Psycho [1960 film]

Marion Crane, a real estate secretary, has a secret relationship with her boyfriend Sam. She wants to get married, but he's too concerned about his debts and general lack of money...so when Marion is handed an envelope with $40,000 at work and told to immediately deposit it at the bank, she instead decides at the spur-of-the-moment to steal the money for her and Sam.

Increasingly concerned about the amount of attention she's getting from a cop, Marion ends up at the Bates Motel off the main highway. The proprietor, Norman Bates, seems a little odd and awkward, but Marion feels sympathetic towards him when she overhears Norman's mother berating her for wanting to allow Marion over for dinner. Now that she's had some time to think, Marion show more is reconsidering her decision to steal the money. Unfortunately, the Bates Motel was the wrong place to stop for the night.

I had never previously seen this, although cultural osmosis meant that I already knew about the twist ending, and I'd seen stills of the shower scene before. Although aspects of it haven't aged well, this was still worth watching.

Marion and Sam didn't work at all for me as a couple, and her sudden decision to steal the $40,000 immediately came across as a giant, stupid mistake. Buying a different car as the suspicious cop watched didn't really help - she was doomed to failure, one way or another. But her increasing tension and fear were believable, and I liked the way the creepiness of the cop made Norman Bates seem safer by comparison. Of course, I already knew that wasn't going to be the case, but as it turns out, I've never seen the outcome of the shower scene, so that was still a bit of a shock.

Anthony Perkins was excellent as Norman, shifting effortlessly between shy and kind of pitiful to something darker and more ominous. Unfortunately, the ending was one of those things that hasn't aged well. The big reveal wasn't so much shocking and scary as it was unintentionally funny, and the psychologist's monologue at the end was dated and came across as extremely insensitive - he treated this case like a fascinating puzzle, laying out all the pieces, apparently unbothered by the fact that he was talking to, among others, the victim's sister and boyfriend.

Extras:

Trailers, production photographs, behind-the-scenes photographs, storyboards for the shower scene, some behind-the-scenes info on the shower scene, and more. Nothing as helpful as the extras on the Dial "M" for Murder DVD I watched, although I appreciated the info on the shower scene. It sounded like Hitchcock went out of his way to make sure that filming the scene wouldn't be distressing for anyone involved, although the end result had to look violent.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

A secretary runs off with stolen cash and ends up at an isolated motel.

Knowing what's going to happen ruins most of the suspense, but it's still awesome.

Concept: C
Story: A
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: A

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 3.2/4

Acting: 5.0; Theme: 5.0; Content: 4.0; Language: 5.0; Overall: 5.0

An attractive woman decides to steal a large sum of money from the bank that she works at and leave town. When she decides to stay at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, her horror begins. Classic Hitchcockian thriller. Highly recommend.

***June 10, 2024***

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks, and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday, Marion is trusted to bank forty thousand dollars by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Senarathne Weerasinghe

Edward Hopper's eerie 1925 painting, House by the Railroad later inspired Norman Bates' 1960 Psycho house, which later inspired Cornelia Parker’s 2016 PsychoBarn, all of which inspired this review! ;-) The impact Psycho has had on modern film is taken for granted. It changed all the rules about filmmaking, not just horror. Outside of being a cultural landmark, it's essentially a perfect movie: the score, the acting, the framing - everything comes together here.

Marion Crane, una joven secretaria, tras cometer el robo de un dinero en su empresa, huye de la ciudad y, después de conducir durante horas, decide descansar en un pequeño y apartado motel de carretera regentado por un tímido joven llamado Norman Bates, que vive en la casa de al lado con su madre.