The Moment of Psycho : How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder

It was made like a television movie, and completed in less than three months. It killed off its star in forty minutes. There was no happy ending. And it offered the most violent scene to date in American film, punctuated by shrieking strings that seared the national consciousness. Nothing like __Psycho__ had existed before; the movie industry—even America itself—would never be the same.In __The Moment of Psycho__, film critic David Thomson situates Psycho in Alfred Hitchcock’s career, recreating the mood and time when the seminal film erupted onto film screens worldwide. Thomson shows that __Psycho__ was not just a sensation in film: it altered the very nature of our desires. Sex, violence, and horror took on new life. __Psycho__, all of a sudden, represented all America wanted from a film—and, as Thomson brilliantly demonstrates, still does. It killed off its star after forty minutes. There was no happy ending. And it offered the most violent scene to date in American film. Punctuated by shrieking strings that seared the national consciousness, nothing like Psycho had existed before. It was the biggest hit of Alfred Hitchcock's career, and propelled him to new levels of international fame - never before had audiences been so aware of the role of the director in film-making. The movie industry - even America itself - would never be the same. In The Moment of Psycho , film critic David Thomson situates Psycho in Alfred Hitchcock's career, recreating the mood and time when the seminal film erupted onto film screens worldwide. Drawing on his encyclopaedic knowledge of Hollywood, Thomson shows how in 1959, Hitchcock, then sixty years old, made Psycho as an attempt to break personally with the dullness of his own settled domesticity - a struggle which mirrored the sexual, creative, and political ferment that soon overtook the nation. Psycho was not just a sensation in film: it altered the very nature of our desires. Sex, violence, and horror took on new life. Psycho , all of a sudden, represented all America wanted from a film - and, as The Moment of Psycho brilliantly demonstrates, still does. It was made like a television movie, and completed in less than three months. It killed off its star in forty minutes. There was no happy ending. And it offered the most violent scene to date in American film, punctuated by shrieking strings that seared the national consciousness. Nothing like Psycho had existed before; the movie industry -- even America itself -- would never be the same. In The Moment of Psycho, film critic David Thomson situates Psycho in Alfred Hitchcock's career, recreating the mood and time when the seminal film erupted onto film screens worldwide. Thomson shows that Psycho was not just a sensation in film: it altered the very nature of our desires. Sex, violence, and horror took on new life. Psycho, all of a sudden, represented all America wanted from a film -- and, as Thomson brilliantly demonstrates, still does. In "The Moment of Psycho," film critic David Thomson situates "Psycho" in Alfred Hitchcock's career, recreating the mood and time when the seminal film erupted onto film screens worldwide. Thomson brilliantly demonstrates how Hitchcock's creation represented all America wanted from a film--and still does. 1960 -- Continuity -- Room Service -- Housekeeping -- Hitch-cock -- Other Bodies In The Swamp -- A Noir Society -- Lonely People -- On The Way To Fairvale. David Thomson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 172-173) And Index.