The best film of all time!

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2001)

When Alfred Hitchcock started to direct this film in 1959, he could have had no idea that a film starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh could bypass the brilliance of his films starring James Stewart (Vertigo, The Man Who Knew too Much and Rear Window). But how wrong he was...
"Psycho" went on to become the highest grossing black and white film of all time, (In a time when colour films were already popular) the highest grossing horror film of all time and the highest grossing Alfred Hitchcock film of all time. The film made Anthony Perkins a superstar, but sadly, this was more harming to his career than uplifting, as the movie-going public always have (and always will) only seen him as Norman Bates, and nobody else. This was concurred as Perkins never again made a film of real value, but in 1983 "Psycho 2" was a huge hit for Universal Pictures. Janet Leigh on the other hand, went on to make a few well done done films in her respect.

About the film: Anthony Perkins' performance as the stuttering Norman Bates is in my opinion the greatest film performance of all time. His nervous, boyish acting style brings a simple charm to the character, and he even succeeds in creating a sympathetic approach from the public. He even succeeds in hiding his character's madness, and couldn't do it better. Janet Leigh is perfect as the thief, and you even have more sympathy for Norman as for Marion. The rest of the cast, (John Gavin - Sam Loomis; Vera Miles - Lila Crane; Martin Balsam - Milton Arbogast and John McIntire's Sheriff Chambers) are all as good as it gets, but no one matches Anthony Perkins performance. Sorry to say, but John Gavin is miscast. He looks too gentle, too moral to ever cheat on his wife. This is the only bad thing about this cinema classic.
The classic shower scene not only created a single shock, but a film memory to haunt for generations to come. Alfred Hitchcock filmed this scene with great care and delicacy. You can sense this with the fact that not a finger is out of place, and even Janet Leigh still showers in fear.
I was disgusted when I learned that Perkins wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award, because he should have won it! He wasn't nominated for ANY prize of ANY kind, and to crown it all, Janet Leigh was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe. Well deserved, I should think, but Perkins was the real reason that the film reached such success, not Leigh, nor Hitchcock.
I salute both Anthony Perkins and sir Alfred Hitchcock for what they've done for film history, and for the fact that there will be only one Tony Perkins, and one Alfred Hitchcock.