Cleaning Up After Mom

Rating: 9/10 (18 October 2006)

During the Mid Eighties I attended a science fiction convention in Manhattan and the feature attraction there was Anthony Perkins. There was Mr. Perkins, the celebrated Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho among all the Trekkies and Doctor Who fans, etc. I think he looked on it as an opportunity to promote the succeeding Psycho films.
Tony Perkins was clearly ill at ease among the Sci-Fi crowd. People like the Star Trek cast members know what to expect at these gatherings and act accordingly. Perkins did not really know how to handle the banter, he was in my estimation a serious guy who must have thought he was in a freak show. I asked him about appearing in Friendly Persuasion with Gary Cooper and I told him that that was my favorite role he did. He looked grateful that someone knew he did something besides Norman Bates.
But for better or worse, Norman Bates became his career role and it's what we remember Anthony Perkins for. He does create an indelible impression on the screen with Alfred Hitchcock's direction as the shy mother fixated man running a flea bag motel in an area where a new super highway has taken all the potential business.
Psycho has a simple plot. Janet Leigh on an impulse embezzles $40,000 in cash from her employer and goes on the run. She winds up in the Bates motel run by Norman and his mother. Later on private detective Martin Balsam goes after her as well. And finally John Gavin as Leigh's boy friend and Vera Miles as her sister go looking for the both of them.
Simple enough, but Alfred Hitchcock creates a mood of terror and suspense that lingers long after you've seen the film. My favorite shot of the film is not Leigh's legendary shower stabbing, but of Martin Balsam being knocked down and falling down that flight of stairs and then being stabbed to death. The camera work showing Balsam falling backwards is the most terrifying part of Psycho.
Though Anthony Perkins did so many other good things, the average cinema fan will tell you 99 out of 100 times that Norman Bates is the role he remembers Perkins for. So Perkins went with the flow.
It was repetitious for him, but a treat for fans.