The month of October, with the transition in the northern hemisphere to autumn and the darkening of the skies with reduced daylight and general cloudiness the further north you go, a turn to the psychologically mature Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho (1960) is on tap this fine fall day.
Psycho opens with with Marion Crane and Sam Loomis provocatively dressed in scant fashion after a lunch hour dalliance in a Phoenix, Arizona hotel room. The two, portrayed by Janet Leigh and John Gavin, respectively, discuss a general desire to get married, yet note that doing so proves difficult owing to debts owned by Loomis. Having come back to work at a bank, Crane is given responsibility to address a $40,000 cash deposit over a weekend. That money provides an opportunity to deal with the hopes of Loomis and Crane, a fact unknown to Crane’s work friend Caroline, as portrayed by Patricia Hitchcock.
Marion Crane fanes a headache as an excuse to leave work early, and quickly leaves town. In setting a clear stage setting for establishing what looks to be a story in the film noir style, Crane encounters a California Highway Patrol officer and a car salesperson in the process of selling her car and buying another, with the cash on hand, while heading to a destination unexplained. It is when arriving at the Bates Motel for a planned evening’s stay that this storyline dramatically changes.
Motel proprietor Norman Bates, as portrayed by Anthony Perkins, checks Crane into a room. In finding Marion attractive, Norman aims to share dinner with her in a process that triggers a mystery of jealousy between Norman and his mother, Norma Bates. Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin and Jeanette Nolan voice the character of Norma. The family and friends lose track of where Marion Crane is following the weekend. Lila Crane, as portrayed by Vera Miles, demands of Sam Loomis to account for Marion. The man whose money has disappeared contracts theoretically with Private Investigator Arbogast to retrace Marion steps. Arbogast, as portrayed by Martin Balsam, also disappears.
Sam and Lila ultimately follow Private Investigator Arbogast to the Bates Motel, seeking the $40,000, and Marion, the sister of Lila and the love interest of Sam. The relationship, once there and after having attempted to include the local police, leads to the shocking revelations that emotionally directs the audience to multiple levels of shock that feels much more modern in storytelling than many a movie story told at the time Psycho was delivered. What that shock is, well, is worth the watching of the movie if you do not yet know.
Psycho was an immensely modern movie. In many ways, the movie was ahead of its time. The modern feel included text on the screen to demonstrate location, clear indications of coitus through dress and suggestive dialogue, scenes including bathrooms and more all get to this notion. The red herring concept blurred into a MacGuffin as means of storytelling was further genius in the movie Psycho, and I loved the execution. I give Psycho as presented by Alfred Hitchcock 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Matt Lynn Digital 