Alfred Hitchcock's final film was adapted from
Victor Canning's novel The Rainbird Pattern by
Ernest Lehman, who previously wrote the screenplay for Hitchcock's
North by Northwest.
Barbara Harris plays Blanche, a phony psychic, hired by wealthy Julia Rainbird (
Cathleen Nesbitt) to trace the whereabouts of her nephew, who'd been given up for adoption years earlier and who is now heir to a fortune. Blanche's cohort is "investigator" Lumley (
Bruce Dern), who is fully prepared to milk the last dollar out of Julia before locating the long-lost nephew. Meanwhile, we are introduced to elegant kidnappers Adamson and Fran (
William Devane and
Karen Black). The fates of the two couples are inextricably intertwined by the search for the missing heir. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide