A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer’s client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.
Fellow nerds, it’s my pleasure to introduce the infamous character that is Norman Bates. I’m kind of at a loss here, how do you talk about such a classic without sounding like a drooling fanatic, oh well I apologise in advance if this comes out that way.
Anthony Perkins is fantastic in this film, easily one of the best on screen performances in my opinion. He brings so much to the character of Norman Bates. Same goes for Janet Leigh who plays her role of Marion Crane to a tee. Both deserve the high praise they received for their performances.
Alfred Hitchcock was a master of his craft and that is clearly evident here, he threw everything he had in-to his films and made sure the rest of the cast and crew did too. A true genius in the world of film-making and a great motivator. You can feel the camaraderie amongst the cast and crew shine through on screen and you have to give credit to Mr. Hitchcock for that
The film is part of the establishment of the Horror genre, some say it helped give birth to the slasher genre. The one thing you can say is that it’s a great definition of a classic and is still counted amongst the greats over 60 years after it’s release. If there was ever a film I wanted to see on a big screen this is it, I’d love to have been alive when this was first released just for that experience.
I’ll be honest with you here, I really don’t know what to write, how do sum up a review for this film, it’s a serious challenge so I figure the best thing to do is leave you in the hands of Mr. Hitchcock to take you on a tour of the Bates
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for only US$9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret.
One of the reasons Alfred Hitchcock shot the movie in black and white was he thought it would be too gory in color. But the main reason was that he wanted to make the film as inexpensively as possible (800,000 ). He also wondered if so many bad, inexpensively made, b/w “B” movies did so well at the box office, what would happen if a really good, inexpensively made, b/w movie was made.
This was Alfred Hitchcock’s last feature film in black and white.
Janet Leigh has said that when he cast her, Alfred Hitchcock gave her the following charter: “I hired you because you are an actress! I will only direct you if A: you attempt to take more than your share of the pie, B: you don’t take enough, or C: if you are having trouble motivating the necessary timed movement.”
Alfred Hitchcock produced this film when plans to make a film starring Audrey Hepburn, called “No Bail for the Judge,” fell through.
Walt Disney refused to allow Alfred Hitchcock to film at Disneyland in the early 1960s because Hitchcock had made “that disgusting movie, ‘Psycho’.”
This was Alfred Hitchcock’s last film for Paramount. By the time principal photography started, Hitchcock had moved his offices to Universal and the film was actually shot on Universal’s back lot. Universal owns the film today as well, even though the Paramount Pictures logo is still on the film.
According to Stephen Rebello, author of “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho”, Alfred Hitchcock was displeased with the performance of John Gavin who played Sam Loomis in the film and referred to the actor as ‘the stiff’.
In the opening scene, Marion Crane is wearing a white bra because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to show her as being “angelic”. After she has taken the money, the following scene has her in a black bra because now she has done something wrong and evil. Similarly, before she steals the money, she has a white purse; after she’s stolen the money, her purse is black.
Vera Miles wore a wig for her role as she had to shave her head for a role in the film 5 Branded Women.
Joseph Stefano was adamant about seeing a toilet on-screen to display realism. He also wanted to see it flush. Alfred Hitchcock told him he had to “make it so” through his writing if he wanted to see it. Stefano wrote the scene in which Marion adds up the money, then flushes the paper down the toilet specifically so the toilet flushing was integral to the scene and therefore irremovable, it would be the first American film ever to show a toilet flushing on screen.
The movie in large part was made because Alfred Hitchcock was fed up with the big-budget, star-studded movies he had recently been making and wanted to experiment with the more efficient, sparser style of television filmmaking. Indeed, he ultimately used a crew consisting mostly of TV veterans and hired actors less well known than those he usually used.
Parts of the house were built by cannibalizing several stock-unit sections including a tower from the house in Harvey. The house was the most expensive set of the picture but came to a mere US$15,000.
According to Janet Leigh, wardrobe worn by her character Marion Crane was not custom made for her, but rather purchased “off the rack” from ordinary clothing stores. Alfred Hitchcock wanted women viewers to identify with the character by having her wear clothes that an ordinary secretary could afford, and thus add to the mystique of realism.
When the cast and crew began work on the first day they had to raise their right hands and promise not to divulge one word of the story. Alfred Hitchcock also withheld the ending part of the script from his cast until he needed to shoot it.
In order to implicate viewers as fellow voyeurs Alfred Hitchcock used a 50 mm lens on his 35 mm camera. This gives the closest approximation to the human vision. In the scenes where Norman is spying on Marion this effect is felt.
To ensure the people were in the theaters at the start of the film (rather than walking in part way through) the studio provided a record to play in the foyer of the theaters. The album featured background music, occasionally interrupted by a voice saying “Ten minutes to Psycho time,” “Five minutes to Psycho time,” and so on.
Anthony Perkins was paid US$40,000 dollars for his role, which is exactly the same amount of money that Marion Crane embezzles.
A false story has circulated that George Reeves was hired to play detective Milton Arbogast and filmed a few of his scenes with the rest of the cast just a week before his death. There is no truth to this rumor whatsoever. Reeves died on June 16, 1959, almost two months before Alfred Hitchcock decided to make a film of “Psycho” and exactly one year before the June 16, 1960 date when the film had its world premiere in New York.
Alfred Hitchcock deferred his standard $250,000 salary in lieu of 60% of the film’s net profits. His personal earnings from the film exceeded $15 million. Adjusted for inflation, that amount would now top $150 million.
“Psycho” was first scheduled to air on U.S. network TV in the fall of 1966. Just before it would have aired, however, Valerie Percy, the daughter of then U.S. Senate candidate Charles H. Percy (U.S. Senator, R-Illinois: 1967 – 85), was stabbed to death, apparently by an intruder, in a murder that, as of 2011, remains unsolved. It was deemed prudent, under the circumstances, to postpone the scheduled airing. Ultimately, the film was not shown on U.S. network TV until 1970, following a highly successful theatrical re-release the previous year. At that time, Universal released it on the syndication market, where it quickly became a popular staple on local late night horror film showings.
Every theater that showed the film had a cardboard cut-out installed in the lobby of Alfred Hitchcock pointing to his wristwatch with a note from the director saying “The manager of this theatre has been instructed at the risk of his life, not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts. Any spurious attempts to enter by side doors, fire escapes or ventilating shafts will be met by force. The entire objective of this extraordinary policy, of course, is to help you enjoy PSYCHO more. Alfred Hitchcock”
The shower scene has over 90 splices in it, and did not involve Anthony Perkins at all. Contrary to popular belief it wasn’t due to a scheduling conflict Perkins had for the Broadway musical ‘Greenville’ but actually a deliberate decision on Alfred Hitchcock’s part. On this subject Perkins states “Hitchcock was very worried that the dual role and nature of Norman Bates would be exposed if I were to appear in that scene. I think it was the recognizability of my silhouette, which is rather slim and broad in the shoulder. That worried him.”
Alfred Hitchcock was so pleased with the score written by Bernard Herrmann that he doubled the composer’s salary to $34,501. Hitchcock later said, “33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.”
In the murder scene in the shower, there are two split second frames of the knife touching the body
There are several references to birds in this film : Marion’s surname is Crane, Norman’s hobby is stuffing birds and he states that Marion eats like a bird. Coincidentally Alfred Hitchcock’s next film was The Birds
Although Janet Leigh was not bothered by the filming of the famous shower scene, seeing it on film profoundly moved her. She later remarked that it made her realize how vulnerable a woman was in a shower. To the end of her life, she always took baths.
Universal gave Hitchcock a very small budget to work with, because of their distaste with the source material. They also deferred most of the net profits to Hitchcock, thinking the film would fail. When it became a hit, Hitchcock made a fortune.
Although Norman Bates typecasted Anthony Perkins, he said he still would have taken the role, even if he knew the character would dog his career.
Janet Leigh received threatening letters after the film’s release, detailing what they would like to do to Marion Crane. One was so grotesque she passed it on to the FBI. The culprits were discovered, and the FBI said she should notify them again if she ever received anymore letters.
Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh were allowed to improvise their roles. E.g. Norman’s habit of munching on candy corn.
Alfred Hitchcock tested the fear factor of Mother’s corpse by placing it in Janet Leigh’s dressing room and listening to how loud she screamed when she discovered it there.
