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.

50 years ago: Touch of Evil released

Touch of Evil Released: April 23, 1958 Studio: Universal Genre: thriller/gangster/film noir Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 2.20 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: ? Worldwide: ?

Directing: Orson Welles Screenwriting: Orson Welles Starring: Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia Review: “Welles’s last Hollywood film” PM is “proof that post-Kane Welles was not a downward spiral.” T98 It is “considered one of the finest classics-era film noir” MSN as well as “a technical masterpiece.” VD It is a “tightly directed and brilliantly scripted film.” A07 which “is remarkably idiosyncratic, from its legendary opening crane shot to the strangely angled setups and crosscut plotlines.” PM This is “an off-beat, twisted, dark and sweaty…thriller, with murder, police corruption, kidnapping, betrayal, perversion and more” FS “in a seedy border town.” VD Hank Quinlan (Welles) is a “a big, fat, corrupt cop” ML “tracking down some thugs that murdered a wealthy crime lord.” VD He “habitually fabricates evidence to convict the guilty (even though his instincts are usually correct) and frames a young Mexican for the murder.” FS This puts him in conflict with the “self-righteous” FS Mike Vargas (Heston), a Mexican narcotics agent. Through “persistent, perilous efforts with the cooperation of Quinlan’s long-time partner Sgt. Pete Menzies (Calleia),” FS Vargas is able to bring down Quinlan. The movie opens with “cinema’s most exhilarating and complex opening-shot ever” T98 and ends “with the explosive, car-bomb murder of an American businessman on the American side of the border.” FS Sources: FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” ML Movieline (Dec. 1995). “100 Best Movies Ever Made” by Virginia Campbell and Edward Margulies MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud PM Premiere Magazine (Oct. 1998). “100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made” 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: 0 Other Lists/Honors: First posted 5/22/2023; last updated 6/3/2023.