Psycho released 50 years ago today

Psycho Released: June 16, 1960 Studio: Paramount Genre: horror/thriller Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 50.00 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 399.79 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Alfred Hitchcock Screenwriting: Joseph Stefano Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam Review: “The greatest, most influential Hitchcock horror/thriller ever made” FS is “an unsettling, fascinating descent into the dark side.” TV Psycho is “considered by many to be the greatest horror film ever made” VD “and the progenitor of the modern Hollywood horror film.” FS “Bernard Herrmann’s slashing violin score has become aural shorthand for terror.” TV “Hitchcock’s decision to shoot the movie in black and white was driven purely by cost. Seeing that many bad, cheap ‘B’ movies shot in black and white were performing well at the box office, he gambled that a good, inexpensive black and white movie could do well and he was right.” MSN The story is based on a novel by Robert Bloch. After embezzling $40,000, real estate office secretary Marion Crane (Leigh) is on the run from the law. She stops at the Bates Motel, run by amateur taxidermist Norman (Perkins). “The psychotic, disturbed ‘mother’s boy’ is dominated by his jealous ‘mother,’ rumored to be in the Gothic house on the hillside behind the dilapidated, remote motel.” FS “Poor Anthony Perkins was so disturbing in his role he never really escaped” LM the role “just as anyone who’s seen the movie won’t ever completely shake those behind-the-shower-curtain tingles. Janet Leigh’s watery demise” LM in “the most celebrated shower sequence ever made” FS “has been deconstructed by film scholars and stolen by other directors too many times to count yet remains a remarkable piece of work.” LM Sources: FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 4, including Best Supporting Actress – Janet Leigh, Best Director, Best B/W Cinematography Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Roger Ebert Leonard Maltin Edgar Wright First posted 8/1/2019; last updated 6/4/2023.

North by Northwest released 50 years ago today

North by Northwest Released: July 28, 1959 Studio: MGM Genre: mystery/thriller/action Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 13.28 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 232.40 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Alfred Hitchcock Screenwriting: Ernest Lehman Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason Review: North by Northwest is “one of the all-time great entertainments” LM and is “considered by many to be Hitchcock’s best picture.” VD It “treads a bizarre tightrope between sex and repression, nightmarish thriller and urbane comedy,” T95 but is also “a sly, witty satire on the shallow ethics of modern advertising man.” T98 “Cary Grant is truly superb” T95 as Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue ad executive travelling cross country from New York to Mount Rushmore. He is desperately “trying to find out what’s going on and slowly being forced to assume another man’s identity” T95 as he is chased “by both spies (who think he’s a double agent) and the police (who think he’s an assassin).” LM The movie is marked by “one memorable scene after another,” LM including “Grant getting frantically chased by a machine-gun firing crop duster through a corn field.” VD There’s also “a literal plot-twisting cliff-hanger…and the chase across the face of Mount Rushmore.” FS “Grant allegedly told Hitchcock that the script was ‘terrible’ halfway through filming and that he had no idea what was going on. Grant believed the film was going to be a bomb. Hitchcock banked on his confusion aiding his character and therefore the film.” MSN Sources: FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films” T98 Time Out (1998). “Readers’ Top 100 Films” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 3, including Best Story and Screenplay, Best Film Editing Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin First posted 8/24/2019; last updated 6/3/2023.