A Look Back At 'Psycho' (1960)

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s great cinematic masterpieces (and I would even argue his best) is 1960’s Psycho. I had previously placed it on my ’10 Movies to Watch in October’ list (which you can check out here: http://onlyinthemoviesblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/10-movies-to-watch-in-october.html) but I still felt like I should have given it a little more of a in-depth review.

 This is not only a great psychological horror film but a great film overall, with iconic moments, a great score, solid acting (particularly Anthony Perkins) and wall-to-wall suspense. It’s spawned a couple of sequels, a remake, and TV show. Much like Hitchcock urging theater owners not to let people to enter the theater late, because it would ruin the experience, I’ll give the setup and end it there just in case anyone reading this has not seen the movie.

The Film starts out in Phoenix, Arizona. During a hotel rendezvous while on her lunch hour, a secretary at a real estate office named Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh) discusses with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (played by John Gavin), why they can’t afford to get married because Sam is in pretty substantial debt. When Marion returns from lunch, a client comes by the office and drops off a $40,000 cash deposit for a property. Her boss asks her to deposit the money in the bank, and she asks him if she can take the rest of the afternoon off afterwards. But, she doesn’t go to the bank and instead decides to steal the money to give to Sam. So, Marion heads out of town and toward California where Sam lives. That evening, she pulls over on the side of the road and falls asleep, only to be awakened in the morning by a state trooper. He asks her a couple of questions and is suspicious about her nervous behavior but lets her to drive on anyway. Shaken by the run-in with the officer, Marion stops at a dealership and trades in her car for another and then continues on her way.

Later during her travels, it starts raining pretty heavily so she decides to stop for the night at the Bates Motel where she meets Norman Bates and the whole film take a sudden and violent turn.

Like I stated earlier, I think this is one of the all-time great films and it’s always especially good to watch around Halloween. So, if you’re one of the few who hasn’t seen it -or- if you just haven't watched it in a while, go check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

I give this film a 5 out of 5.

Have a suggestion for a review?

Leave it in the comments below.

...and for some more good reads check out this Book, Video game, and Comicbook blog:
Boredenthusiast.blogspot.com