Psycho (1960)

Psycho (1960)

starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

directed by Alfred Hitchcock

109 minutes

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals $40,000 from her employer and leaves town. She gets nervous about what she is doing and winds up stopping at the Bates Motel for the night. The motel is run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Someone murders her later that night.

Lila Crane (Vera Miles) goes looking for her sister. She gets some help from Milton Arbogast, a private investigator hired by Marion's employer. Arbogast finds the Bates Motel about a week after Marion disappeared. He calls Lila and Sam, Marion's boyfriend, to let them know about the progress he's made but then he disappears.

Lila and Sam try to get the local sheriff involved. He doesn't show enough interest in finding Marion so they go out to the Bates Motel themselves.

Thoughts

This is one of those films that has a reputation for one particular thing. In this case it is the shower scene. Decades before I saw this movie I knew about the shower scene. I didn't really know anything else about it but I knew about the shower scene.

This was my first time watching this film. I saw it on DVD. It held my attention. I more watched it straight through without pausing it or taking a break from it. There are three sequels to this movie but I don't have plans to see any of them.

I like this movie very much. I think that they went overboard explaining things in the last 10 minutes of the movie. I thought it was extremely good, aside from that. I wouldn't put it on my list of my favorite films of all time but it was very good.

Notes

I have seen Anthony Perkins in a number of other movies but the only one I have seen in recent years is On the Beach (1959).

The only other movie in which Janet Leigh appeared that I have seen is The Manchurian Candidate (1962). She appeared in one episode each of Twilight Zone (1985) and Tales of the Unexpected.

This is the second movie in which Vera Miles appeared that I have seen. The other is The Searchers (1956). I also saw her earlier this year in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), 1.01 Revenge. She also appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959), The Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). 

Martin Balsam played the part of Milton Arbogast. I've seen him fairly recently in an episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, 1.06 The Time Element, and in an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), 1.04 The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine.