Psycho (1960)

Truth time: Doing AFI's list is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I have not watched a movie for a while, so to all my readers I apologize. I know you all wait anxiously for every work of art that I dish out. Well the wait is over!



In my lifetime I have seen a lot of crazy people. Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by nut-jobs. I guess I should expect it being a bus driver and all. Of all the whackos that I have seen, met, and/or feared the craziest one of all would have to be Lindsay Lohan. That chick is nuts. That, however, has nothing to do with the most recent movie on the list of classics that I have decided to view, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

I know a lot of people have already seen this movie, but I don't want to ruin the end in case you haven't seen it. I had a friend in my younger years that had a habit of spoiling the surprises in movies for me. Psycho was no exception. I don't want to subject those of you that haven't seen it to that, so I will be brief in my movie synopsis.

Psycho takes place in sunny (and miserably hot) Phoenix, Arizona. Marion, a working gal, has a moment of greed and steals $40,000. During her great escape she stops to stay the night in the Bates Motel. Norman Bates is a twitchy, isolated young man who runs the failing motel and cares for his invalid mother all by himself. The situation feels strange but not enough to keep Marion out of the shower. Little does she know that things are going to take a violent turn for the worst. It goes something like this:



I've seen Psycho several times (both the original and the remake), and the more I watch it the more I enjoy it. What I love most about it is that it is a cross-section of all the fears people had in the 60's:
Crazy People
Old People
Hotel Rooms
Police Officers
Showers (the being watched aspect not the getting clean part)
Driving in the rain
Used Car Salesmen
Taxidermy
As I think about it I guess people today still have those same fears. At least I do. Despite having all those fears I wouldn't have used the words "scary" and "Psycho" in the same sentence a few years ago. I recently saw this movie on the silver screen, however, and it really did scare me. Moral of the story is if you want to be scared watch it on the big screen.

The bottom line:
Rating: 4.6
Would I own it? I already own the remake, and plan on owning the original
Would I recommend it? I already have.