Psycho (1960)

Now I understand why HItchcock was regarded as such a genius.

I'm only a half hour in, and I'm hooked. He really was a master at building suspense!

Thank you for this, OP. I like the first half best; watching it now.

Marian was quite a thieving slut!

Although for hottie Sam Loomis (actor John Gavin), I'd commit a crime too!

Yep, OP, I'm there ". . . You're not really going out again, to drive up to the diner, are you?

Marian is made of stronger stuff than I am if she can stand under the shower as she turns it on.

Well, maybe not...

She seems so different when the cop wakes her up.

Perkins was quite brilliant in this, Oscar-quality brilliant.

He'd been known for playing puppy-eyed juveniles before this, the original audiences must have been quite stunned to see him reveal the madness under Norman's sweet face.

It really is a masterwork, of which Hitchcock directed several. Anthony Perkins was always a favorite actor of mine. I had a schoolboy crush on him after seeing the film he did with Jane Fonda (same year as Psycho, I believe).

Sam Loomis was a little slut. Because he was sleeping with Marian and married to Lila in Psycho II.

The first half is brilliant; the second half sadly trails away

Bernard Herman's scrubbing violas in the car..brilliant!

Did no one in the 60s understand trespassing??

The script / dialogue is amazing: " . . . I hate the illness, what 'she' has become . . . what do you know about 'caring' . . . "

Alas! If only Perkins were cast in "Suddenly Last Summer" as 'Sebastian'!

" . . . he'd selected people to watch, as if we were selecting from a restaurant menu: . . . This one is beautiful . . . this one appears to be enticing . . . this one looks delicious . . . "

I was fortunate enough to see Anthony Perkins on Broadway in "Equus" back around 1977. He was outstanding in the role. One helluva actor.

R13, did he show dong?

Those rooms seem so cozy until you remember no a/c and years of smoking indoors.

R8 It's your lucky night! Tony Perkins for the rest of the evening!

Hitch is mean: he made Janet lie on the bathroom floor with her face straight down in front of the toilet, take after take after take.

[R14] Heavens no! Perkins played the middle-aged, self-hating psychiatrist in 'Equus'.

Perkins was never pretty in the same league as (his supposed boyfriend) Tab Hunter and he was shrivelling up into skinny, self-hating neurosis at that time.

It's so odd seeing Ted Baxter in the next-to-last scene in the movie.

Vince Vaughn captured none of Tony's brilliance when Gus Van Sant remade the movie, shot by shot.

There's a documentary out now on the making of the shower scene. . .

Andrew Garfield resembles Mr. Perkins!

For me, the best scene in the film is the sandwich dinner they have right before she takes a shower. The dialogue is great.

Political correct climate of today would make this film impossible to make or release

The hot highway patrolman that questions Marion after being found asleep in her car has me wanting him deep inside me.

Absolutely, R23. That dialogue was absolutely brilliant. So was the acting.

R25, wtf was with the cop? He was kinda stalkerish. But definitely hot. And he never took off his sunglasses, which made him even creepier.

I had no idea that Sam Loomis was also in Spartacus. I wonder if John Gavin and Perkins ever hooked up?

What was that she was eating? Norman said he was going to fix sandwiches but she was eating something with a fork.

R(14) No, he did not show dong. The person who did, however, was Academy Award nominated actor Tom Hulce. Not much to report on that front, I'm afraid.Mr. First Nighter

R27 for some reason I remember it as being French toast, but according to r23 it was sandwiches.

I agree about that scene being great by the way; it perfectly established exactly who each character was. It's also like the movie was initially trying to get the audience to fall in love with this sheepish, charming, unassuming young guy before... well you know.

The cast of the remake was so odd. It's like Van Sant just randomly picked some actors by throwing darts. But I agree that Andrew Garfield could probably be a good Norman Bates.

I didn't pay much attention when the remake came out. Why did Gus van Sant do a shot by shot remake? What point was he trying to make?

I've never screamed so much in fright as I did when I watched Psycho.

Psycho is basically two films, one ends and the other begins with the shower scene. Perkins and Leigh are terrific and both should have been recognized more awards-wise. I give Leigh a lot of credit for the entire car ride sequence: it looks fairly easy, but none of what she is doing is simple, as she has nothing to act/react to while pretending to drive in front of a blue screen. It becomes even more apparent how difficult it is when watching Anne Heche's laughable attempt to do it in the shot by shot remake.

Hitchcock acknowledged he was doing something different in this film.

The first half is cinematic. The second half is mostly talk and exposition so he chose one of his TV men to do the straightforward cinematography.

But the first half was inevitably cinematic and complex ... and ultimately very successful.

Actually, I'm pretty sure the entire film was shot using his tv crew. That was what originally intrigued him about the project in the first place: making a horror film on a low budget. The irony, is of course, that because he being forced to pare down brought forth a remarkable piece of work, arguably among his best. Compare it's relative simplicity to the excess of Vertigo and his elaborate 1950s US films, or perhaps more significantly to his follow-up to Psycho, The Birds. The Birds was Hitchcock's first film where he let the plaudits of the French and Cahiers crowd go to his head, hence, the sequences without scoring or dialgoue, aka as 'pure cinema'. The Birds is hardly terrible, but it is a mess and a lot of that has to do with Hitch getting caught up in his new found status as an 'auteur'.

My mother? Why, she’s as harmless as one of those stuffed birds.

Watched it as a kid and the scene which freaked me out the most was the one shot from above on the landing of the bates house. As the detective played by Martin balsam(? ) Is stabbed by Norman dressed as his mother.

Gus Van Sant told Entertainment Weekly he thought it would be "fun" to make a shot-by-shot remake.

And yet, it isn’t. There are many shots that vary, including one showing Vince masturbating while peeking in on Anne in the shower

A boy's best friend is his mother.

I love the subjective/objective shots of Vera Miles walking up to the Bates house.

Fuck NO r26!!!

Posters upthread are right, there is a lot of the young Tony Perkins in Andrew Garfield.

[35] [italic] I'm pretty sure the entire film was shot using his tv crew. [/italic]

Yes you're right. He used his TV crew but I'm suggesting that the complexities of the car-driving and shower scenes make them wonderfully cinematic.

[italic] The Birds ... the sequences without scoring or dialgoue, aka as 'pure cinema'. [/italic]

Hitchcock and David Lean were raised in the silent era. Hitchcock was in Germany in 1924 where 'they placed great emphasis on telling the story visually; if possible with no titles or at least with very few'.

I think Hitchcock was remarkable in that he was so willing to experiment (such as in the odd 'Lifeboat' and that bizarre 'ten-minute take' fad.)

The shot of Marian's dead face was a still photo. Notice, no water moves. The entire film was filmed in 14 days, seven of which was spent on the shower scene. Every angle in that scene is 45 degrees.

^ What do you mean— 45, 90, 135 and 180 degrees?

Saul Bass might have demanded that.

A true classic. With time, I've felt that the 2nd half does drag. It doesn't help that Perkins and Leigh are so alive, sympathetic, and interesting and Gavin and Miles are...uh...not. I mean, don't get me wrong, Gavin is sexy as fuck, but he's a horrible wooden actor. Miles always had the appearance of an angry, frumpy housewife even when she was rather young. She fared better in Psycho II when she finally got a little something interesting to play.

What's funny about the remake is that the 2nd half of the film plays better in that version due to the casting and what the actors bring to their roles. Vaughn and Heche are horrible and completely wrong for their roles, but Moore, Mortensen, and Macy are excellent.

Still, a movie like this wouldn't be made in a traditional studio setting. Killing off your biggest star 45 minutes into the movie, marketing the film in a way that shows no clips from the film, insuring that no one sneaks in after the film has begun...impossible. No one wants to take risks anymore and that's a damn shame. Hell, even the indie films I've seen in the past 5-10 years follow their own rules and aesthetics.

Norman took a wife?

PSYCHO is a masterpiece and should have gotten Hitchcock the Oscar. I was a preteen when it came out in 1960, and it was a sensation. A whole publicity thing with ads forbidding anyone to enter once the film began. It came out in 1960, and Americans has never seen anything quite like it; it's obvious from square one that it is a serious and artful film and not some cheap horror film. In addition to its near constant level of tension and suspense, the film is pretty daring for 1960, with its suggestions of sex, incest and homosexuality, and of course the daring full nudity and violence of the shower scene. You wouldn't see a woman's naked lower abdomen again until Mrs. Robinson in 1968.

It is chock full of those twisted Hitchcock psychological business: spying through a window; illicit afternoon sex with a married hunk; a near sickening fear of police and being detained by them; the bird imagery - and of course that nerve wrackingly perfect score. And although the psychiatrist's long monologue near the end is often criticized, I think to some extent concepts like transvestites needed to be explained to audiences - again, it was 1960, around the time of Christine Jorgenson, and looking back it seems pretty daring to explore this topic, along with the incest theme. And Perkins' jittery performance is so perfect.

PSYCHO is so familiar and so ingrained in our collective psyche that it is easy to take for granted and it has its shortcomings like any other film, but it is a lot of fun to watch and dissect its genius 57 years later.

R48, the sheriff's wife was played by prolific character actress Lurene Tuttle. She's a pleasure to watch in anything.

Another thing I love in the brilliant first half is the tiny scene just after the theft.

The woman in the car is stopped at the traffic lights. Her boss is walking across the street at the traffic lights. He sees her and unthinkingly smiles in recognition then you can see his brain realising that he has been lied to.

(Virginia Woolf's writing often describes those moments of unconscious behaviour)

Mrs. Norman Bates looks like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ruthy would be wonderful in the remake.

Periwinkle blue

^ What?

Vera Miles gave a stronger performance in The Wrong Man - her slow breakdown is quite effective. Hitch also wanted her for Vertigo but she was pregnant.

I wonder if Hitchcock chose Perkins because he specialised in playing in nervy neurotics or because Hitch knew about Perkins' unspoken, furtive private life of whispers and beards?

For R54.

Imitation is the sincerest form of.......

Anthony Perkins is such a handsome guy. Totally my type. And I'm like 50 years younger than him!

Whoever compared Andrew Garfield to Perkins really nailed it. I couldn't figure which modern day actor resembled Perkins, until you smarties pointed out Garfield.

Andrew would have been so perfect for a remake, because I believe he has the acting ability to pull it off.

Although I really think that Freddie Highmore in the tv series Bates Motel did a very nice job. He's why I watched the entire series.

^ I'm watching him opposite the great Bergman in this 1961 movie and he's actually quite good.

He played so many twitching neurotics in so many good 1950s films but then he turned into a bad cliche in rubbish films afterwards.

this youtube account has a very interesting analysis of Psycho. She might be right.

R55 - regarding Vera Miles and Vertigo. I understand that she initially declined the role because she was pregnant but then production was delayed as Hitchcock needed an operation. By the time he was ready to work again, so was she, but then he didn't want her.

^ [55] You sound like you know what you're talking about.

I've always assumed Miles was an uninteresting actress. I wonder if Hitch could have made her a real star in the double role in 'Vertigo'?

Perhaps it is better to say that Vera withdrew from Vertigo after she learned she was pregnant. Production stills were taken of her for the film.

Did anyone really guess that Norman's mother wasn't alive when the film first came out? The fact that you never saw the mother and only heard her must have tipped some people off. But then Hitchcock throws in that twist where you see Norman carrying her down the stairs and it really looks like a live woman.

I'm surprised that he didn't put something in the credits to really throw people off - obviously the woman that Perkins is carrying is a live actress- why not put her in the credits as "And Introducing [actress' name] as Mrs. Bates"?

Vera was a wonderful actress. She dismissed her role in Psycho as one she took to end her contract with Hitchcock and vice versa, and that he only photographed her from the back in the film. However I love the tartness she brings to Lila, especially when she tells Arbogast that she doesn't care whether he believes her or not. And Hitchcock gave her one smashing shot- when the camera goes to her as she stands in shadow in the hardware store when Sam comes back after visiting the Bates Motel.

Vera was a wonderful actress. She dismissed her role in Psycho as one she took to end her contract with Hitchcock and vice versa, and that he only photographed her from the back in the film. However I love the tartness she brings to Lila, especially when she tells Arbogast that she doesn't care whether he believes her or not. And Hitchcock gave her one smashing shot- when the camera goes to her as she stands in shadow in the hardware store when Sam comes back after visiting the Bates Motel.

Oops sorry for the dupe. Actually I think the shot I mentioned has her run to the camera but she stops in shadow. Another great one is when she suddenly sees her reflection in a mirror in Mother's room and gasps.

The American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films has a long and detailed write up of the production history. Some of AFI's research for that write up contradicts things said on this thread. Scroll down past the credits to get to the production history.

It says the production had a 2 month shoot -- Nov. 30, 1959 to Feb 1, 1960, plus two more weeks at Universal in late Feb.

Film opened in NYC in June 1960, then in LA and wider across the US in August.

"We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?"

I was actually reacting to the sight of that butt-ugly lampshade r68, but thank you.

Vera @ R71 - So I take it that here you were reacting to the poor quality of the sheets.

To be honest r72, the thread count WAS very low.....

While Psycho is a great film, it's a victim of its own success in some ways. No one who watches it for the first time nowadays is going to be shocked or scared by the shower scene, because they've already seen it parodied so many times.

it was perkins idea to chew the candy corns in the scene with gavin.

Perkins is very good in Goodbye Again. I don't really like the film (Montand... urgh...), but the moments with him lighten up the whole mood. He's funny melancholy.

Perkins was adorable the year before as chief clerk Cornelius Hackl in the charming b&w film of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker opposite Shirleys Booth and MacLaine. I also love him in the 1960 comedy Tall Story as a college basketball player opposite Jane Fonda in her screen debut.

I wonder if he had any notion how radically changed his career would become by starring in Psycho?

^ It seems Perkins was a mixed-up man. He aimed high and made quite a few messes.

'Tab Hunter's memoir says they had a short tortured affair in the 50s but I think Hunter was slightly tortured himself by his religiosity and constant house-moving.

Maybe someone already posted this, but I will lower the high brow discussion.

Does anybody know why in the credits Janet Leigh appears last? The first is Perkins, then Vera Miles, then John Gavin then all the others and then "and JANET LEIGH" appears.

Hitchcock initially wanted to have Janet Leigh topless in the opening tryst scene with John Gavin, but knew the censors in 1960 would never allow it.

R69, thanks for that exhaustive behind-the-scenes look...

When I was growing up it would be shown on television, usually chopped up with commercials. I've seen it on the big screen two times, and the experience is totally worth it. You will notice things that you never noticed before. Such as...

When Janet Leigh and John Gavin are making out, it is super hot, not only because these are two specimens at the peak of their beauty, but in the theater you can hear every slurp of their lips and tongues. You can also see every hair on their heads in detail (or in Gavin's case, on his chiseled chest). They are totally believable as a horny couple who just fucked in a cheap hotel room.

Even though you know it's coming, when that shower curtain gets pulled back and those violins start shrieking, you will still jump out of your seat.

While her presence looms large over the second half of the film, it struck me that you only hear Mother's voice three times -- first, when Marion hears the fight between Norman and Mother through her motel window; second, when the camera moves above the second floor stairway landing as Norman confronts her ("I'll carry you, Mother..."); and third, inside Norman's head at the end of the film ("Why, she wouldn't harm a fly..."). That's it! I always imagined that there were more scenes with Norman and Mother talking.

John Gavin was HOT.AS.FUCK

R80 The billing has to do with Hitchcock's request that no one be admitted after the picture started (or after the first few minutes). He didn't want people coming to see a film with Janet Leigh, a huge star at the time, and miss most or all of her performance in a film. You have to remember this was the first time a leading lady or man was killed off early in a film (and without any flashbacks -- maybe there are some of those like "Laura", but Laura herself first appears in flashbacks). When you see what happens to Leigh, even though the first 40-45 minutes are all about her, the fact that you don't see her again makes her special billing seem appropriate. Perhaps moviegoers first seeing the film wondered why she got that special "and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane" billing when she opens with the film with John Gavin. They soon found out why.

I love how Vera Miles refused to see Jessica Biel who wanted to meet with her when she was preparing for her role in that stupid Hitchcock film with Anthony Hopkins. That made me love the old broad even more.

I get that, R85. But exactly, that strange credit order seems almost a spoiler to me. If i went to see Psycho in 1960 as a Janet Leigh fan i'd be surprised to see her name appear last and think right away that she's NOT the leading character. And be sure of that after 45 minutes. Another question for my fellow DL cinephiles: did Hitch pulled some creepy stalkery shit on Leigh the way he did with poor Tippi Hedren?

I think Leigh was married to Tony Curtis around this time; if not, she was already a big star. Leigh also was known for being a nice lady who never said an unkind word about anybody, certainly her bio lacks much in the way of nasty stories. Hedren was someone he discovered from a tv commercial or something like that who was pretty much unknown until Hitch cast her.

It's only a movie, Ingrid...

^ Hitch may have said that to Ingrid because he didn't want her to introduce her Freudian ideas about characterisation and delay the studio set-up.

He and his wife had examined all the Freudian subtexts on paper well beforehand

There has always been something incredibly erotic to me about a hairy-chested hunky man wearing dark dress pants, a leather belt and nothing else.

John Gavin is still hot in a modern way. Y'ever notice how some guys were really hot back then, but just for their time? There's something very "period" about them. Not Gavin. Holy shit! He'd still turn heads to this day on the street. A shame he was such a boring actor.

I agree R84 AND R92.

Here he is with Laurence Olivier, and just from the body language, you can tell that something gay is going on!

Gavin would most definitely be considered hot even by today's standards...

John Gavin's mother was Mexican, and he stands 6'4". He still around at 86.

Gavin was also american ambassador to Mexico in the 80s! A very interesting life.

John Gavin must have been the most blatantly sexy man that Hitchcock hired.

He also hired the gorgeous Olivier and Greg Peck and Cary Grant but they had some acting ability. He got Paul Newman in 'Torn Curtain' but that was a very unsexy tole.

Hitchcock wanted the gorgeous Gary Cooper for 'Saboteur' in 1942 but he had put up with the fey Robert Cummings instead.

did Gavin ever fucked a man? rumors, gossip?

^ only in your dreams, dear!

Farley Granger wasn't exactly chopped liver.

Farley Granger could act, tho

If you say so, r101.

R87, Janet Leigh was Oscar nominated for "Psycho" in the Best Supporting Actress category, losing to Shirley Jones in "Elmer Gantry"

"Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!"

Re Janet Leigh and Hitchcock. The Hitchcock movie based on the Stephen Rebello book shows that they got on very well and that he didn't appear to have an agenda with her. Perhaps this was because Janet wasn't a cool blonde, despite her frosted hair in the film. She was more the earth-mother type and I don't think that excited Hitch as much.

While his preference for a certain female "type" (the Grace Kellys) is a common knowledge, Hitchcock did have a male equivalent when it comes to casting male roles which are not traditionally masculine. For these passive (and yes, we can go there), somewhat sexually ambivalent, dominated by other people - male and female - objects, he went for lean, tall and dark, pretty rather than ruggedly handsome - and mostly gay - actors: Gregory Peck (especially in Spellbound, but to a certain aspect in The Paradine Case too), Farley Granger (It's obvious in Rope how Hitch suggested to us him and John Dull in bed literally, and again, in a more subliminal way, him and Robert Walker having the same "positions" in Strangers on a Train), Montgomery Clift in I Confess and Perkins here. And the presence of the traditionally masculine Gavin only enhance Perkins "questionable" masculinity.

I don't think Gregory Peck was ever as attractive in a movie as he was in Spellbound. Quite a shock if you only know him as Atticus Finch.

^ he was so pretty playing that young amnesiac.

It's a pity that Selznick pushed him into Hitchcock's 'Paradine Case' two years later playing opposite the equally-miscast Louis Jourdan

Yes - Peck was totally objectified in Spellbound, and it was done in a context of a reversal of sexual positions - as a mental patient he was in a submissive place, while Bergman was in the traditional male authoritative, representative of the establishment, place (hence her being "uglified" by wearing glasses).

Ted Knight plays the cop guarding Norman's door in the final scene.

Peck in Lust in the Dust, er, uh, Duel in the Sun, is just sex on a stick. Incredible. Every single shot of him you want to pull it out and start wanking.

Thanks for posting this I love the original movie even if my mother and other women her age when they first saw it said they stopped taking showers for awhile after seeing it when it was new.

Was Anthony Perkins bisexual, or gay? Or is it true he was a chicken hawk/pedo and liked underage boys?

I believe he was gay though he did get married in 1973 and fathered 2 children, and remained married until his death in 1992 of AIDS-related pneumonia. His wife, actress Berry Berenson, died in the September 11 attacks as a passenger on Flight 11.

I believe he was at his most handsome in the 1957 film "Fear Strikes Out" (photo below).

It's a crime that Anthony did not receive an Oscar nomination for "Psycho" as he was brilliant in it. The scene where he and Janet eat the sandwiches and discuss his mother is worth Oscars for both of them as well as the screenplay.

For R39 - I remember from some article or book that Hitchcock wanted to make it clear that Bates was masturbating as he was staring through the peephole watching Marian take a shower. But the studio or censors at the time wouldn't allow it. So it just indicates that he was peeping at her and nothing more. Gus Van Zant's remake was made in a much more permissive era so they made it clear that he was also masturbating.

And about Vera Miles, I remember reading that she claimed Hitchcock tried to sabotage her career. In "Psycho" he had her dressed in frumpy, heavy clothes (maybe bought from thrift shops) and did not allow her any bit of glamour or sexiness as he did with Janet Leigh.

And about the "...and Janet Leigh" credit in the opening credits. Correct me if I'm wrong. Is the "and" credit as the last cast member named usually used for a star who has an important supporting role?

It’s good that he married a woman, if only to produce offspring who look like this:

Back in the 1970's, Victoria Principal was determined to "cure" Tony Perkins of being gay.

r41 Vera Miles wore a wig through the entire shooting of "Psycho" because her head had been shaved for her previous film, "Five Branded Women."

i love how aggressive and impatient Vera Miles acts in this movie: she looks like she wants to slap every character around her.

Hitchcok, wanting to get the right "type" of scream from Vera Miles as she discoveres the real Mrs. Bates, would leave bodies in various stages of decomposition hidden in Miles' trailer. When Vera discovered the one used in the film, her scream of shock was deemed suitable and that's the body they used.

Fear Strikes Out is one of the reasons Tab Hunter broke up with Tony Perkins.

Tab had successfully appeared in the 1956 teleplay of Fear Strikes Out but when it was such a success on TV, Tony heard that it was being made into a feature film (not so unusual back in the 1950s; think Marty and The Catered Affair) and actively pursued the role unbeknownst to the less ambitious Tab, who felt betrayed when he heard.

The film is the true story of pro baseball player Jimmy Piersall and his struggles with mental illness. Critics ultimately thought Tab made a far more credible baseball player than Tony.

R118 - while it is Lila that discovers Mrs. Bates body, it was Janet Leigh who reported that Hitchcock chose which dummy to use for the part based on her screams when they were left in her dressing room. Not Vera Miles.

Nice pic OP! Perkins is not my type but he's very likeable and appealing.

Re 119: Jimmy Piersoll, upon whom "Fear Strikes Out" is based, was not happy with the casting in either the TV or film versions. He said he couldn't believe that both times his life was filmed, he was played by a faggot (his words).

Hee Hee!

The only thing the insufferable Andrew Garfield has in common with Perkins is gayface. Young, thin, mincing. Yeah. That's it.

No...NO...and NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! r98.

I think Gavin still looks great! Handsome, healthy and clearly engaged.

I hope I can stand up that straight when I reach 86.

And I'm.....what r126? Chopped fucking liver?

Oz lost weight

Gavin was a reaganite ultimately appointed ambassador to Mexico

Time is cruel. I saw a photo of Jean Pierre Leaud, who I thought was so cute and winsome in those Truffaut films. It broke my heart.

Léaud apparently suffered from mental illness, and it got much worse after Truffaut died.

R125, I think he looks marvelous. And the wife, actress Constance Towers, is stunning.

Thanks r133, you're too kind! Just letting my fans know that I'll be back on Broadway soon reprising my signature role in a musical version of my classic film The Naked Kiss. It's gonna be a hot ticket!

She even looks good bald.

Marion only steals $40,000 - not much these days.

It is the first mainstream American film to show a toilet being flushed - though Marion is only flushing torn paper.

Then opening credits state its 11 December but the only sign of christmas is that one shot of street decorations as Marion drives from Phoenix.

Perkins should have got the Oscar - who remembers winner Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry now? Ditto Janet and I maintain its a leading role as she dominates the film after shes gone.

Back then films had continuous performances, one could walk in half way through & see it all again - that would not have worked with Psycho.

Hitch should have got the oscar too, but as Billy Wilder was robbed the previous year (with his Some Like It Hot losing as Ben Hur swept the board) so his The Apartment was the automatic choice then.

It looks and sounds amazing on bluray, let alone on tv.

just rewatched, i forgot how great Janet Leigh is in this.

Aren't you sweet r135! BTW, I sing, too! Please note, in this clip I'm NOT the bald one.

Constance (Connie) Towers, is there anything you can't do?

R136, $40,000 was BIG bucks in 1960. It's equivalent of $328,478.91 in 2017!

Hey, $40,000 is big bucks to me now.

Me, too.

I could use $40'000 like right now.

Its good that Tony & Janet, that 50s dream couple,, are best remembered now for their imperishable Hitchcock and Billy Wilder films - her in PSYCHO and he in drag in SOME LIKE IT HOT,.

It's the finest example of the craft of filmmaking . Every aspect contributes.

I was kind of surprised by the shot of the bare breasts when Marian grabs and pulls down the shower curtain as she's collapsing on the floor. Very daring for an American film of that era.

R146, I was disappointed she didn't show any 'pink'...

In the stupid Psycho remake by Van Sant you actually see Anne Hache spread ass when she falls after the stabbing!

She sure as hell couldn't make a hit out of ANYA r139!

[quote] Perkins should have got the Oscar

Oh, dear.

To be fair, R148, it's the rare occasion when you DON'T see Anne Heche spread assed.

I can't believe a gay man would hire such a boring little stick as that heche woman.

In fact I just wonder what has happened to that Van Sant man. As far as I'm concerned he made Keanu a star.

I like Anne Heche and had another look at the remake. Once you get past the bonehead idea to do the remake in the first place, I think she and Julianne Moore did some interesting things in it.

Of course, I need to make a belated confession.

I stole the idea of Norman Bates' character transference from Maxwell and Hugo in the 1949 British horror classic "Dead of Night".

The entire movie "Hitchcock" is available for free on Youtube. Which I guess stands as evidence for how you can take a fascinating movie like "Psycho" and turn the making of it into something boring.

That still at R155 looks like Brett Somers.

My favorite scene (as of right now, subject to change) is when Norman disposes of the car, and prays a little for it to fully sink, and then it does. I love how the car turns up again at the end, being dragged out of that bog. Cars, car travel, cop cars, used car lots, figure prominently in this film.

I also love when nervous Marian is about to leave on the new car, having raised the suspicions of the used car salesman, and that fuckable cop shows the and "

Does the license plate mean anything?

Not inordinately.

What does the license plate say?

The 78/52 Doc is great. See it if you can.

^ That's a hyperbolic, fast-moving 1.24 minute advert for Hitchcock's mastery.

A modern-day audience will find Hitchcock's 1960 film does have a few slow-moving patches. In fact the remake is four minutes shorter.

Did you notice the remake changed the $40, 000 to $400, 000?

I wish I could have seen this movie in the early 60's when it first came out. I saw it around age 5 or 6 and, even by that age, I already knew about the shower scene. That's how ingrained it is in our culture. I wish I'd been able to see it without knowing that Marion dies midway through and that Norman was really "mother." I can't even imagine how insane of an experience this movie must have been at that time.

I have a theory that, if you made a similar film today and cast a huge star as the lead and killed him/her off midway through and had an incredibly adorable young actor/actress end up being the killer, it could potentially have the same impact. I think the problem is that no one has the guts to do it. Killing off the lead midway through is considered bad screenwriting 101 for some reason. You have to be willing to take risks.

R163...have you seen Scream?

Scream is amazing and that opening scene is genius, but imagine if Drew Barrymore's character had been the main focus of the first 30/45 minutes of the movie only to be cruelly murdered. That would have had a much bigger impact. Audiences expect to be surprised a bit in the opening to have their attention grabbed, but to follow a lead character for half the film only to have them abruptly killed off has rarely ever been done. Dressed to Kill did, but that was an all around homage to Psycho anyway.

You almost forget how stunning Janet Leigh was, because her most famous film was a horror movie. But she has one of the most gorgeous side profiles ever.

[quote]You almost forget how stunning Janet Leigh was, because her most famous film was a horror movie.

Oh, come on -- it wasn't THAT bad!

I didn't know Janet could sing until I saw Two Tickets to Broadway. I assumed she was dubbed but appears not. I guess she had all that M-G-M training.

Perkins had serious gayface. He probably wasn't as effeminate as James Dean though.

[quote]r105 Janet wasn't a cool blonde, despite her frosted hair in the film. She was more the earth-mother type and I don't think that excited Hitch as much.

She also had fairly enormous breasts, which probably freaked him the fuck out.

[quote]r117 i love how aggressive and impatient Vera Miles acts in this movie: she looks like she wants to slap every character around her.

She didn't want to be there, demoted to playing a supporting character.

Miles just had one costume, and perhaps in an effort to placate her, Edith head made it from a very expensive fabric so that it felt good and moved well.

[quote]r146 I was kind of surprised by the shot of the bare breasts when Marian grabs and pulls down the shower curtain as she's collapsing on the floor.

Body double Marli Renfro was a former Vegas showgirl and Playboy bunny. She was also a nudist, and so comfortable being naked.

When she interviewed with Hitchcock and Janet Leigh, she had to strip before both so they could see what they were getting.

I bet Janet grew moist.

Those creamy white teats make me cream my jeans to this day.

Well, they're Marli's.

A little [italic]RESPECT!

Perkins is extremely well cast and entertaining but the true star of Psycho is Janet Leigh. Killing her off in the first act was a famously daring and unprecedented narrative tactic, but I don't think it works very well.

Teenagers (and adults, but mostly young men) were flocking to movie theaters to see low budget horror films. Film companies like Hammer, Amicus, American International Pictures (Roger Corman) were churning out low budget films featuring monsters, vampires, mad scientists, UFOs, teenaged werewolves, blobs, murderers, etc. Hammer horror films featured lovely young ladies with jiggly décolletage in its historical vampire films, American films featured young women in bikinis escaping sea creatures. These films were making lots of money way in excess of their production costs.

By this time, Alfred Hitchcock had been making his TV shows for years. The shows were made in black and white, on a strict schedule and with a very low budget compared to his films. Hitchcock bragged that he could easily make a horror film on a low budget that would be far more frightening than some cheesy Hammer vampire movie or Vincent Price haunted house film. That’s why he did Psycho. To prove he wasn’t someone who needed top film stars, lavish sets and a long shooting schedule in order to make a masterpiece. He could do it with contracted actors in less time and make more money than the current popular horror films.

He used his TV crew and shot the film on a tv show schedule. His tv shows were produced by actor Norman Lloyd and used all kinds of directors. Hitchcock directed but a few of his shows, and in one of the shows he directed, you can see a prototype of the Psycho car scenes. It starred David Wayne as a man who murdered his wife and put her in the trunk of his car. As he drives to a destination where he will bury her, he is dogged by a police officer who pulls him over for a busted tail light. It’s called “One More Mile to Go.”

Anyway, he proved himself correct when Psycho became an across-the-board hit, attracting audiences young and old and giving the film a lurid sexiness not seen in his previous films. The shower scene scared women, but titillated young men because “I swear man, you can see a boob!”

The film starts to drag after sexy Janet Leigh is murdered, but damn...what a murder! And just as you’re getting ready to leave the theater....oh no! Look who the mother is!

"Perkins is extremely well cast and entertaining but the true star of Psycho is Janet Leigh."

No. Anthony Perkins is the true star of "Psycho". Janet Leigh was just used to draw audiences into the story and slowly introduce them to the real star of the show.

Hitchcock did like to play his little jokes on the audience, and that was one of them.

Vera Miles had 2 outfits in Psycho.

It's interesting that in her book, Edith Head says just one costume.

I guess she wrote about it quite a bit after the fact. Or she was just distracted.

thanx

[quote]Vera Miles had 2 outfits in Psycho.

And Tony probably tried both of them on.

In a fan letter, she was questioned about if she had seen the 2012 film "Hitchcock" and if so what did she think of Jessica Biel's portrayal of her. In answer, Miles wrote back, "Didn't, won't see".

Robert Wagner once said Janet Leigh had the biggest tits in Hollywood.

[quote]r182 Robert Wagner once said Janet Leigh had the biggest tits in Hollywood.

They were substantial.

But Joan Crawford once remembered Kathryn Grayson as "that shrieking little thing that really needed breast reduction."

No wonder Howard Hughes liked her.

I saw "Trading Places" in a packed theatre and the audience collectively gasped when her daughter Jamie Lee bared her big tits.

R175, why don't you think it works? Granted, Gavin and Miles aren't quite as interesting protagonists as Leigh is, but I think the film still works. It takes a few minutes for the shock of Leigh's death to wear off, but once you get adjusted to it, the film still plays well.

Jamie Lee got her tits and her blood curdling scream from her mother.

I will NOT hide in the fruit cellar! You think I'm fruity, huh?

Kathryn Grayson's sizeable bubs will NOT be ignored!

For a director who famously said, Actors are like cattle, his casting of Perkins seems perfect. In hindsight after Perkins did a smashing job, but who else was up for the role of Norman?

Perkins was so good as Norman that he was mostly only allowed to play a version of Norman for the rest of his career. I do wonder what would have happened if he hadn't dropped out of the original production of Company and played Bobby. Maybe that would have changed things a bit if he'd been seen as a charming leading man.

The ass shot of Norman swishing up the stairs gives his gayness away.

Hitchcock does portray gay characters superbly.

R191, Tony Perkins could never have sung "Being Alive" effectively.

I like Mother's line " I refuse to speak of disgusting things because they disgust me!"

[quote] Jamie Lee got her tits and her blood curdling scream from her mother.

Jamie Lee got her tots from a plastic surgeon. She's flat as a board in Halloween and her AIS would have given her small breasts. She wouldn't have female hormones to give her large breasts. Her real breasts would look like a man with gynecomastia .

Jamie Lee before

Janet's dress has an odd bustle look at the back.

I once heard an interview with Janet Leigh, where she said that for the shower scene, she had to lie down in the water, with nothing on but a few strips of moleskin on. ANd that the running water was making the moleskin peel off, and that the guys on the crew were getting "a free show".

Her words, not mine.

[quote]r196 Jamie Lee got her tots from a plastic surgeon. She's flat as a board in Halloween and her AIS would have given her small breasts.

I don't know .. they look pretty big here, and that's a hairstyle from when she was young. So if she did have them done, she dived in early.

Janet tells that story in the making of documentary on the DVD. The hot water is what made the moleskin pull away from her body as they were trying to do the eye shot where the camera pulls back and had to keep re-focusing. She said they had done so many takes that didn't work that when the moleskin began to move she said she didn't care that the guys in the catwalks would get an eyeful since she was bent over the bathtub, She just wanted to get the shot.

R201 at least in the day, before camera phones and the internet, all she had to worry about was their memories

Joseph Stefano said there was a shot cut from the shower scene that was heartbreaking, an overhead view of the dead Marion, but censors didn't like how her bottom was exposed.

R202, well except that she was surrounded by, you know, cameras.

Not from that vantage point R204