Rear Window( 1998 ) is an American television movie directed by Jeff Bleckner . The teleplay by Larry Gross and Eric Overmyer is an updated adaptation of the classic 1954 feature film directed by Alfred Hitchcock , which was based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich . It was broadcast in the US by ABC on November 22, 1998.

Quadriplegic Jason Kemp, a former architect who now uses a wheelchair, relieves the boredom of his daily existence by engaging in voyeurism , a pastime that allows him to spy on his neighbors from the rear window of his apartment. When he witnesses sculptor Julian Thorpe viciously beat his wife Ilene, he reports the incident to 911 and the police remove him from his home. Thorpe is released the following day, and that night Jason Kemp hears a blood-curdling scream from the courtyard. From that moment on, Ilene is missing from her apartment, apparently replaced by another woman. Jason, certain she was murdered by her husband, tries to convince his girlfriend Claudia, nurse Antonio, and friend Charlie that his suspicion is true. Thorpe slowly comes to the realization that Kemp is fully aware of his crime, and engages him in a deadly game of cat and mouse in an effort to silence him forever.