Movie #17: Psycho

Movie #: 17
Movie Title: Psycho
Year Released: 1960

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Notable Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Janet Leigh

Short Description: A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #14
IMDB.com: #29
Ranker.com: #41
Lifed.com: #21
Empire.com: #45
FilmCrave.com: #32
FlickChart.com: #45



Date Watched: 11/19/2016

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Adjusted Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: Even though I knew the identity of the killer was **spoiler for a 56-year-old movie** Norman Bates well before I watched Psycho for the first time, I still had my doubts about if I was right or somehow mistaken. That's how good of a twist the ending is and how solid the setup up to that point is. I was surprised that Marion Crane was killed off just before the halfway point of the movie because it's not super common for a main character to die that early, but thankfully the last hour made good use of her death in building towards the conclusion. Anthony Perkins was particularly good as Norman with his wholesome, dutiful son act and liar trying to avoid and climb out of holes he dug act.