While running all over the country trying to save his own life, Thornhill finds himself in some very high-profile places:

• The United Nations
• The Plaza Hotel,
• The Twentieth Century train
• Mount Rushmore National Monument.

Hitchcock loved imbuing familiar places like these with suspense and danger. Examples: he staged the climax of Saboteur at the Statue of Liberty, and he had his hero in peril at the Jefferson Memorial in Strangers on a Train.

Why the fascination with monuments? In interviews, Hitchcock said that he saw monuments as symbols of order, and he loved introducing elements of suspense and fear to allow disorder to erupt in these formidable places (source).

Oh, and that's exactly the reason that The Department of the Interior didn't want him anywhere near Mount Rushmore. They didn't want citizens thinking about mayhem when gazing on the massive stone faces of their great Presidents. Worse, they didn't want people trying to climb on the faces in imitation of the movie's action.

So how did he get past all the bureaucracy? Uh…he didn't. Check out our "Production Design" section for more on how Hitch was able to get all those shots.