Psycho (1960)

Written by Joseph Stefano

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

1998 List Ranking: 18

2007 List Ranking: 14

Psycho, the final Hitchcock film of this list, is arguably his most well-known film; it’s certainly the film that introduced me to his work. It also is perhaps my favorite of his films, although I will admit that that stems perhaps more from familiarity than quality. Don’t get me wrong, though: Psycho is a great film, and it showcases Hitchcock at his best.

Mother is not happy…

Unable to marry her boyfriend due to their lack of funds, Marion Crane impulsively steals $40,000 from a client that her boss has entrusted to her to deposit. During the drive from Arizona to California, she is hindered by a torrential rainstorm and pulls into the Bates Motel, a sleepy and isolated motel run by Norman Bates, a quiet man dominated by his elderly, invalid, and emotionally abusive mother. After a dinner and conversation with Norman, Marion decides to return to Phoenix the next morning to confess to her crime. However, as she showers that night, the shadowy silhouette of Norman’s mother creeps into the bathroom and murders her. As Norman discovers his mother’s crime, he must cover up the act while evading the probing questions of Marion’s sister, boyfriend, and a private investigator, all drawn to the motel and who may never leave it.

Marion (Janet Leigh) is followed by the police

In Psycho, Hitchcock permeates his film with tension, living up to his title of the Master of Suspense. The tension begins almost immediately, as Janet Leigh’s Marion decides to run away with the $40,000…and immediately is spotted by her boss, who wordlessly wonders why she’s all dressed up in her car and not home in bed nursing a bad headache, as she claimed. Suddenly, her confidence in her crime is shaken, a nagging doubt that stays and gnaws at both her and the audience. This is a testament to Leigh’s performance, who’s believability and naturalness makes the audience naturally root for her, even as Hitchcock continues to crank up the tension. Marion is soon subject to suspicion from a local cop, and as an audience we begin to start rooting for her to get away with her crime.

Norman (Anthony Perkins) discovers what happened to Marion

That suspense mounts as Marion meets Norman, played brilliantly by Anthony Perkins. It is a credit to both his and Hitchcock’s abilities that the audience is also able to not only sympathize with him almost immediately, but to maintain and perhaps even grow that sympathy once Marion is out of the picture. Not only does Perkins balance the various aspects of his role incredibly well, he does so with such acute attention to detail that one could watch his performance over and over and see new nuances every time (and I say that from experience). One such brilliant detail is after discovering his mother’s handiwork in Marion’s shower. He sits on the bed and begins quietly shaking uncontrollably as he processes what’s happened and what he must do now; it’s a quiet, simple moment that Perkins plays incredibly well

Hitchcock is relentless with his tension-filled moments, taking full advantage of his location, which manages to be both nondescript and creepy: the motel itself looks (and, ignoring the events that happen within it, essentially is) warm and harmless, but the house behind it is dark and Gothic. The tension here works on multiple levels; Hitchcock plays on our sense of security by having Marion check into a normal motel, something many of us have done in our lifetimes, and having her get mutilated within turns our sense of security upside down: if she can be brutally attacked in a place like that, then what does that say about the places we frequent? What is next? Is anywhere safe?

(If you have spent the last 60 years living under a rock and somehow do not know the twist of Psycho, I urge you to skip the next paragraphs. Better yet, stop reading, go watch the film RIGHT NOW, and come back)

Norman as “mother”

The Gothic house is as creepy as to be expected, so it makes sense that the bulk of the action moves (or at least focuses) there. Here, not only is private investigator Arbogast (a minimal role played brilliantly by Martin Balsam) murdered, but also that we learn Mother’s secret, slowly but surely until it’s revealed in all its gruesome horror. The reveal that Norman suffers from a split personality and, in essence, becomes his own mother is a great twist, although it is one that is easy to gloss over, such as a cop within the film does, merely dismissing Norman as “a transvestite”. Luckily, the psychiatrist is quick to correct him: Norman does not wear his mother’s clothing because he wants to be her or to be a woman at all; rather, Norma’s personality completely takes over Norman’s mind, therefore why wouldn’t she want to wear her own clothes? It’s probably not quite as well handled as it could be today, but I think it’s good that the film doesn’t mask its twist in outdated stereotypes, bringing a realism to the events and perhaps making them all the more chilling.

Marion decides to steal the $40,000

Lastly, I love the symbolism that permeates the film. Marion is presented as innocent in the beginning, symbolized by her white bra and dress slip. Later, as she decides to steal the money, that lingerie changes to black (a turn to, for lack of a better term, the dark side). Her dinner with Norman begins with talk of his stuffed birds, an interesting hobby considering the preserved corpse of his mother he’s keeping just up the hill. Marion then decides to return the money, and decides to take a shower before bed. Here, she literally sheds the dark off of her and steps into the water that rinses the unclean away. It’s baptismal, in a way.

And then she gets murdered.

The final image of Norman…

ANYWAY, perhaps the most interesting symbolism is the final shot of Norman, whose mind has been completely taken over by Mother. As he looks directly into the camera with a small, deranged smile, just as the film dissolves to the final shot of Marion’s car being dredged from the swamp, there is a brief overlay of a skull over Norman’s face. It’s not exactly subliminal, but it is definitely a creepy cherry on top of everything.

While I’m not a fan of scary movies, I have loved Psycho from the moment I first saw it. Its two leading performances, elevated by Hitchcock’s masterful direction, make this a delightfully creepy entry into modern horror. While its twist is generally known by most everyone, even if they haven’t seen the film, it still manages to generate unease and suspense. It’s been 60 years since we first met Mother, but she still holds her own alongside the terrors who would follow.

FINAL GRADE: A