Psycho (1960)

A Phoenix secretary embezzles forty thousand dollars from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Joseph Stefano (screenplay by), Robert Bloch (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

Top Rated Movies #40 | Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anthony Perkins	...	Norman Bates
Vera Miles	...	Lila Crane
John Gavin	...	Sam Loomis
Janet Leigh	...	Marion Crane
Martin Balsam	...	Det. Milton Arbogast
John McIntire	...	Sheriff Al Chambers
Simon Oakland	...	Dr. Fred Richman
Frank Albertson	...	Tom Cassidy
Patricia Hitchcock	...	Caroline (as Pat Hitchcock)
Vaughn Taylor	...	George Lowery
Lurene Tuttle	...	Mrs. Chambers
John Anderson	...	California Charlie
Mort Mills	...	Highway Patrol Officer

Storyline

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks, and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday, Marion is trusted to bank forty thousand dollars by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

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Plot Keywords:

motel | shower | money | maniac | theft | 

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Taglines:

* No One ... BUT NO ONE ... Will Be Admitted To The Theatre After The Start Of Each Performance Of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wimpy

Filming Locations:

Title and Trust Building, 114 West Adams Street, downtown Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$806,947 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$32,000,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$32,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shamley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 108 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview on The Dick Cavett Show (1968), Sir Alfred Hitchcock said of the shower scene, "everything was so rapid that there were seventy-eight separate pieces of film in forty-five seconds."

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Goofs

When Norman suggests Arbogast to join him while he changes sheets, Arbogast notices Norman pause and then move past the first cabin, after which he spots a sitting figure of a lady in the window of the house, whose shadow actually appears to be standing without support.

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Quotes

Norman Bates: Where are you going?
[Marion looks uncomfortable]
Norman Bates: I didn't mean to pry.
Marion Crane: I'm looking for a private island.
Norman Bates: What are you running away from?
Marion Crane: Why do you ask that?
Norman Bates: People never really run away from anything. The rain didn't last long, did it? You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.
Marion Crane: Sometimes we deliberately step into ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

FRIDAY, DECEMBER THE ELEVENTH

TWO FORTY-THREE P.M.

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Alternate Versions

When "Psycho" appeared in syndication on TV stations such as WOR-TV, sometimes a print was shown that completely excised the portion of the movie where Marion tries to exchange her car, cutting from when she gets sleepy and pulls over for a nap, to when she pulls into the Bates Motel.

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Connections

Referenced in Still of the Night (1982)

User Reviews

Hitchcock and Herrmann

Robert Bloch wrote the original work, Joseph Stefano adapted it into a tight screenplay but it was Alfred Hitchcock with the extraordinary complicity of Bernard Herrmann who transformed this lurid tale into a classic, horror masterpiece. The score propels us into the moment before the moment arrives provoking the sort of anticipation that verges on the unbearable. The fact that the key scenes have become iconic film moments: copied, imitated, emulated and parodied, have not diminished its impact, not really. The anticipation, underlined by Herrmann's strings, creates a sort of craving for the moment to arrive. That doesn't happen very often. No amount of planning can produce it or re-produce it - otherwise how do you explain the Gus Van Sant version - so, the only possible explanation is an accident, a miraculous film accident and those do happen. Everything falls into place so perfectly that even the things that one may argue are below the smart standard of the film, are needed, the film without every frame is not quite the film. Try to turn away after the climax during Simon Oakland's long explanation. You can't. I couldn't. Partly because you know you'll soon be confronting those eyes, that fly, the car...