By The Butcher
You love ’em, he hates ’em! The Butcher carves up your favourite films, and this week, he applies his sharpened cleaver to 1960’s Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock’s epochal thriller starring Anthony Perkins as knife-wielding madman Norman Bates.
Far be it for me to criticise the somewhat hysterically labelled Master Of Suspense, but am I the only one who thinks that director Alfred Hitchcock was actually immensely overrated? Something that any auteur, including Fat Alfred himself, should try to remember is that for all the originality, stylishness and ingenuity in the world, the end result still has to be engaging.
The truth is that this week’s critique could have been about three of Hitchcock’s other films: The Birds (ridiculous), Vertigo (boring) and Rope (pretentious). They all represent the offerings of a man who seemed more concerned with being the caricature that he would eventually become, rather than making films that were thrilling, exciting or even entertaining. Being eccentric, aristocratic and quintessentially English doesn’t mean anything when your films are rubbish – just ask Guy Ritchie.
Psycho was probably the picture that really cemented Hitchcock as a darling of the industry, and it remains his best remembered and most talked about film of all. It apparently changed the landscape of cinema for good, and was comparable to Citizen Kane in its manipulation of the audience. Personally, I’d happily compare it to Citizen Kane – mainly because they both suck, big time.
Psycho focuses on the journey of Marion Crane, played by the sexy but entirely unlikeable Janet Leigh, who drops in for an ill-fated stay at a creepy motel in the backwaters of rural America after stealing $40,000. Marion, however, is killed in the film’s first half hour, leaving the audience with no discernible protagonist to root for. Oh, great…well, the rest of the film should be fun!
Psycho, for those that have endured it to the bitter end, is actually about the deranged goings-on at The Bates Motel and the madness of its owner, Norman, overplayed by Anthony Perkins. Hitchcock sets out to make us believe that Norman is engaged in a battle of wills with his mother, supposedly a knife-wielding homicidal maniac. The director then “shocks” us with the revelation that Norman is his Mother. His mother is Norman. They’re the same person. Who saw that one coming? Well, anyone with half a brain actually. Big. Fat. Failure. Master Of Suspense? The bloated toff couldn’t suspend me from school.
Want to read more from The Butcher? Check out his angry missives against 12 Years A Slave, Red Dog, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Breathless, Elizabeth, Miracle On 34th Street, The Full Monty, There Will Be Blood, Les Miserables, The King’s Speech, Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Magnificent Seven, Gone With The Wind, The Right Stuff, 81/2, Pulp Fiction, Easy Rider, The Shawshank Redemption, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Wizard Of Oz, Jaws, Black Swan, Gladiator, Chopper, I’m Not There, Interstellar, Marvel Studios and Citizen Kane.
