The Unforgettable Thriller That Harlan Coben Called a “Major Influence” Is Officially Streaming
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train is now streaming free on Tubi. The article highlights the film as a major influence on crime writer Harlan Coben, whose suspense stories similarly place ordinary people in dangerous situations after chance encounters.
The film follows tennis player Guy, who meets the sinister Bruno on a train and is drawn into Bruno’s proposed exchange of murders after Guy’s estranged wife is killed. Coben called it his favourite thriller, citing its iconic chance meeting and acknowledging Hitchcock’s influence; he also said a tennis sequence in Netflix’s Stay Close deliberately paid homage to the film.
- Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train is streaming free on Tubi.
- Harlan Coben calls it his favourite thriller.
- Its premise helped shape Coben’s suspenseful storytelling.
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Alfred Hitchcock was a British film director whose thrillers helped shape modern suspense cinema. Strangers on a Train, released in 1951 and based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, is one of his best-known films and explores how an ordinary encounter can turn dangerous.
The story centres on Guy Haines, a tennis player with personal problems, and Bruno Antony, a stranger he meets while travelling. Bruno suggests that each man should kill someone the other wants rid of, believing this would leave no obvious motive for police to follow.
Harlan Coben is an American writer known for crime and suspense novels, many of which have been adapted for television, including by Netflix. His work often uses everyday settings, chance meetings and hidden secrets, which are also central features of Hitchcock’s film.