09/29/10 - Psycho

Psycho (1960, 109 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/

This is without a doubt the most popular movie I have never seen. I decide to do a double feature with this and Vertigo just so I can get some more Hitchcock viewings in before I start Thriller October. Get me in the mood and all that. As an aside, I think It's a Wonderful Life or Citizen Kane will now take the spot as most popular movie that I haven't seen.

Psycho has a pretty small cast and it's been talked about so much that the plot is already pretty much known. The film first follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) after she runs away after stealing some money. She ends up at the Bates Motel where Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) murders her. This leads to a search party where Det. Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam) also dies. Eventually Bates is caught with the help of Marion's lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) and her sister Lila Crane (Vera Miles).

The sad thing about Psycho is that I already knew the twist and reveal thanks to overexposure of the film. I'm also to blame for this though as it's taken me way too long to finally get around to seeing this classic. Anyway, in a way it was beneficial because I was able to focus on other things. First among these was how incredible the tension is in Psycho. And what's important here is that it's in the mundane things. Simple things like buying a car or having a conversation over dinner are so chilling to watch. Scenes like this is where Hitchcock gets the nickname of Master of Suspense. I think the dinner conversation was my favorite as it started off somewhat innocently but with an uneasy feeling which gradually progressed and heightened as the participants got more and more agitated. Obviously, we were never supposed to feel comfortable here and Hitchcock did a great job at capturing this. Next, knowing the reveal at the end allowed me to focus more on Perkins and his dialogue. There's the famous line of a "A boy's best friend is his mother" but there's also so much more. It's the mannerisms that made me love the acting of Perkins as Norman Bates. His jaw twitches the more nervous he gets. This little touch is simply mind-blowing. This inner psychological struggle of Bates is shown so well and Perkins's little acting touches are what does it for me.

One thing that Psycho does that probably no other film does (or at least didn't at the time) is that it kills off the "main" character so quickly. Marion is dead before the 50 minute mark in a movie clocking in at 109. I can't imagine how much this shocked 1960s viewers. It wasn't so surprising to me (again, I sadly knew most of the plot) but it's such a crazy twist. The movie until this point has completely been different from what it will be in final half. Overall I think this works really well as it makes the viewer more confused as to what all is going on along with upping the tension and suspense considerably.

I'm going to put a huge amount of praise on Psycho for its characters. Everyone behaves in a realistic way. Just like I said with An American Werewolf in London earlier this month, no one does stuff that forces me as a viewer to scream at them for being so stupid. There's never even really any of these moments in Psycho. Pretty much everything goes along the way it seems it would if it were to actually occur. Sure, there's this minor thing where Bates has a split personality and that might be a little difficult to capture realistically but I mean for the most part everything works (especially given what people understood of split personalities back in 1960, I reckon). I never had to suspend my disbelief to allow for the thrill of what was going on to be present. Also, as mentioned above, I think the most amount of praise should be placed on Perkins here. His acting is simply amazing. His character has split personality and it's clear to see the character is fighting with this but it's also easy to see at various times the different personalities take hold. For example, the Norman Bates that talks to Marion Crane is a completely different Norman Bates than the one that talks to Det. Arbogast. Again, it's these things that make Psycho so enthralling and riveting.

Next, there's the music of Psycho. The shower scene is the most prominent example where the music is simply haunting as we watch Bates stab Marion to death. But it's not just the deaths in Psycho where the music is great, but all throughout. Hitchcock claimed that "33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music" and I agree that it's a significant portion, perhaps even higher. I have always maintained that having excellent music choices is fundamental to building tension and creating a quality film and Psycho just serves as another example of that.

Finally, there's the question of how Psycho really ranks compared to other thrillers that I've loved so much. Most rankings will have Psycho up there with the best of them with the majority I would say placing the film in the top five. I'll admit that Psycho is amazing and definitely up there. I'll also admit that I haven't seen enough thrillers to say that Psycho is the best or even in the top five. I mean, I've only seen two Hitchcock films. But: I will conclude by saying that Psycho lived up to my incredibly high expectations, and that's worth something.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. Psycho is on the verge of being a 10/10. It's really close. But I look at what I gave a 10/10 - stuff like The Deer Hunter, The Godfather and The Third Man - and Psycho isn't in this league. I look at what I gave a 9/10 - Alien, Chinatown, and Rear Window - and I feel Psycho belongs here.