Hitchcock Review: Psycho

Popped this one into the old VCR tonight. Only Hitchcock can create a roller coaster of suspense throughout a movie. This director makes a seeminginly simple thing like a police car following the starring character to be the scariest thing ever. Nothing ever comes of it. The police car pulls off. The roller coaster ride goes up and barely ever comes down.

But when that roller coaster does come down, he makes the moment one of the most memorable of all the cinema. The shower scene.

The greatest thing about this movie from 1960 is the switch. It starts with a woman (Janet Leigh) who up and decides to steal from her boss of ten years and run away to be with the man she loves, who just happens to be married. At first, we don't even think she is stealing the money. We realize it after we see her driving on for a while. The main focus switches because for what seems to be the only time in the movies, the main character that we started the movie with and stayed with for at least 40 minutes gets killed. Our heroine gets killed. How many times have we said to ourselves that it would be a really short movie if the good guy got killed off so early. It happens here.

The fact that it is a psychopath is even more interesting. We don't know anything about Norman Bates other than the fact that he is a hen-pecked son, or thinks he is. Hitchcock sells the multiple personalities quite well. Repeated viewings show Norman Bates never lies when he is talking to the woman. In fact, he tells more than he should. "She's [mother] as harmless as one of those stuffed birds," Norman Bates tells the recent guest of his hotel. He is telling the truth as we find out later. I didn't think they were one and the same person until the end and I don't know how anyone could tell.

I'm not going to say that every frame is perfectly brilliant. I think that the ending explanation is a tad long and drawn out. I think this may have been necessary to moviegoers in 1960 who have not been bombarded by Sybils and other examples of multiple personalities like Ed Norton's character in Primal Fear over and over again in the 45 years since. Take it as a fascinating roller coaster trip that does not let up. Hell, when you watch Norman clean up the shower after his mother's atrocious deed, it is still suspensful. It is a remarkable journey that will always be placed near the top of the list of a movie devotee's favorites.

Interesting fact: Know what won Best Picture for 1960? The Apartment starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and directed by Billy Wilder. I've never heard of it before tonight. Wilder won Best Director that year too. I'm going to have to rent that one on Netflix to see what the Academy was thinking there.