Time has dulled Psycho's cutting edge but it's still worth watching

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2011)

Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is one of the most famous movies of all time. People who've never seen it are nonetheless familiar with the infamous shower scene and its spiky musical accompaniment. In a way, this familiarity works against the film, as does the parade of imitators down through the years.
I'll admit that I may not be the most objective judge of this film's merit. I first saw the pointlessly faithful remake and I also read Robert Bloch's novel (which is the same in most respects). So, the movie was basically 'spoiled' for me, though with all of the references in popular culture you'd be hard-pressed to go into the movie 'fresh' to begin with. For a movie that hinges on a pair of twists, that's a considerable issue. That's not to say that the movie doesn't have other impressive elements, though.
Janet Leigh received an Oscar nomination for her performance but as far as I'm concerned Anthony Perkins easily outdid her. He went unrecognized by awards bodies at the time but the character of Norman Bates is now one of the most famous creations in cinema. In support, Martin Balsam is a welcome sight while Vera Miles & John Gavin are acceptable though they aren't really given a lot to work with.
Meanwhile, Hitch's direction was expertly handled, as always, and it resulted in the last Oscar nomination of his career. The cinematography was also Oscar nominated but I wasn't especially impressed by it, though I will say that the Oscar-nominated set decoration/art direction was indeed worthy of recognition. Bafflingly, Bernard Hermann's now-legendary score seems to have been completely ignored at the time.
In the end, I think that "Psycho" ranks a bit below Hitchcock masterpieces like "Rear Window" & "Vertigo". Admittedly, there are some absolutely great parts but it also starts slow and has an overreliance on twists (which you might already know even if you haven't seen the movie). That's not even getting into the scores of lesser imitators that have explored similar territory over the years. So, while "Psycho" is undoubtedly a landmark film with some very impressive elements, I'd say that time has been kinder to its reputation than its content.