AFI's "Top 100" Film Review: PSYCHO

WARNING: Spoilers!

What to say about one of the most iconic suspense films of all time, by the Master of Suspense himself? Considered by many to be Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, Psycho (based on the novel by Robert Bloch, which in turn was loosely based on the true story of serial killer Ed Gein) flips the story and starts with the tale of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a good girl in love with a man named Sam (John Gavin), who can't afford to marry her because most of the money he earns is taken in alimony. Marion finally gets fed up with their meeting in cheap motel rooms when Sam comes to town, so one day makes the fateful decision to steal $40,000 cash from her boss's lecherous client. She packs her things and heads off in her car, driving to Sam to tell them they can be together at last … but guilt, a curious highway patrol cop, and a torrential rainstorm lead Marion to the Bates Motel – a hole in the wall hideaway that sees little to no business since the highway was built. There, she meets the proprietor, young and handsome boy-next-door Norman Bates, who (at the ire of his mother, an invalid living in the big house behind the motel) makes the two of them sandwiches for dinner. Over a pleasant conversation Marion learns that Norman is the ultimate mama's boy, stuck in his life – and she makes her own decision to not get stuck herself … by returning home and giving back the money, no matter what the consequences.

A quick shower before bed so she can leave in the morning, Marion is indeed literally cleansing herself of her bad deeds, relaxed at last for the first time since we've met her … when, as her back is to the closed bathroom door, we see the tall figure of a woman enter menacingly. Marion is oblivious to what is happening, until the mystery woman rips open the shower curtain, raises a butcher knife high in the air, and – amidst Marion's screams – stabs the naked Marion to death in the shower. It's a chilling, horrifying scene, and when Marion dies you are also sort of freaking out as the viewer … less than an hour into the film, and the lead character, the one you've been identifying with so far in the film, is dead!!

So it's easy to switch loyalties to Norman Bates (even though we've seen him as a peeping tom, watching Marion in her room), as – being the ultimate Good Son – cleans up his beloved mother's crime. As he disposes of the body, Marion's belongings (including the remainder of the $40,000), and her car in the swamp behind the motel, it becomes apparent that maybe this isn't the first mess that Norman's cleaned up for dear mother; indeed, you feel even more sorry for Norman, now knowing that he has to care for a mother who's a psychotic killer.

Meanwhile, Marion's sister Lila (Vera Miles) is finally contacted by Marion's boss, when Marion doesn't show up for work, and she eventually ends up driving over to meet Sam Loomis, asking where Marion is and to speak to her. Sam is dumbfounded – he hasn't heard from Marion, and doesn't know where she is – and at first Lila is skeptical, thinking he is shielding her sister … as does the private detective, Arbogast (Martin Balsam), who's been hired to find the missing money. But both Lila and Arbogast come to believe Sam, and indeed Arbogast's investigation leads him to the Bates Motel, where he has a conversation with Norman that leads him to a fateful confrontation with Norman's mother later on, when Norman isn't around. When Arbogast himself disappears as well, Lila and Sam take it upon themselves to head over to the Bates Motel – to find out, at last, just what's happening there.

Not enough good or even interesting things can be said about this film; at the time it was shocking, made people faint in theaters, and got scathing reviews by many big-name critics, who claimed Hitchcock simply went too far at last. Hitchcock also changed filmgoing as we know it with this one – back then, the practice of people coming to see a movie whenever they wanted, coming in on films halfway through or at anytime during the showing, was common; Hitchcock, in order to protect the secrecy of both Marion Crane's death so early on in the film, as well as the surprising ending, would only let theaters show the film that agreed to NOT seat patrons once the film had begun (there was even a colorful, life-sized cut-out of Hitch in the theaters, declaring that you couldn't be seated once the film began). This helped lead to the now more structured showtimes seen in movie theaters today – and it also helped to make Psycho the huge hit it deserved to be, despite any initial criticism.

Even today, the film still gets your adrenaline going, the shower scene still as suspenseful and shocking as it was back in 1960 – no matter how many times you've seen it. The film is still studied today by aspiring writers and filmmakers, and is still seen as one of the best suspense/horror films ever made. It also forever typecast Anthony Perkins as the tragic Norman Bates (he would go on to play Norman in 3 sequels, as well as parody the same character in other films and on TV), and remains the film actress Janet Leigh is best known for. A rancid (and totally unnecessary) 1998 shot-by-shot remake was pretty much cursed before it even hit theaters – deservedly so, because the original still stands up so well today. Deserving of every film lover's "Top 100" list, Psycho is #14 with the AFI, and could even have been a littler higher. Just a brilliant film, period, as fresh today as it was 47 years ago – and not to be missed.