The Sound and the Fury of Psycho
The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text with Faulkner's Appendix (Modern Library) Psycho (Collector's Edition) Psycho Psycho (1960) Many consider William Faulkner's novel 'The Sound and the Fury' to be THE Greatest American Novel. I concur with them. But you must read that book more than once to appreciate what Faulkner was really trying to do as he portrayed a southern family in turmoil and a South that was still trying to bring itself out of the wreckage, both physical and political, of the Civil War. I believe that 'Psycho' may well be THE Greatest American Movie, and could easily have been titled "The Sound and the Fury" as well. Hitchcock struggled to make this movie. He teetered on the edge of financial ruin and put his career and reputation on the line. Fighting battles with the Hollywood production company and the censors and putting up the $800,000 to produce ,the movie took a lot out of Hitch. But there was a determination to film this story of a psychopath and a confused,beautiful, love stricken woman whose unavoidable destiny was to stumble into his world. It took the application of Bernard Herman's unforgettable ,and now very famous, score to get the pre-viewing critics to put their stamp of approval on the film. Shot in the all too appropriate black and white, "Psycho" would ultimately gross over $40,000,000 and become Hitchcock's signature movie. The music delivers the opening jolt as it accompanies the movie's title and opening credits. The actors' names are slashed and divided as violins(violence?) screech harshly and thin lines of black and white criss cross the screen, all of this designed to warn us of the sharpness and movement of the weapon that will be used as well as the upcoming clash between good and evil . This theme of division by thin piercing objects permeates the movie. We see one in the form of what appears to be a radio tower as the viewer is shown the urban panorama of Phoenix on a hot after noon. As the camera pans from left to right, it brings us ever closer to our first view of Marion Crane. The tower completely divides the sky and horizon. Just as the camera passes it we are suddenly accelerated forward and things become a shade darker. This abrupt change in depth and light is classic Hitchcock,giving the viewer a sense of being propelled into the series of macabre events that are about to unfold. Next we are taken through a hotel window, partially open on this hot Arizona afternoon. The characters in the room are also classic Hitchcock as he loved to match vivacious blonde actresses with tall, dark and handsome males . Here we see Janet Leigh playing the role of Marion Crane who is laying on the bed in post love making afterglow. Her lover , Sam, is in town for business and, more importantly, a rendezvous with Marion.. They are in a sleazy, darkened , pay by the hour hotel room, having just finished their "lunch hour" with the menu featuring clandestine sex while Marion's lunch remains uneaten on the nightstand . Good versus evil comes into play right from the start as Crane's concern is immediately disclosed. She announces to Sam that she wants 'respectability' in their relationship, a.k.a. marriage. She wants more from Sam, not just sex in cheap hotels as she hints at the type of woman who typically does such a thing. "I pay too", she says as her lover opens the blind and seemingly submits to her demands. Thus we see the good side of Marion Crane as she demands that the affair that they are having end in favor of a more traditional relationship and ultimate marriage. But she is reminded by her man, Sam, that he hasn't the means to support her in style. The evil of money now clashes with Marion's resolve to be proper with her behaviour .For the moment, she assures him that she doesn't care about where she lives or how much money they have, as long as marriage takes the place of sneaking around.But she does care and ultimately succumbs to temptation and sin upon returning to work that afternoon. We see Crane enter a real estate office she has worked in for 10 years. As she opens the door, we see Hitchcock sign the film with his traditional cameo appearance, this time standing outside of the office, framed by the large office window. When we see her boss enter a few minutes later with a drunken client in tow, Hitchcock is gone, the signature on the film complete. This became a tradition for Hitchcock and it is fun to try to identify him as he does it in a variety of clever ways in each movie. The drunken client becomes an embarassment to Marion's boss who pleads with him to come into his office because it is air conditioned. But the client is not bothered by the heat and is much more interested in flirting with Crane and flaunting the $40,000 in cash that he waves around. Indeed this character, could well be the devil himself, with his mustached, drunken face in a nearly constant devilish grin. Within minutes he has disclosed himself as a tax evading, Las Vegas loving, sex fiend as he tries to lure the beuatiful Marion into his lair with a trip to Las Vegas. He makes the claim that he is using the money to "buy off unhappiness", by giving his 18 year old daughter a new home for a wedding gift. To him, this is the preferred option as opposed to having his daughter and mate earn their first home. Marion is clearly turned off by his advances and grotesque display of untaxed cash. After all, she has just left her lover, a man who seems to fly by the staight and narrow by working hard, paying his alimony and agreeing to her demands to be married in order to continue their love affair. She is relieved when this drunken blow hard is finally lured into the boss's office, not because of the air conditioning, which. of course, would not be appealing to the devil, but by the promise of more alcohol. She is asked by her boss to get the money out of the office for the weekend by depositing it in the bank's safety deposit box. Thus the stage is set as she now has in hand a large amount of cash, a weekend off ahead of her , and a lover in eastern California that she can now be with if she is bold enough to leave town with money provided by a man she despises.She is about to buy off unhappiness. Or so she believes. As we have already learned, she has a conscience that will soon cause a disturbing emotional conflict. At home, we see her packing and we see through her body language evidence for second thoughts about her intention to take the money and run. The money lies in a large white envelope on her bed. What to do? What to do? She truly has the proverbial angel on one shoulder and devil on the other. But her mind was made up when she left the office and to Marion, there is no turning back now, and no significant feelings of remorse....yet. As she drives into the night she stops due to fatigue and we see her parked by the road in a desolate stretch of highway in eastern California. As if it has pierced the front of her car , we once again see a linear vertical object, this time a telephone pole, hinting at the fateful event soon to occur. The journey then continues and we start to see fear creep into her mind, a fear that is worsened by the state trooper that woke her from her roadside slumber . Her distress visibly escalates as the trooper makes it clear that he senses that something is "wrong". Finally , he lets her go, but only temporarily as we see him arrive at the used car dealership that Marion stops at. The paranoia that develops overwhelms her as we see her buy a newspaper to see if her crime has made the news and hurriedly buys a used car with California plates. She then makes an error on a second night of driving, this time in pouring rain. Clearly we see that night driving does not agree with her and now she has accidentally gotten on the 'old road' to Fairview, the town where Sam lives. As she arrives at her unfortunate destination, the Bates Hotel, she stops for the night, not realizing that she is only 15 miles away from Fairview, Sam, and safety. After all, she is exhausted and wants sleep,food, and.......a shower. It is here that we are introduced to the social deviate who gives the film it's name. The hotel is empty because of a new bypass highway, the one Crane misses seeing, blinded by oncoming car lights, a deluge of rain and overwhelming fatigue. Behind the hotel lurks the classic Victorian house, creepy beyond imagination. There is no one in the hotel office and she honks her horn. A shadowy figure appears in a lit window of the house then disappears . Shortly thereafter we finally meet Bates. Norman Bates. He greets Crane and appears charming, hospitable and at first, normal(Norman?). But he is the "Psycho" who will stop at nothing to protect the image of his mother by both incorporating her spirit into his own body and preserving something so shocking that I would ruin the film's greatest surprise by revealing it here. The name Norman Bates may also have been intentionally picked by the author of the novel that the movie is based on. For if you pronounce Bates backwards....Setab..... you get a word that sounds like stab. We are then shocked into a state of extraordinary fright as the film's most famous, and goriest, scene unfolds in Crane's bathroom in cabin #1...right next to the office. It is too bad that she did not pick up on the major clue that this man is very dangerous. She does notice the stuffed birds in the parlor that Bates lures her into in order to 'stuff' her with food he has prepared. It is an established fact that serial killers often start off by killing animals, sometimes as early as childhood. Bates admits that this is more than a hobby. Crane(a type of bird,by the way)acknowledges this and then becomes concerned about his obvious social isolation. Bates tells her 'You eat like a bird". But she fails to put it all together and, instead of taking a shower, jump into her car and travel the mere 15 miles to Fairview and the safety of Sam. Why does she fail? Is it her fatigue? Or is it the fact that she reconsiders her crime while eating in Norman's parlor and does not want to go on to Fairview. She does hint at her intention to right a wrong she has committed while talking to Bates. The angel on her shoulder may well have doomed her. The devil, on the other shoulder is the clear winner in Marion's case. The shower ends prematurely. The story continues though as people who are aware of Marion's absence and associated crime arrive in Fairview, knowing that Sam is there. The evil that starts with the $40,000 and the character that buys off unhappiness propels them all into the evil of Bates' world. Who will triumph? Are there really any winners? Does good just cancel out bad or does it go further and prevail? Lives will be lost before the movie ends. And another gruesome scene occurs in the basement of Bate's house that may frighten the viewer as much, or even more than the one that takes place in cabin #1's bathroom. In the end, the devil is back in his lair, hell in the form of a prison cell. The occupant's sardonic grin reveals the lurking evil within, belying the words "I wouldn't even hurt a fly". You can watch Psycho for the sheer terror and, hence, thrill of it.You don't have to dissect the movie as I have tried to do here to appreciate the obvious horrific events that occur. At the very least , you will feel the terror. But watch it again and again so that you can appreciate the intricacies and subtle, but powerful suggestions and metaphors. Perhaps you'll see why this movie is Hitchcock's, and perhaps America's, finest picture ever. It is the same with Faulkner's book 'The Sound and the Fury'. One reading will give you the general idea. Several more will reveal details that make the story truly remarkeable. The Sound and the Fury Read more
