Psycho (1960)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1960
Running Times: 109 mins
Format: black and white     35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1 (negative ratio)     1.85:1 (theatrical ratio)
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Paramount
Copyright: Shamley Productions
Producer: Alfred Hitchcock (uncredited)
Unit Manager: Lew Leary

SCRIPT
Script: Joseph Stefano
Novel: Robert Bloch

DIRECTION
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Assistant Director: Hilton A. Green

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: John L. Russell

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: George Tomasini

MUSIC
Music: Bernard Herrmann

SOUND
Sound Recording: Waldon O. Watson, William Russell
Sound System: Westrex Recording System

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisors: Jack Barron, Robert Dawn
Hair: Florence Bush
Costume Supervisor: Helen Colvig

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Clarence Champagne

VISUAL EFFECTS
Title Designer / Pictorial Consultant: Saul Bass

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Directors: Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy
Set Decorator: George Milo

MISCELLANEOUS
Production Assistant: Peggy Robertson (uncredited)
Bird Handler: John 'Bud' Cardos (uncredited)

LOCATIONS
Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Route 99, Fresno-Bakersfield Highway, California, USA; San Fernando Valley, California, USA; Universal City, California, USA

CAST
Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates)
Janet Leigh (Marion Crane)
Vera Miles (Lila Crane)
John Gavin (Sam Loomis)
Martin Balsam (Milton Arbogast)
John McIntire (Sheriff Chambers)
Simon Oakland (Dr Richmond)
Vaughn Taylor (George Lowery)
Frank Albertson (Tom Cassidy)
Lurene Tuttle (Mrs Chambers)
Pat Hitchcock (Caroline)
John Anderson (California Charlie)
Mort Mills (Highway Patrolman)
Ted Knight (prison guard - uncredited)
Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, Jeanette Nolan (voice of Mother (uncredited))
Francis De Sales (official (uncredited))
George Eldredge (Chief of Police (uncredited))
Sam Flint (official (uncredited))
Frank Killmond (Bob Summerfield (uncredited))
Helen Wallace (customer in Sam's Store (uncredited))
Anne Dore (double for Anthony Perkins in the shower scene (uncredited))
Marli Renfro (double for Janet Leigh in the shower scene (uncredited))
Alfred Hitchcock (man in cowboy hat outside realty office (uncredited))

PLOT SUMMARY

Marion Crane goes on the run with a huge amount of her employer's money, hoping to start a new life with her lover. She checks into the Bates Motel where she meets the shy but friendly owner, Norman, who seems to be hen-pecked by his mother who lives in the imposing old house nearby. Then she decides to have a shower...

Still great after all these years and more viewings than one can remember. Anthony Perkins was never as effective in anything else as he was here as the deranged Norman Bates, role model for dozens of big screen serial killers, and the shock demise of Janet Leigh's heroine less than half way through the film still packs a considerable punch. Years ahead of its time, Psycho is one of Hitchcock's unquestioned masterpieces and is a landmark in horror movie history. If you value your sanity avoid the pointless remake at all costs.

France
Theatrical Distributor: Action Gitanes (1999 re-release)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Video Distributor: Universal Pictures

Australia
Rating: M

Finland
Rating: K-16

France
Rating: -16; -12 (1999 re-release)

Germany
Rating: 18

Norway
Rating: 15
Cut by 1 mins 45 sec in 1960 ands not released uncut until 1975.

Sweden
Rating: 15

Switzerland
Rating: 16

UK
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: R
There is a much-quoted rumour that the Psycho was not passed for release by the MPAA because Janet Leigh's nipple was supposedly visible during the shower scene. Commendably, Hitchcock didn't remove the offending scene, but merely resubmitted the film unchanged, assuming that the MPAA either wouldn't bother to watch it, or miss it the second time. He was right.

1961
Academy Awards
Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock) - nominated
Best Supporting Actress (Vera Miles) - nominated
Best Art Direction (Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy) - nominated
Best Cinematography (John L. Russell) - nominated

1959
November
30: USA - production begins

1960
February
Day Unknown:USA - production ends

March
8: USA - theatrical release

October
7: West Germany - theatrical release
31: Sweden - theatrical release

December
2: Finland - theatrical release

1961
April
2: Spain - theatrical release

May
1: Denmark - theatrical release

1971
August
2: Spain - theatrical re-release

1998
May
1: Portugal - theatrical release (restored version)

July
31: UK - theatrical re-release

September
5: Russia - theatrical re-release

1999
January
15: Switzerland - theatrical re-release in Zürich

October
20: France - theatrical re-release

A new - and altogether different - screen excitement!!!

Don't give away the ending - it's the only one we have!

The screen's master of suspense moves his camera into the icy blackness of the unexplained!

Production 9401 - shooting title
Psyco - Italian title
Wimpy - shooting title

SEQUELS
Psycho II (1983)
Psycho III (1986)
Psycho IV: The Beginning (1991)
Bates Motel (1987)

REMAKE
Psycho (1998)

SEE ALSO
American Psycho (2000)
Crimes of Passion (1984)
Deranged (1974)
Diabolique (1996)
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Fade to Black (1980)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)
High Anxiety (1977)
Homicidal (1961)
Last Embrace (1979)
Maniac (1963)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Psycho Beach Party (2000)
Psycho Too (1999)
Psycosissimo (1961)
Raising Cain (1992)
Scream (1996)
Scream 2 (1997)
Scream 3 (2000)
Il silenzio dei prosciutti (1994)
Strait-Jacket (1964)
Taste of Fear (1961)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Wacko (1981)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
100 Years at the Movies (1994)
100 Years of Horror (1996)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (1998)
The American Film Institute's Tribute to Steven Spielberg (1995)
Aroused (1966)
Halloween (1978)
The Hitchcock Classics Collection (1985)
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)
The Horror Hall of Fame (1990)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Alfred Hitchcock (1973)
Mørkeræd (1998)
Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann (1992)
Terror in the Aisles (1984)

MAGAZINES

Cineaction! no.50 (October 1999) pp.70-75 (USA)
illustrated article (Manufacturing Horror in Hitchcock's Psycho by Steven Jay Schneider)

Diário de Notícias 1 May 1998
review (by Elisabete França)

Empire March 1994 p.122 (UK)
review

Empire September 1994 p.70 (UK)
review

Empire August 1998 p.42 (UK)
review (by David Parkinson)

Entertainment Weekly no.546 (23 June 2000) p.108 (UK)
illustrated article (Encore: The Drain Event by Daniel Fierman)

Film Review February 1996 p.40 (UK)
review (by Anwar Brett)

Film Review August 1998 p.24 (UK)
review (by Anwar Brett)

Premiere November 1995 pp.106-109, 111
illustrated article

Shivers 38 pp.28-31
illustrated article

Starlog no.132 (July 1988)
illustrated interview with Janet Leigh (Mistress of Menace by Tom Weaver)

Total Film September 1998 p.83
review (by Tom Dawson)

TV Times 19 December 1987 - 1 January 1988 pp.15, 97
review, credits

BOOKS

Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello
production notes

The BFI Companion to Crime p.275
credits, review

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock by David Sterritt
review

Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller by Janet Leigh and Christopher Nickens
production notes

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films II p.384
credits

Stay Out of the Shower pp.7-22
credits, illustrated article

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

serial killers; motels; criminals; showers

CONTRIBUTORS

Kevin Lyons; Steven Schneider

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008