Norman Bates: "A man's best friend is his mother."...

Rating: Null/10 (14 April 2001)

The minute Bernard Herrmann's menacing score begins for the opening credits, you know you're in for an intense combination of horror, humor and suspense. Hitch really does a job on us with this one--disposing of the heroine (Janet Leigh) with a shocking shower scene. Then playing further tricks on us before the shock ending reveals just how twisted Norman Bates is.
Anthony Perkins was forever identified with his role as the motel keeper, all boyish charm and pleasant manners while he concocts his wild schemes. Janet Leigh deserved her Golden Globe award for her performance as Marian Crane, the embezzler who has fallen into her own private trap and wants nothing more than to return the money toher employer. Little does she--or we--know what's in store for her.
Summing up: one of the finest chillers Alfred Hitchcock ever directed with every frame of film calculated to keep you absorbed until the stunning climax.
Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam all do fine work here. But the real star of the movie is Bernard Herrmann's gripping and very edgy background score, never more brilliantly menacing than when Janet Leigh peers through her windshield and the driving rain to see a sign that reads: Bates Motel. By the way, Pat Hitchcock, the director's daughter, has an amusing office scene with Janet Leigh in which she imagines that the only reason a man isn't flirting with her is that she's wearing a wedding ring. Touches of sardonic humor like this are evident throughout. Great film.