Psycho (1960
Crisoforo Schuhmacher
Psycho is a 1960 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin), and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance.[8]
Psycho was seen as a departure from Hitchcock's previous film North by Northwest, as it was filmed on a small budget in black-and-white by the crew of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Initially, the film divided critics due to its controversial subject matter, but audience interest and outstanding box-office returns prompted a major critical re-evaluation. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Alfred Hitchcock and Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh.
Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films,[b] and is arguably his most famous and influential work.[9] It has been hailed as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars who praise its slick direction, tense atmosphere, impressive camerawork, memorable score and iconic performances. Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films,[10] and has been considered to be one of the earliest examples of the slasher film genre.
Phoenix real estate secretary Marion Crane steals $40,000 cash from her employer after hearing her boyfriend, Sam, complain that his debts are delaying their marriage. Marion sets off to drive to Sam's home in Fairvale, California, and switches cars after she encounters a suspicious policeman. A heavy rainstorm forces Marion to stop at the Bates Motel just a few miles from Fairvale. Norman Bates, the proprietor, whose Second Empire style house overlooks the motel, registers Marion (who uses an alias) and invites her to eat a light meal with him in the motel's office. When Norman returns to his house to retrieve the food, Marion hears him arguing with his mother about his desire to dine with Marion. After Norman returns, he discusses his hobby as a taxidermist, his mother's "illness", and how people have a "private trap" they want to escape. When Marion suggests that Norman should have his mother institutionalized, he becomes greatly offended. Marion decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning to return the stolen money. As she showers, a shadowy figure enters the bathroom and stabs her to death. Shortly afterward, Norman comes to check on Marion, only to discover her dead body. Horrified, he hurriedly cleans up the murder scene. Norman then puts Marion's body, her belongings, and the hidden cash in her car then sinks the car in a swamp.
Marion's sister Lila arrives in Fairvale a week later, tells Sam about the theft, and demands to know where Marion is. He denies knowing anything about her disappearance. A private investigator named Arbogast approaches them, saying that he has been hired to retrieve the money. He stops at the Bates Motel and questions Norman, whose nervous behavior and inconsistent answers arouse his suspicion. He examines the guest register and discovers from her handwriting that Marion spent a night in the motel. When Arbogast infers from Norman that Marion had spoken to his mother, he asks to speak to her, but Norman refuses to allow it. After he enters the Bates home to search for Norman's mother, the shadowy figure emerges from the bedroom and stabs him to death.
When Sam and Lila do not hear back from Arbogast, Sam goes to the motel to look for him. He sees a figure in the house who he assumes is Norman's mother. Lila and Sam alert the local sheriff, who tells them Norman's mother died in a murder-suicide, by strychnine poisoning, ten years earlier. The sheriff suggests that Arbogast lied to Sam and Lila so he could pursue Marion and the money. Convinced that something happened to Arbogast, Lila and Sam drive to the motel. Sam distracts Norman in the office while Lila sneaks into the house. Suspicious, Norman becomes agitated and knocks Sam unconscious. As he goes to the house, Lila hides in the fruit cellar, where she discovers the mummified body of Norman's mother. Lila screams in horror, and Norman, wearing women's clothes and a wig, enters the cellar and tries to stab her. Sam appears and subdues him.
At the police station, a psychiatrist explains that Norman killed his mother and her lover ten years earlier out of jealousy. Unable to bear the guilt, he mummified his mother's corpse and began treating it as if she were still alive. He recreated his mother as an alternate personality, as jealous and possessive towards Norman as he felt about his mother. Whenever Norman is attracted to a woman, "Mother" takes over. He had killed two women before he killed Marion and Arbogast. The psychiatrist concludes that "Mother" has now submerged Norman's personality. Norman sits in a jail cell and hears his mother's voice saying the murders were all his doing. Marion's car, which contains her remains and the stolen money, is retrieved from the swamp.
Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, and Jeanette Nolan make uncredited appearances as the voice of Norma "Mother" Bates. The three voices were used interchangeably, except for the last speech, which was performed by Gregg.[13]
Psycho is based on Robert Bloch's 1959 novel of the same name, loosely inspired by the case of convicted Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein.[14] Both Gein, who lived only 40 miles (64 km) from Bloch, and the story's protagonist Norman Bates, were solitary murderers in isolated rural locations. Each had deceased, domineering mothers, had sealed off a room in their home as a shrine to them, and dressed in women's clothes. Gein was apprehended after killing only twice.[15][16]
Peggy Robertson, Hitchcock's long-time assistant, read Anthony Boucher's positive review of the novel in his "Criminals at Large" column in The New York Times and decided to show the book to her employer; however, studio readers at Paramount Pictures had already rejected its premise for a film.[17] Hitchcock acquired rights to the novel for $9,500[18] and reportedly ordered Robertson to buy all copies to preserve the novel's surprises.[17] Hitchcock, who had come to face genre competitors whose works were critically compared to his own, was seeking new material to recover from two aborted projects with Paramount: Flamingo Feather and No Bail for the Judge. He disliked stars' salary demands and trusted only a few people to choose prospective material, including Robertson.[19]
Paramount executives balked at Hitchcock's proposal and refused to provide his usual budget.[20] In response, Hitchcock offered to film Psycho quickly and cheaply in black and white using his Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series crew. Paramount executives rejected this cost-conscious approach, claiming their sound stages were booked, but the industry was in a slump. Hitchcock countered that he personally would finance the project and film it at Universal-International using his Shamley Productions crew if Paramount would distribute. In lieu of his usual $250,000 director's fee, he proposed a 60% stake in the film negative. This combined offer was accepted, and Hitchcock went ahead in spite of naysaying from producer Herbert Coleman and Shamley Productions executive Joan Harrison.[21]
James P. Cavanagh, a writer on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, wrote the first draft of the screenplay.[22] Hitchcock felt the script dragged and read like a television short horror story,[23] an assessment shared by an assistant.[22] Although Joseph Stefano had worked on only one film before, Hitchcock agreed to meet with him; despite Stefano's inexperience, the meeting went well and he was hired.[22]
He likewise mentions the absence of a hotel tryst between Marion and Sam in the novel. For Stefano, the conversation between Marion and Norman in the hotel parlor in which she displays maternal sympathy towards him makes it possible for the audience to switch their sympathies towards Norman Bates after Marion's murder.[27] When Lila Crane is looking through Norman's room in the film, she opens a book with a blank cover whose contents are unseen; in the novel, these are "pathologically pornographic" illustrations. Stefano wanted to give the audience "indications that something was quite wrong, but it could not be spelled out or overdone."[27] In his book of conversations with Hitchcock, Franois Truffaut says the novel "cheats" by having extended conversations between Norman and "Mother" and stating what Mother is "doing" at various given moments.[28]
The first name of the female protagonist was changed from Mary to Marion because a real Mary Crane existed in Phoenix.[29] Also changed is the novel's budding romance between Sam and Lila. Hitchcock preferred to focus the audience's attention on the solution to the mystery,[30] and Stefano thought such a relationship would make Sam Loomis seem cheap.[27] Instead of having Sam explain Norman's pathology to Lila, the film uses a psychiatrist.[31] Stefano was in therapy dealing with his relationship with his own mother while writing the script.[32] The novel is more violent than the film: Marion is beheaded in the shower rather than being stabbed to death.[22] Minor changes include changing Marion's telltale earring found after her death to a scrap of paper that failed to flush down the toilet. This provided some shock effect because toilets almost were never seen in American cinema in the 1960s.[33] The location of Arbogast's death was moved from the foyer to the stairwell. Stefano thought this would make it easier to conceal the truth about "Mother" without tipping that something was being hidden.[34] As Janet Leigh put it, this gave Hitchcock more options for his camera.[31]
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