MOVIE OF THE WEEK: PSYCHO

Psycho (Not Rated)

1960

109 Minutes

Widescreen: 1.85:1

The first time I ever watched “Psycho” was on a vacation with my Dad. We were at a nice hotel with a TV in the room big enough for a small family to eat dinner on. A DVD player was hooked up and ready to go, so after dinner we stopped by the video rental and picked up some flicks. That year I’d been trying to see as many movies as I could from the AFI’s Top 100 Films List, so I was hungry for some horror when I saw the 1960 classic sitting on the shelf. As soon as we got back to the room, I popped that baby in. At 10 o’clock. At night. In the dark. In a big room. With thick shades across the windows.

As a Hitchcock fan, I knew all I could about the movie already, so the first 45 minutes went by as expected. You know, the affair, the money, the motel, and the shower. But after that, I was in no man’s land, and three scenes scared the ever-living crap out of me. I shouldn’t really say “scare,” because I don’t get scared at the movies, but let’s just say I was very paranoid through the night.

Movies like this are ageless, but I think what keeps “Psycho” alive is the reputation it has. The shower scene has been mimicked hundreds of times, Bernard Herrman’s music is like ice picks on a treble clef, and Anthony Perkins is the quintessential creep. Judging from that and more, it’s been called the most frightening of films by the AFI. But I think some viewers will be disappointed by it. There are four scary scenes, and most people are going to expect non-stop chills. But that’s why it’s so great. It’s not scary throughout, it’s suspenseful. Hitchcock knew how to get the audience’s attention and it wasn’t by having something jump at you every twenty seconds. It was having you wait when you knew something scary was about to happen. And unlike today’s horror, “Psycho” has a brain.

The film starts in Phoenix in a hotel room on a warm day in December (it’s hot over there). Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin) have had some afternoon fun and now they’re going home. She’s tired of sneaking around and is ready to get married, but lots of things are keeping that from happening – mostly money. So, later at work, she steals an envelope full of $40,000 from a weasely rich guy who “buys happiness.” Then she hightails it out of town to find Sam and get married.

On the way, the weather gets so bad she has to stop at a little motel run by Norman Bates (Perkins). It’s kind of hidden from the rest of the world and he seems very strange. Just the kind of place you want to stop at late at night. There’s also a tall family house next to the cabins where Norman’s mother rocks in the window all the time, watching things. He brings Marion some dinner and she can hear mother yelling at him from across the yard. When they sit down to eat in the office, they have a conversation which unfortunately leads to the topic of the old bag in the windowsill.

Norman looks upset by the fussing and Marion suggests he put her in a home. He doesn’t take that very well but keeps his composure. But in the next scene, somebody breaks into the bathroom and murders Marion. I won’t say who or who it looked like. Rent it and find out for yourself, then watch the rest of the movie and relish the surprise as I did at my first viewing. The villain has a purpose for his killing, and a strange one at that.

Hitchcock knew how to start a movie and then turn the storyline into something else. He called it a MacGuffin and the shower scene is his most famous. But watch carefully before Marion gets to the motel. Miniature Macguffins are made with the use of a cop, a used car dealership, and more. It’s just another way to keep you on the edge of your seat and it’s been working for 48 years.

Grade: A

And that's why "Psycho" is the Movie of the Week.

P.S. As always, here's the film's trailer: