“Psycho” Alfred Hitchcock

It receive many rejections before it was called “Hitchcock’s greatest film. - The 1960’s marked a big change in American cinema. With the collapse of the Hollywood Studio System came a weakening of censorship laws; sex and violence moved from obscurity to the forefront of mainstream cinema. - Was one of the first movies to depict sexuality and violence. Older audiences resisted the modern trends. - Produced by Universal Studios and released through Paramount. - The film included the first love scene in American popular cinema. It was the first to ever feature a pair of lovers lying half-naked on a bed. Not only did the film depict two brutal murders, but the first occurred in the intimacy of the shower.

- Hitchcock reportedly shot the film in black and white only because he knew the censors would never approve of the very bloody shower scene in color. - In 1960, in the US, the number of teenagers was on the rise; there were more people in the year- old category than in any other adult age range. - Although the content of the film may have shocked and upset more mature audiences, the younger generation was delighted to see a film which reflected their lifestyle; for them, it was a “major social event not to be missed” (seeing the film). - The director was keenly aware of how audiences responded to his films and sought to maintain their interest.

Before Psycho, Hitchcock was known as “the master of suspense-without-horror”. - There was a stark contrast between the cinematic tools employed in Psycho and the precedent Hitchcock had set for himself. Many viewers had come to expect a certain style from Hitchcock and were shocked and displeased when they saw otherwise. - In order to maintain the films secrecy, Hitchcock denied critics prescreening of the film, this angered the critics and caused them to judge the film harshly. Janet Leigh said they judged it harshly because of its uniqueness. Films were judged according to the critical and aesthetic standards of critics, and to deter from that was to threaten the status quo and put the critics on their guard. She also said; “The completely unprecedented innovations caught the critics by surprise, so they really weren’t able to evaluate the film properly, at least not right away”.

In his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he was portrayed as an entertainer and a popular media personality. - The wrap up by the psychiatrist at the end of the film does little to counterbalance the violent and bizarre nature of the rest of the film. - In Psycho, Norman Bates is unable to outgrow his maternal dependency; in fact, his identity is eventually over come by his mother’s. - Although unheard of in Hollywood film, the star (Janet Leigh) is murdered in the first half of the film. Not only that, but the killer was presented not as a monster but as a regular person gone mad; as such, he provided the most disturbing screen figure yet. - Hitchcock tapped into the subconscious of the viewer to identify disturbing flaws in society that lay beneath the appearance of normalcy and undermine previous conventions.

The film proved, as Hitchcock had intended, that the classical Hollywood narrative did not have a monopoly on cinematic success; the lower end of the filmmaking industry, the horror film, was indeed popular and capable of drawing vast sums of money. - Although in 1960 the majority of Hollywood filmmakers employed techniques such as widescreen, stereo sound, and color in order to be differentiated and compete with television, Hitchcock filmed Psycho in black and white and employed his television crew to produce the film. Hitchcock, so obviously going against the grain, wanted to prove a point. He had set out to show that a low-budget horror film could succeed at the box-office, which was precisely what he did. - Sociologists claimed that Psycho could be held responsible for rise in crime and violence to the decline in motel stays and the sales of opaque shower curtains and a phobia of showering. Hitchcock says the film was not intended to be taken seriously; he maintained that critics had missed the point of the film, which was to employ “film art to precipitate something of a mass emotion”.

Nearly forty years after the film’s release, “Psycho is still cited as a masterpiece which has inspired many dozens of other films and is used as a “yardstick by which other thrillers are measured”. - “It stands at an interesting juncture in the development of the American popular film - midway between the repressive manners of the classic Hollywood studio era (Janet Leigh wears a bra) and the ethos of the R-rated contemporary film (Janet Leigh is shown in bed with a man at midday)”. - Hitchcock used 70 different camera angles intermixed with quick cuts to emphasize the brutality of the act, yet the knife is never seen penetrating the victim. It took over 7 days to shoot for the 45 Second scene. Anthony Perkins wasn’t even on the set for the shooting, but rather was back in New York preparing for a play. Hitchcock originally envisioned the sequence as silent but Bernard Herrmann went ahead and scored it.

Frightful Facts tm tm - Robert Bloch got $9500 for the rights to his book “Psycho”. Hitchcock would later buy up as many copies of the novel before the film came out so people would know as little as possible about the storyline. - Janet Leigh received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe for her role in Psycho. - Hitchcock received an Oscar nomination for Best Director only to lose out to Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. Hitchcock never won an Oscar although he was nominated 6 times.

Would you want to live here? - The film only cost $800,000 to make yet has earned more than $40 million. - Hitchcock waived his standard $250,000 directorial fee for a 60% share of the films grosses. - Norman Bates character was based on a 50’s serial killer - Psycho marked the first time a “toilet” was ever shown and flushed in film.

How could you ever shower again? - Hitchcock, who made it a tradition to make a cameo in all his films, can be seen 4 minutes into the film outside Marion’s workplace. - Hitchcock tested the “fear factor” of Mother’s corpse by placing it in Leigh’s dressing room and listening to how loud she screamed when she discovered it. - The sound that the knife makes penetrating the flesh is actually the sound of a knife stabbing a casaba melon. - The film spawned three sequels and one remake. - After the film’s release Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diaboliques, Les (1954) and now refused to shower after seeing Psycho. Hitchcock sent a note back simply staying “Send her to the dry cleaners”.