Daily Comic Journal: July 27, 2017: “Norman, Is That You?”
This comic may go over like a lead balloon to anyone who’s either never seen “Psycho” or saw it just once and didn’t care for it. But for me, it’s one of my all time favorites (in my personal Top Ten). I didn’t see it until I was about 17 years old, and then it was on late night TV, on Chiller Theater (Pittsburgh’s Saturday night monster movie show, hosted by the late great Bill Cardille) and immediately loved it (if it’s possible to use the word love, with the subject matter of this film). From Hitchcock’s great direction, Bernard Herrmann’s awesome soundtrack, to a story that keeps you unnerved and on the edge of your seat. (and I haven’t even mentioned the shower scene!)
Well, it’s 3 weeks after you inked this comic, but my son and I are watching Psycho now. I think I was in my early 20s when I first saw it, and my son is 25 and seeing it for the first time. (Oh, oh – shower scene!)
I try to think what it must have been like to see the movie in 1960 before anyone knew what was going to happen and how it ended. (Also, taking into account 1960s moralities and what was typically shown in movies.) Pretty amazing and shocking film.
Exactly. What did your son think of it? Did he already know the ending? (that’s the trouble these days, so many films have been satirized that many people see the spoofs long before the original film.)
There’s a story, not sure if it’s true or not, that while filming Psycho a rumor was floated that Helen Hayes was going to play the mother, in an uncredited role. This way audiences would be expecting to see HH in the reveal at the end.
Another thing I just remembered that I forgot to add in my original post. When we first see Janet Leigh, she’s having her lunch time fling. As she dresses to go back to work, her bra is black. When she leaves work with the money, supposedly to go home, she keeps on driving and eventually falls asleep in her car. When she wakes, she trades in her car for a new one and continues driving until she stops at the Bates Motel. After her meal with Norman, she’s already decided to return the money, so decides to take a shower and go to sleep. When undressing for the shower (this is the first time she’s undressed since leaving that hotel room two days ago) her bra is now white. This was Hitchcock’s subtle way to show that Marion had decided to be “good” (white) now and no longer “bad (black).