Great Scene: “Psycho”

78 shots in 45 seconds = One of the most memorable movie scenes ever.

After I first saw the movie Psycho (1960) as an impressionable youth, there wasn’t a week that went by for several years that, while taking a shower, I didn’t recall (and get freaked out by) this great scene.

Here is the script excerpt:

        INT. MARY'S MOTEL ROOM - (NIGHT)
	Mary is seated at the small desk, engrossed in figuring in a 
	small notebook. We see from these figures a calculation
        which indicates her intention to make a restitution of the
        money she has used of the forty thousand dollars. We see,
        too, her bankbook. The paper reads thus: top figure, 40,000;
        directly beneath it 500, the amount used for the new car;
        total after subtraction, 39,500. In another spot we see a
        figure which matches the balance in her bankbook; 624.00.
	Beneath this is the figure 500, and the amount after 
	subtraction, 124.00. She studies the figures, sighs, not 
	wearily but with a certain satisfaction, with the pleasure 
	that comes when one knows that at any cost one is going to 
	continue doing the right thing. After a moment she tears the 
	page out of the notebook and, rising, begins to rip it into 
	small pieces. She goes into the bathroom, drops the pieces 
	into the toilet bowl, flushes the toilet. Then she drops her 
	robe and steps into the tub and turns the shower on.
	INT. MARY IN SHOWER
	Over the bar on which hangs the shower curtain, we can see 
	the bathroom door, not entirely closed. For a moment we
        watch Mary as she washes and soaps herself.
	There is still a small worry in her eyes, but generally she 
	looks somewhat relieved.
	Now we see the bathroom door being pushed slowly open.
	The noise of the shower drowns out any sound. The door is 
	then slowly and carefully closed.
	And we see the shadow of a woman fall across the shower 
	curtain. Mary's back is turned to the curtain. The white 
	brightness of the bathroom is almost blinding.
	Suddenly we see the hand reach up, grasp the shower curtain, 
	rip it aside.
							 CUT TO:
	MARY - ECU
	As she turns in response to the feel and SOUND of the shower 
	curtain being torn aside. A look of pure horror erupts in 
	her face. A low terrible groan begins to rise up out of her 
	throat. A hand comes into the shot. The hand holds an
        enormous bread knife. The flint of the blade shatters the
        screen to an almost total, silver blankness.
	THE SLASHING
	An impression of a knife slashing, as if tearing at the very 
	screen, ripping the film. Over it the brief gulps of 
	screaming. And then silence. And then the dreadful thump as 
	Mary's body falls in the tub.
	REVERSE ANGLE
	The blank whiteness, the blur of the shower water, the hand 
	pulling the shower curtain back. We catch one flicker of a 
	glimpse of the murderer. A woman, her face contorted with 
	madness, her head wild with hair, as if she were wearing a 
	fright-wig.  And then we see only the curtain, closed across 
	the tub, and hear the rush of the shower water. Above the 
	shower-bar we see the bathroom door open again and after a 
	moment we HEAR the SOUND of the front door slamming.
							 CUT TO:
	THE DEAD BODY
	Lying half in, half out of the tub, the head tumbled over, 
	touching the floor, the hair wet, one eye wide open as if 
	popped, one arm lying limp and wet along the tile floor.  
	Coming down the side of the tub, running thick and dark
        along the porcelain, we see many small threads of blood.
        CAMERA FOLLOWS away from the body, travels slowly across the 
	bathroom, past the toilet, out into the bedroom. As CAMERA 
	approaches the bed, we see the folded newspaper as Mary
        placed it on the bedside table.
	CLOSE UP - THE NEWSPAPER
	beside the bed. The CAMERA now moves away over to the window 
	and looks up to the house, and as it gets there we HEAR, 
	coming from within the house, the SOUND of Norman's fearful, 
	shocked voice.
				NORMAN'S VOICE
		Mother! Oh God, what... blood, 
		blood... mother...!

Here is the movie version of the scene:

One of the reasons the scene is so compelling is because of its ‘slashing’ pace — compared to every scene up to this point, which play out at a rather leisurely speed, the shower scene — from the point of attack to Norman’s departure — is (I’ve read) 78 shots in 45 seconds. You can go here to see a shot-by-shot breakdown of the scene. And check out the scene description:

        An impression of a knife slashing, as if tearing at the very 
	screen, ripping the film. Over it the brief gulps of 
	screaming. And then silence. And then the dreadful thump as 
	Mary's body falls in the tub.

Four lines cover all those camera shots.

For more Great Scenes, go here.

[Originally posted October 31, 2008]