … and he can't look suspicious while doing so. He has to take it slow, leaving him stuck there until he can get away without raising suspicion.