DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by: Joseph Stefano based on Psycho by Robert Bloch
Cinematography: John L. Russell
Edited by: George Tomasini
Original Score: Bernard Herrmann
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Starring: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam
Hitchcock submitted Joseph Stefano’s screenplay first, which, not surprisingly, got a litany of objections from the Hays Office. He then shot the film VERY precisely, using editing, sound and montage so that almost nothing explicit was TECHNICALLY on screen. The blood swirling counter-clockwise down the drain from Janet Leigh’s lifeless body was chocolate sauce!
PSYCHO IS ONE OF HITCHCOCK’S SEVEN PERFECT FILMS.
During a Friday afternoon affair in a Phoenix hotel, real estate secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) discuss their inability to get married because of Sam’s debts. Marion returns to work, steals $40,000, and drives to Sam’s home in Fairvale, California. She stops for the night at the Bates Motel, located off the main highway during a heavy rainstorm, and hides the stolen money inside a newspaper. Proprietor Norman Bates(Anthony Perkins) descends from a large house overlooking the motel, registers Marion under an alias, and invites her to dine with him. After Norman returns to his house, Marion overhears him arguing with his mother about his wish to dine with Marion. Marion decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning to return the stolen money. As she showers, a shadowy figure appears and stabs her to death. Norman cleans up the murder scene, putting Marion’s body, her belongings, and the hidden cash in her car, and sinks it in a swamp.
IN THE FINAL SCENE, HITCHCOCK HAS PERKINS BREAK THE FORTH WALL.
Hitchcock assembled a small crew from his TV series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, to film the movie. The most notable change was cinematographer John L. Russell handling the film’s striking black-and-white lensing, a task previously handled by Hitchcock regular Robert Burks. However, Hitchcock regulars George Tomasini, Bernard Herrmann, and Saul Bass remained in post-production. Their contributions to the editing, score, and title sequence, respectively, are all essential to the film’s success.
Never was Hitchcock’s ability to manipulate an audience’s sympathies more evident than in the car in the pond scene. Within just a few minutes of her horrific death, we have forgotten about Janet Leigh. We are now rooting for her killer, Anthony Perkins, and we all breathe a massive sigh of relief when, after a gut-wrenching pause, the car containing Janet’s body (and the $40,000) finally goes under the water.
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same time, ending his career in Hollywood. With this fearless performance, he had crossed a line, and there was no way back.
