Movie Title: Psycho
Release Date: June 16, 1960
Runtime: 109 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay Written By: Joseph Stefano
Based On: The 1959 novel Psycho by Robert Bloch, loosely inspired by elements of the Ed Gein case.
Is it a remake?: No. This is the original 1960 Hitchcock film. A nearly shot-for-shot color remake directed by Gus Van Sant was released in 1998.

Main Cast:

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates
Janet Leigh as Marion Crane
Vera Miles as Lila Crane
John Gavin as Sam Loomis
Martin Balsam as Private Investigator Milton Arbogast
John McIntire as Deputy Sheriff Al Chambers
Simon Oakland as Dr. Richman
Frank Albertson as Tom Cassidy
Pat Hitchcock as Caroline
Vaughn Taylor as George Lowery
Lurene Tuttle as Mrs. Chambers
John Anderson as California Charlie
Mort Mills as Highway Patrol Officer
Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, and Jeanette Nolan as voices of Norma “Mother” Bates, uncredited.

Budget:

$806,947 / approximately $807,000.

Box Office:

Worldwide gross: approximately $50 million, according to Wikipedia’s film page.
Box Office Mojo lists Psycho under title ID tt0054215 and identifies the film as a 1960 release, but the accessible result did not show a complete full-gross table in the snippet.
Some franchise summaries list the original film at $32 million domestic/U.S. box office, which may reflect domestic gross or theatrical rental-era reporting rather than full worldwide gross.

Awards:

Academy Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars.
- Best Director — Alfred Hitchcock
- Best Supporting Actress — Janet Leigh
- Best Cinematography, Black-and-White — John L. Russell
- Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
Golden Globes: Janet Leigh won Best Supporting Actress.
National Film Registry: Selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in 1992.
AFI recognition: Psycho appears on multiple American Film Institute lists, including AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills at No. 1, and Norman Bates ranked No. 2 among villains.

Short Plot Summary:

Marion Crane steals $40,000 from her employer and flees Phoenix, hoping to start a new life with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis. During a rainstorm, she stops at the isolated Bates Motel, run by the nervous and awkward Norman Bates. Norman lives under the shadow of his domineering mother, whose presence seems to control the motel and everything around it. When Marion disappears, her sister, boyfriend, and a private detective begin searching for answers.

Key Quotes:

“A boy’s best friend is his mother.” — Norman Bates
“We all go a little mad sometimes.” — Norman Bates
“A hobby should pass the time, not fill it.” — Marion Crane
“She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes.” — Norman Bates

Trivia

Director:
- Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed Psycho independently through Shamley Productions.
- Paramount reportedly rejected the property before Hitchcock pursued it himself. Hitchcock acquired the rights to Robert Bloch’s novel for $9,500 and reportedly tried to buy up copies of the book to protect the story’s surprises.
- Hitchcock used much of the crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, helping keep the production smaller, faster, and less expensive than his major studio features.
- Hitchcock’s no-late-admission policy became part of the film’s marketing. The campaign insisted viewers had to see the movie from the beginning to preserve the shock structure.
Cast / Casting:
- Anthony Perkins’ performance as Norman Bates became one of the defining roles in horror cinema and he later reprised the role in Psycho II, Psycho III, and Psycho IV: The Beginning.
- Janet Leigh was the film’s major star attraction, which made the story’s mid-film structural twist especially shocking for 1960 audiences.
- Pat Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock’s daughter, appears as Caroline, Marion Crane’s co-worker.
- Norma Bates’ voice was not performed by one person throughout the film. Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, and Jeanette Nolan provided uncredited voice work, with Gregg performing the final-scene voice.
Soundtrack / Score:
- The score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.
- Herrmann’s all-string score became one of the most famous horror/suspense scores in film history.
- The screeching strings in the shower scene became one of the most recognizable sound cues in cinema.
- Hitchcock reportedly considered leaving the shower scene without music, but Herrmann’s cue helped define the sequence’s final impact.
Location:
- The story opens in Phoenix, Arizona, where Marion Crane works before fleeing with the stolen money.
- The Bates Motel and Bates house were built on the Universal backlot and remain among the most recognizable horror locations in movie history.
- Highway footage was shot between Gorman and Fresno, California for Marion’s driving sequence.
- Hitchcock sent a crew to Phoenix to capture material for the opening shot, but the intended helicopter footage reportedly proved too shaky and had to be combined with studio material.
Behind-The-Scenes:
- Filming began November 11, 1959 and ended February 1, 1960.
- The film was shot in black-and-white, partly to reduce costs and partly to soften the impact of the violent material.
- The film was shot on 35mm using many 50mm lenses, creating a field of view closer to natural human vision.
- The shower scene became one of the most studied sequences in film history. The documentary 78/52 takes its title from the reported 78 camera setups and 52 cuts used for the sequence.
- The shower sequence is often remembered as more graphic than it actually is because of editing, sound, music, and audience imagination.
- A flushing toilet appears in the film, which was considered unusually bold for mainstream American cinema at the time.
- Psycho pushed against Hollywood Production Code taboos involving sexuality, violence, voyeurism, and bathroom imagery.
Nostalgia:
- The shower scene became a pop culture landmark and is widely cited as one of the most famous scenes in movie history.
- Psycho is frequently discussed as a key bridge between classic suspense thrillers and modern horror/slasher cinema.
- The Bates Motel, the silhouette of the Bates house, and Bernard Herrmann’s strings have become instantly recognizable horror imagery.
- The film’s marketing campaign turned theater attendance itself into an event, with audiences warned not to enter late.
Easter Eggs:
- Alfred Hitchcock makes his customary cameo early in the film, standing outside Marion Crane’s office wearing a cowboy hat.
- The name Norman Bates and the mother fixation connect back to Robert Bloch’s novel and its loose inspiration from the Ed Gein case.
- The film’s later sequels and 1998 remake expand the franchise, but the original’s key iconography — the house, the motel, Mother, and the shower — remains the template.
Misc:
- Psycho was initially divisive with critics, but audience interest and strong box office led to major critical re-evaluation.
- The Catholic Legion of Decency rated the film “morally objectionable in part,” reflecting how provocative it was for 1960.
- The film became Hitchcock’s most commercially successful movie.
- Hitchcock later sold rights connected to Psycho and his television anthology to MCA/Universal, making him a major MCA shareholder.
- Psycho influenced later horror, mystery thrillers, and proto-slasher films, including later works built around hidden killers, voyeurism, and shocking mid-story turns.