'Psycho' turns 50 today

EW ^ | 06/16/10 | Owen Gleiberman

[Borges]

Why it’s really about the death of God. -

Like just about all the greatest movies, Psycho works on the level of myth. It starts out as a faintly chintzy morality play in which Marion Crane, though she made a big mistake, will presumably be chastened, redeemed, protected, and rewarded by a universe that saves those who save themselves. It turns into a movie in which no one — not even a sinner who repents — will be saved. And that, for the first time in Hollywood, is a truly godless world. You don’t have to be Carl Jung to see that it was a game-changing reflection of what our world was becoming. Psycho cleaves the 20th century in half, turning order into chaos, ushering us into a new way of seeing, of being. Yet the movie’s ultimate paradox — it’s there in the final shot of the car being dredged out of the swamp — is that it lifts us up by dragging us down. Its monster is all too brutally real. At the same time, that monster really is a ghost — “Mrs. Bates” doesn’t even exist. So why does it trouble our sleep so when she goes bump in the night?

[billorites]

[reagan_fanatic]

That photo seems incomplete by itself...

[dfwgator]

Classic SNL with Tony Perkins:

Norman Bates: [ to camera ] Are you tired of slaving away in a dull, dead-end job? Fed up with meager paychecks that never stretch quite far enough? Sickened and disgusted by missing out on the good things of life? Hi, I’m Norman Bates for The Norman Bates School of Motel Management, here to explain how you can be your own boss while earning money in this rapidly-expanding field. Best of all, you learn at home, right in the privacy of your own shower. I’ll show you how to run anything from a tourist home to.. [ camera pans to scary-looking duck trophy on the wall, then back to Norman ] ..a multi-unit motor inn. You’ll recieve step-by-step instructions.. [ camera pans to scary-looking owl trophy on the wall, then back to Norman ] ..on how to make reservations and how to determine room rates, how to change the linen, and even little-known tricks of the trade, such as improving customer relations by giving guests a complimentary newspaper in the morning. [ holds up newspaper that reads “Los Angeles Times: SLASHER STRIKES AGAIN!” ]

Yes, a diploma in motel management can be your passport to prosperity, independence, and security, but are you motel material? Let’s find out with a simple quiz.

Question 1: A guest loses the key to her room. Would you
A) Give her a duplicate key
B) Let her in with your passkey
C) Hack her to death with a kitchen knife

Question 2: Which of the following is the most important in running a successful motel?
A) Cordial atmosphere
B) Courteous service
C) Hack ker to death with a kitchen knife

Question 3: How many.. [ holds newspaper over his mouth, and speaks in an old lady’s voice ] Important phone call, Norman. [ puts down newspaper, resumes regular voice ] What, Mother? [ puts newspaper over his mouth again ] Important phone call! [ puts newpaper down, and resumes normal voice ] Well, I’ve got to go, I have an important phone call! Just one of dozens I get every week as a fully-qualified motel manager. And if you would like to beome one, too, simply send your name and address to “The Norman Bates School of Motel Management, Old Highway, Fairvale, California..”

[ suddenly becomes nervous and shaky ]

There’s no obligation whatsoever.. and-and-and no salesman will call.. so-so y-y-y-y-you don’t have to b-b-bo-bother to lock your door, you know-you can-you can leave it off the latch. Or lock it! That’s fine, I don’t care! I don’t care if you lock it, ‘cause I have the keys! [ jiggles the keys nervously ] I have the keys right here! I have the key to Room 1, the key to Room 2, the key to Room 3.. [ hits bell, holds newspaper to mouth, and speaks in old lady’s voice again ] Norman! [ resumes normal voice ] Coming, Mother. [ throws newspaper down and runs out door ]

[moose-matson]

Did you know that they got the knife slicing sound by cutting up apples and mixing that onto the soundtrack?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***The author mentioned “Manhunter” as the only other movie that is in the class of Psycho, I would add “Seven” to that list.***

There are two endings to MANHUNTER. In the early one after the villan is killed, the detective visits a family, the husband, armed with a .45, gets between the detective and his wife, till he establishes that the detective means no harm.

This has been cut from recent releases of the movie, probably because it it too pro-gun. The family was to be the next victims of the killer.

Then they cut to the final scene at the beach.

[InvisibleChurch]

I don't mind the post and I enjoyed the movie but why does America obsess about this stuff all the time?

[Red_Devil 232]

I thought he was only 48.

[dfwgator]

"HERE'S YOUR PAPER!!!! HERE'S YOUR PAPER....HAPPY NOW?"

[evets]

Ed Gein... yikes!

[chuck_the_tv_out]

“I never really favored his turn toward the bizarre and the shocking”

like South Park..

[Jeff Chandler]

I`m glad that Bernard Herrmann gets his due.

Yes, his use of strings in Psycho is as striking as his use of brass in Jason and the Argonauts. It would be hard to imagine Psycho working without the soundtrack.

[KosmicKitty]

OMG I haven’t thought about that SNL sketch in years!! It was so funny!!

I remember laughing till I cried.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Hi, I’m Norman Bates for The Norman Bates School of Motel Management,***

Back about 1967-1969 there were lots of advrtisments on TV for motel management training.

I talked with a motel manager and he said they were scams.

[Richard Kimball]

Rim shot.

[Clemenza]

“That boy gets no tip.”

[Jeff Chandler]

I heard that they stabbed a melon. [cue the Arab jokes]

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I didn’t know that today was Obama’s birthday.

Is Michelle throwing him a party at the White House? s/

[Richard Kimball]

The Sixth Sense is another. Shyamalan degraded the work with his later movies, which used the same technique to lesser and lesser effect, but if you view the movie without the knowledge of his later work, it stands up very well. There is very little gore or violence in it, but the sequences where the child walks in on one of the dead people are excellent.

Psycho is somewhat lessened for me by the closing where they explain the psychological reasons behind Norman Bates. That aspect of the film has not aged well. It may have been necessary at that time, though. In the days before "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" and Charles Manson, people were assumed to be relatively sane.

If you watch "Harvey" today, the oddest part of it is watching people freak out because someone claims to have an invisible friend that's a 6' 4" rabbit. Today, you run into four people like that before noon.

[Richard Kimball]

Psycho trivia: Hitchcock shot the movie in B&W to avoid the cliche of red blood running down the drain. There were over a hundred scene cuts in the shower scene. At no time in the shower stabbing scene did they show the knife actually touching or penetrating the skin.

[WKB]

Naw, ex-wife's birthday is in March, and she's 49.

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.