Psycho (1960)

What kind of director kills off his star (played by Janet Leigh) less than half way into his film? Only Alfred Hitchcock could (get away with it) of course. And what a killing too! You won’t turn your back on the door to the bathroom when showering for a while after watching this shocker. From the stinging violin music to the murder itself this much copied masterpiece has no peer. Its imagery was/is so memorable that it typecast Anthony Perkins for life. It’s also impossible to forget the look of the house on the hill the scene with Martin Balsam on the stairway or the ending (smiling face) view of Norman Bates (Perkins) in the padded room. What begins as a "woman on the run from the law" film becomes a darkly humorous film about an unstable man. Vera Miles and John Gavin (among others) also appear. Joseph Stefano wrote the screenplay from the novel by Robert Bloch. The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Director Best Supporting Actress (Leigh her only Academy Award nomination) B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration and B&W Cinematography (John Russell’s only recognition from the Academy). "Hitch" also received a Directors Guild of America nomination. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1992. #18 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies list; #1 on AFI’s 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list; Norman Bates is AFI’s #2 villain. "A boy’s best friend is his mother." is #56 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes list. #4 on AFI’s Top 25 Film Scores list.

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