Although civic and religious groups in some states objected to the explicit murder scene and the implicit homosexuality in the relationship between the male leads, critics and audiences loved Strangers on a Train and made it a hit.
The box office success was boosted by personal appearances by Hitchcock and his daughter Pat, who traveled extensively to promote the film. He went to all 12 cities where it opened between late June and early July 1951, and she represented him at the New York premiere July 3.
Strangers on a Train was re-released by Warner Bros. in 1957 and again did well at the box office.
"Given a good basis for a thriller in the Patricia Highsmith novel and a first-rate script, Hitchcock embroiders the plot into a gripping, palm-sweating piece of suspense." - Variety, 1951
"Perhaps there will be those in the audience who will likewise be terrified by the villain's darkly menacing warnings and by Mr. Hitchcock's sleekly melodramatic tricks. Certainly, Mr. Hitchcock is the fellow who can pour on the pictorial stuff and toss what are known as 'touches' until they're flying all over the screen. From the slow, stalking murder of a loose girl in a tawdry amusement park to a 'chase' and eventual calamity aboard a runaway merry-go-round, the nimble director keeps piling 'touch' and stunt upon 'touch.' Indeed, his desire to produce them appears his main impulse in this film." - Bosley Crowther, New York Times, July 4, 1951
"One of the most remarkable aspects of the picture is the bold manipulation of time, the way in which it is contracted and dilated. - That dramatic play with time is really stunning." - Francois Truffaut, “Hitchcock”
"As I see it, the flaws of Strangers on a Train were the ineffectiveness of the two main actors and the weakness of the final script. If the writing of the dialogue had been better, we'd have had stronger characterizations. The great problem with this type of picture, you see, is that your main characters sometimes tend to become mere figures." - Alfred Hitchcock, “Hitchcock,” by Francois Truffaut
"The power of the story - adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith–lies in its simplicity, and Hitchcock piles on the sinister layers as only he can." - Emma Cochrane, “Empire Magazine,” June 1, 2001
Additionally, this film has received the following awards and/or honors:
Strangers on a Train received an Academy Award nomination for Best Black-and-White Cinematography.
