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A review by swicksy
The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder by David Thomson
3.0
Film Critic and Author David Thomson takes on PSYCHO and breaks it down in terms of where it stands in Hitchcock's career, and more importantly how the movie was instrumental in changing the essence of American Cinema as the grisly shower murder scene was nothing anyone had ever seen before. He spends a lot of time on the fact that its the first movie to feature a flushing toilet, something that censors thought was unacceptable (I believe it was Louis B. Mayer who once made the argument that he never wanted to see a bathroom in any of his studio's movies as it took away the glamour of the cinema. Why make these larger than life figures mere mortals by showing that they once in a while had to go to the bathroom?)
The book continues Thomson's idea that the movie-going audience is made up of a group of lonely people, individually connecting with the screen and watching things that they would normally not be caught dead doing like sex and in this case, murder. It makes the case convincingly at that.
Thomson is very obvious about his positive impressions with the first half of the film which he feels is the strongest than he is in the second. He starts off by making the case that PSYCHO is actually 2 separate films split up - the first being Marion's story, the second the investigation into her "disappearance". PSYCHO is of course the movie that famously killed off its biggest start within the first 40 minutes of the picture, something that was unheard of (and still is). His breakdown of Marion Cranes crime and fleeing to the arms of her loving Sam is extremely detailed, and opens up a new perspective on the film and Hitchcock's work as a whole. He makes the case that the second half of the movie lacks a strong leading character, but also details how some of the supporting characters work into Hitchcock's theme and make it stronger than is obvious. The latter section of the book feels like it is a bit padded out to fill space, especially the last chapter that extols the wonders of America's freeway system and that it is safe to stay at roadside motels because the upkeep of them would be more than one psychopathic murderer could handle. It has the effect of ending the book on a weak note rather than some of the other stronger sections which are fascinating.
Starting off strong, the book fades a bit by the end but is still worth the read - especially if you study film - and Thomson expertly proves that PSYCHO is an influential and important piece of Cinema history.
Note: If this site allowed for 1/2 stars I would have given this book 3 1/2.
The book continues Thomson's idea that the movie-going audience is made up of a group of lonely people, individually connecting with the screen and watching things that they would normally not be caught dead doing like sex and in this case, murder. It makes the case convincingly at that.
Thomson is very obvious about his positive impressions with the first half of the film which he feels is the strongest than he is in the second. He starts off by making the case that PSYCHO is actually 2 separate films split up - the first being Marion's story, the second the investigation into her "disappearance". PSYCHO is of course the movie that famously killed off its biggest start within the first 40 minutes of the picture, something that was unheard of (and still is). His breakdown of Marion Cranes crime and fleeing to the arms of her loving Sam is extremely detailed, and opens up a new perspective on the film and Hitchcock's work as a whole. He makes the case that the second half of the movie lacks a strong leading character, but also details how some of the supporting characters work into Hitchcock's theme and make it stronger than is obvious. The latter section of the book feels like it is a bit padded out to fill space, especially the last chapter that extols the wonders of America's freeway system and that it is safe to stay at roadside motels because the upkeep of them would be more than one psychopathic murderer could handle. It has the effect of ending the book on a weak note rather than some of the other stronger sections which are fascinating.
Starting off strong, the book fades a bit by the end but is still worth the read - especially if you study film - and Thomson expertly proves that PSYCHO is an influential and important piece of Cinema history.
Note: If this site allowed for 1/2 stars I would have given this book 3 1/2.