The Steves discuss the 1960 genre-defining classic, Psycho, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's making us happy?
Movie Discussion Includes
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the 1960 genre-defining classic, Psycho, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's making us happy?
Movie Discussion Includes
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennett Martin, and this is Steven
Stephen:Martin Bennett, and welcome to a Lifetime of
Steve:Happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows in other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy, will hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:This October, we're highlighting classic horror, so grab your shower cap because today we're covering the 1960 film Psycho.
Steve:Yes. And why do we love Psycho so much in my life? Oh,
Stephen:so, um, it's iconic. It is like, clearly there are so many things that, um, have been based off of Psycho as well as so many things that. part of pop culture that you know of, even if you've never seen the movie.
Steve:Yeah, we were like, as we were watching it, and I'm sure we'll touch on it more, but we were like, how, like what was it like going in and not knowing anything? Cuz nowadays you can't, like it's so ingrained in pop culture, right? In film, in society. And the twist is even part. Yeah. And it's not like we keep it secret anymore. And you know, it's uh, how old movies? 60 something? 70 something year old. 62 year old movie. Yeah, exactly. So it's not like the, we can blame anyone for spoiling it, but at the same time, you can't go in with that same suspense. But even knowing the Twist, it still is a great movie that holds up to even by modern day standards, I would say, in terms of building suspense and character.
Stephen:Absolutely. And it's, this is one of those that I think definitely. um, benefits from being shot in black and white as well. Yes,
Steve:for short. And I just love, it's also as we'll get into it, it's deep history in terms of the production and making of, and how it became a movie because not a lot of movies when you like Googled or listened to some of the movie history show up with more than just a couple of funny, you know, well this one time The Star did that silly thing. Yeah. Ha ha ha. But like, this actually goes into full on like stories and it's just really. But before
Stephen:we get into all that, my dear, what's been making you happy?
Steve:I would say bear and breakfast.
Stephen:Oh, I, You're gonna have to explain
Steve:that one. It's as often I need to explain what's making me happy. But it is a game out on the Nintendo Switch and Steam where you are a bear. Making a bed and breakfast in the woods,
Stephen:it's Now, do other animals come to this bed breakfast or do people come to the bed? Breakfast people come to the
Steve:bread and
Stephen:breakfast and they're not scared that you're going to eat them?
Steve:Well, they start off scared at first, but as I become a good hotel manager, they end up falling like in friends with me and they have little hearts when I walk by them now. But at first they were like, I wasn't even able to be near them when they were in the cabin.
Stephen:So, Are any of the guests named Goldilock?
Steve:I don't check their names. They're like, they come in and go so quickly. Okay. It's kind of just like every person has a name and even like a little personality, but I don't always take the time to like read every single person the checking into my hotel's personality.
Stephen:It'd be funny if like the cottage or something that one of the people that checked in was a blonde and Yeah.
Steve:But I mean, it's a cute, laid back, uh, management simulation game. So if any of that sounds interesting to you, uh, you know, I would say for, you know, it. Cheap. Yeah, well not cheap cuz it had quality but it was inexpensive. It was inexpensive and it provided me a good like 25 to 30 hours of a good time.
Stephen:So two days? Yeah. Pretty much
Steve:straight. Yeah. No bathroom breaks, nothing. No work. Nothing. Yeah. Yes. Well speaking of something that's been at least more than 32 hours for now, what's been keeping you Happy? Mail. Oh.
Stephen:So we are still enjoying Luci. And it is
Steve:hard to watch another show and you know that there's more of this show I
Stephen:know and you watch like, I wanna watch Daher and I wanna watch Midnight Club, and there's just things that I'm dying to see and I'm. But we, we can finish Lucifer first. Yes. We can finish Lucifer and then we'll get to the other horror themed things at, because like there is a clock ticking that Gui Deltoro is doing the Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix. It's a four night event starting October 25th. So we need to be ready for that. Okay.
Steve:Well I'm sure we will be because at this point we are near the apex of what Season five we are at midway
Stephen:through season five.
Steve:And then we have season six, which is all us, which is a short season.
Stephen:Yep.
Steve:So, but yes, I know that when we said like season one, how charismatic and enjoyable it was. Yes. And watching him perform in the supporting cast getting better. And I have to say, all those things still hold true. Agreed. Yes, but getting back into Psycho, for those of you who somehow have never heard of it, it's a 1960 psychological horror thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Stephen:Yes. The screenplay was written by Joseph Step now, and it's based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Robert Block. And I read that novel, um, in college. How did it compare? So there were some differences in things, but there is a lot of the movie that is lifted straight off the page.
Steve:Yeah, I can imagine. I know that they, he made it a big deal between that and like wanting to keep the twist as like spoiler free as possible. Mm-hmm. buying all the copies of the book. He could possibly. To keep it from people to see it. Um, but it was interesting also to learn that this was block's first novel to have his rights for a movie purchased. And as any young author Yeah, who's just getting published like would be when he heard of getting$9,000 for the movie rights, he thought that that was fair, which
Stephen:was$74,000 in today's standards. And if somebody said, you know, I want purchase your novel to make into a movie, Here's$74,000. That's nothing to sneeze about. Yeah,
Steve:not at all. But it was a blind offer, so I didn't know who was making the offer. Now, if someone came to you and said that James Cameron wants to buy your
Stephen:book for$74,000, I would tell James Cameron to fuck off and come back with a real
Steve:offer. Exactly. And Alfred Hitchcock at the time was the producer and. This was his passion project that he wanted to go after. Um, but you know, as a comparison, even that year, the house on the haunting of Hill House, which has grown legs and continued on this day, had its movie rights purchased for seven$67,500, which
Stephen:is$600,000 today. Which, you know, if somebody said, Okay, Alfred Hitchcock wants to. Your book writes for$600,000, or even if James Cameron came to me and said, Yeah, I want to buy for$600,000, I'd be like, You have a deal, sir.
Steve:Yeah, exactly. So it's not like that deal was unheard of at the time. It's just that this guy took the first offer he can get.
Stephen:Yeah. There was no negotiating on. His or his agent's part, his agent should have done a
better
Steve:job. Yes. And while of course the Norman Bates in this movie is inspired loosely Yes. As from the one in the book, the Norman Bates himself from the book was an inspiration from Ed Gain.
Stephen:But what's interesting is back in the day, um, because news was a lot different back then, the times were different. The times were different. They didn't go. A lot of the details with, uh, of his crimes about, um, skinning the victim's ala, um, Buffalo Bill. Yeah. Which is another, um, GUI inspiration and, um, or, you know, wearing the skins, the
Steve:victims and the cross dressing and yeah.
Stephen:And um, whenever block wrote, He took some of those things about the skinning and the cross dressing and things and gave that to Norman. And it wasn't until later when everything came out and he's like, Well, shit, look what I did. Yeah. And it was just because he read it and he was like, Yeah, this is where I think it could go. So bravo to him for like kind of figuring it out on
Steve:his own. Yeah. And while, I mean the biggest difference between the book and the movie, From what I understand that Norman is depicted in the book as like a dumpy, middle aged man, whereas Hitchcock chose anything but with his choice of a Norman. What were your thoughts on the change?
Stephen:So I actually think this works better because you want Marion or anyone else that's coming by to be able to be. Charmed or disarmed by their presence and, you know, um, someone that was a little more mild mannered, but attractive people are gonna let their guards down and be more apt to have things happen like they did. Yeah.
Steve:Yeah. I can, Yeah, because either way, you know what, what he does is bad, but like there's a certain level of like charm that you get with his character where Um-huh. if the same conversation was being had with someone who didn't look the way that he did, if
Stephen:they looked messier or creepier and things, you might be
Steve:on guard. Yeah, exactly. But he manages to let his guard down cuz he just, you know, he looks like an attractive version of the normals. One of us. Yeah. Like,
Stephen:um, Like he could be a librarian and librarians are harmless. Yeah,
Steve:exactly. And, uh, Hitchcock for such, like taking a big swing with buying the book. Mm-hmm. it was even a bigger swing because he had no support from the studio or any of his typical collaborators to the content of the movie. Cuz as we mentioned, it was a different time back then. I mean, this was the time when. Married couples on sitcoms would be sleeping in separate beds. Correct. You couldn't see toilets, let alone something flush down the toilet.
Stephen:I mean, so I grew up watching the Brady Bunch, you know? Yeah. I'm a big, big fan and there were a lot of scenes cuz the bathroom for the kids Yeah. Was in between the two bedrooms, so there were a lot of scenes with the kids bickering in the bathroom and stuff like that. There is no toilet in that bathroom. Yeah.
Steve:Which is just wild that that like this is. Like genre defining, but also breaking all the rules. Yeah. At the time, uh, the deal he made was that he would do direct the movie for free. Mm-hmm. make it with his TV crew fast and cheap. And because he
Stephen:was doing, um, Alfred Hitchcock presents, which was kind of like a Twilight Zone Taka
Steve:show. Yes. And he'd release it as a Hitchcock film, not a Paramount film. Yep. He'll own 60% of the movie until Paramount is paid back, at which point he gets a hundred percent of the pro profits and. That is a great, like, and at that time there were like no risk, no reward. Of course we're gonna do that. That's a great deal for something that's gonna flop. Yeah. And then of course it becomes his highest grossing movie of all time. All time. And you know, he, it was a hundred percent form after he made up that, that little amount that it took, which was a budget of 800,000. So
Stephen:Paramount got$800,000 on the deal and. Alfred Hitchcock got, um, 49,000 or 49,200,000. Yeah.
Steve:Which, you know, not to mention the fact that it changed horror movies forever, and I'm sure he gets residuals from a lot of the different things that have been born from Psycho.
Stephen:And so there was somebody that worked for Hitchcock and, um, the woman that was working for him that was working on the movie, she could either take a small bonus that. Or she could get a percentage of the revenue off of the film. She, as well as Paramount thought the movie would tank. So she took the small bonus instead. And just to think even if she had gotten like 1%, Yeah,
Steve:1% compared to million, maybe what would be, you know, a hundred or 200 bucks today. Yeah. And yeah, again, you. People didn't believe in it. But I, I think that the success of it was even more surprising. Not only because of just how daring it was, cuz there's something exciting about it being daring. Yeah. But it was also given that, you know, because of the content, the trailer had no footage of the movie. None. Uh, it got panned by reviews. Yep. And had rules and restrictions unlike any other movie at the time. Like, no spoilers don't tell
Stephen:anybody the twist. Like there is a. Don't tell people
Steve:the twist. Yes. And show up on time, which apparently back then was blast
Stephen:for me. Yeah. So I talked to mom and dad about that. And you could buy a movie ticket and let's say the movie is half over at that time. Yeah. And the next showing isn't until three 30 and it's three o'clock. You could walk in at, um, three o'clock, watch the ending of the movie, and then stay for the, a whole new showing.
Steve:That's just wild to me. I mean, I love that he had the foresight to be like, That's not how this movie's intended. You know, he gave people tips on how to like, deal with it and explain it to
customers.
Stephen:So one of my other favorite classic horror films. Mm-hmm. um, Audrey H Burns, Wait Until Dark. Yeah. Also had the same. Where the cinema had rules that no one could be seated in the last 20 minutes of the movie. So like the doors were guarded that no one is getting into the theater during the last 20 minutes because again, there's a twist and they don't want people to a, have the twist spoiled for them. And then the other half is the tension and the build up to. Makes the twist worthwhile, just like in
Steve:this. Yes. And so we'll get into a discussion in the movie. We'll, we'll talk about the plot. High level. Be or like, because we'll assume you have already seen it. Mm-hmm. or you already know about it. If you're listening to us still talk about the movie. Yes. Uh, during a Friday afternoon twist in a cd, Phoenix Hotel Real Estate Secretary, Marion Crane and her boyfriend, Sam Lumis, discussed their inability to get married because of Sam's debt. He wants a better life for her than he can provide.
Stephen:Oh my goodness. How scandalous there's a man and a woman in bed together. I
Steve:know. I love that. It was such a fight to be able to get that in. Yeah. That he had to sneak it into compromises that he was making, quote unquote, on the shower scene.
Stephen:Yeah. And that, you know, and it was scandalous too, that she didn't have a topple and. Even though the bra she was wearing was as much coverage or more than a bikini top. Yes,
Steve:exactly. And as I was watching this, I was thinking Sam Lumis, I know that
Stephen:name. Dr. Sam Lumis, who I'm first met Michael Myers when he was eight years old. There was a darkness behind his eyes. Mm-hmm. that Sam
Steve:Lumus. Yeah. And don't we know like his distant cousin or
Stephen:nephew? Oh, you mean. Mrs. Loomis and Billy Loomis from the Scream Franchise.
Steve:Yes. Yes. I do mean that. I mean, that just goes to show that the, this has such an impact on the genre that directors are inspired by him and give little throwbacks to like taking the names of the characters in their movies, which
Stephen:is interesting in this because Sam is one of the le least interesting characters Yeah. In the movie, but his name goes on
Steve:longer. Yes. Now Marion returns to work steals a cash payment of$40,000 entrusted to her for a deposit and sets off to drive to Sam's home in Fairvale, California to start life together after using the money to pay off Sam's
Stephen:debt. That's very nice of her to steal the money to do
Steve:that. Yes. It's definitely not selfish at all because she wants that D
Stephen:Now, Mary and Herley trades her car. Route to Fairvale because she had been stopped by a police officer and she has all this paranoia and this aros the suspicion from both the car dealer because she does the sale in five minutes. Yeah, yeah. It's real fast. And the patrol officer who is watching her make this sale, so like there's this whole thing and like girl needs to be less
Steve:sus. Yes. Because I mean, with all of that, she's definitely para. Hearing voices.
Stephen:Yeah. Yeah. Because as she's driving, she hears the voices of her boss, the patrolman, her sister, the car dealer, all recounting their interactions with her and the theft Now with how later parts of the movie go. Yeah. She may not have been really far off because by the time Lila shows up, all those conversations she heard in her head are actually happened. Yes. So then it makes you wonder like, was he trying to show his hair, her para. Or was he actually showing us what's happen? Yeah, in real time.
Steve:Yeah. And at, you know, my first go around watching this movie, and even today, I mean, I am by no means a baller, but I ain't no broke bitch either, but I'm like blowing up her entire life for$40,000. Seems kind of silly. But then I realized inflation.
Stephen:Yeah, 40,000 is$400,000.
Steve:Yes. And so that would be life changing. If I had a job that didn't have my social on file and I could just take it and run away with you and start a new life, that would be enough. To do that. And there
Stephen:are so many countries in the world that have no extradition agreements. So Lala New Life.
Steve:I mean, I can, I, I don't think I would do it. I mean, in more of a digital form, but lots of money cross our hands every day at work. And we keep it where it's supposed to be. Yes, we do. So we have that. We won't actually go be Robb. People are taking their money and running. But n not
Stephen:yet. Not yet. Now one of the things that I really loved is whenever she was, um, getting the car, um, and she buys a newspaper, the machines back then. We're definitely an honor system. Mm-hmm. cuz you put in your quarter and the entire case opens up. Yeah. You could grab all of those newspapers right then and there and then, you know, go out and sell'em to other people and make back more than your quarter. Like
Steve:I know it was a different time back then though really, that that was, those things weren't even thought about, which just amazes me. Could you imagine growing up at that time? I mean obviously being gay for us at the time would be also horrible. Right? But just also, just like living in that time. They don't have horror movies or shows
Stephen:or, Well, and like that is definitely the time period of, you know, there's no locks on the doors, no bars on the windows. Everyone says hi to each other and smiles at your neighbor.
Steve:Yeah. I mean, you do that when you walk the dog, but we like, I do, but we leave our shit locked up.
Stephen:Well, yes, we absolutely do lock the doors, but I do talk to everybody and smile at
neighbors.
Steve:Yes. uh, Marion stops for the night at the Bates Motel,
Stephen:which was a 15 short miles from Fairvale. And Sam, like we all know what happens to her at the Bates Motel. She was so close. And if it weren't for that rainstorm Yeah, she would've made it. Yes, she would've. Uh, I mean, just to think cuz by this point I like Marion. Yeah. And I feel bad. I'm like, Girl, you were
Steve:almost there. I know. Just waited out. Oh, but no. Instead, she hides the stolen money inside her newspaper and meets Norman, the proprie chair of the hotel, who descends from a large house overlooking the motel registers Marion under an assumed name and invites her to dine with him.
Stephen:After Norman returns to the house, Marion threw an open window because it has now stopped raining. Girl, get back in the car and drive. Yes. Um, Marion over hears Norman arguing with his mother about Marion's presence where mother pretty much calls Marion a who? Yes.
Steve:What a great first impression of mother.
Stephen:Yeah. And so this also whenever, um, Marion first pulls up, before Norman comes down the steps mm-hmm. we get that first iconic sil. Of mother in the upstairs window. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's one, it's another one of those things that just everybody knows.
Steve:Yes. Uh, they, they do now and. I love that The voice of mother actually is part of what got Anthony Perkins the role. Uh, he used to do, uh, like prank calls, prank phone calls to, to other people in the industry and other friends. And so one of them was of like a mother, like figure like that. And when Hitchcock heard him, he's like, That's the voice of mother. And
Stephen:it's crazy that um, cuz I doubt that they really. Had the ability to splice the sound around like that. Yeah. So whenever he's arguing with mother, he's switching back and forth that fast,
Steve:like in real time, which is wild. Yeah. And Marion checks in with the fake name Marie Samuels, which mainly you think, Did you ever use a fake name for
Stephen:anything? Absolutely. In college and in my twenties I used to go by. I'm Aiden
Steve:Reynolds. That is a porn star name.
Stephen:Well, we just used it whenever we would go out of town to bars. So that anything we did there could not be tracked back to us. Well, there you go. What about you?
Steve:Uh, I definitely like once or twice gave a fake name in a bar, but it was always actually the one that I used and was inspired from When I worked at a health supplement company. We were all encouraged on the phone to use fake names cuz it would make us feel better. Selling vitamins that might or might not work to old people and taking all their money on auto pay that they didn't realize they signed up for And so, uh, my name was Tyler Riley and yeah, it didn't really help me realize that I'm basically just Eleanor from the Good Place. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. It's okay though. I do better now. Now Norman returns with a light knee and apologizes for his mother's outburst. They discuss his hobby as a taxidermist, his mother's illness, and how people have a private trap. They want to escape. I,
Stephen:I think we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can get out. We scratch and claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it. We never budge an inch.
Steve:Sometimes we deliberately step into those traps. I was born
Stephen:in Des Mine. I don't mind it anymore.
Steve:Of courts, he doesn't
Stephen:And then when asked about going out with friends, he goes, Oh, a boy's best friend is his mother.
Steve:Shouldn't be
Stephen:She needs me. It's not as if she were a maniac, a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Yes. And I love also that he, um, talks about the second man in mother's life, not his father, the other man. And the way he talks about it and his face, it really hints that he killed the man. And Marion doesn't pick up on it at all? No, because he is charming. And do you remember the even creepier thing he said to her at that?
Steve:A son is a poor substitute for a lover. Ew. Well, it would've been bet worse if it was the other way around. Oh, now Marion suggests Norman put her someplace. Someplace. Yes. Just, you know, one of those homes. Ugh. Norman loses his cool at this point, and just when Marion's about to bolt, Norman dials it. as they're partying for the night. Marion slips up and gives her first real name
Stephen:and real city. Yes. And because, you know, I think I am gonna go back to Phoenix and Good night, Norman. Good night Marion. Yeah. Good night, Marion. Mm-hmm. and totally different than what was on the register. And um, then we also get a little dirty Norman
Steve:time. Yeah. And Pee Center threw a hole in. And I just maybe wonder, are peeping Tom's still a thing now that you can get porn like anywhere?
Stephen:Everywhere? I think so. Just because the reason peeping Tom's did it isn't just to see people naked. It, it's the way they go
Steve:about it. I know. And like, I mean like we saw in how to build the sex room, they had the one in the, the the six person thing who liked to watch. Yeah. But like that's with consent. Like I. Just, I don't know. I think that without the consent thing, it's gross and I feel like there's enough people willing to consent nowadays, but I think it's, But I, I know about also back then, right? Not there were, they were not as sexually open where they'd be just like, Sure, watch us go at it.
Stephen:I think it is a lack of consent thing that enjoys it now. Um, this movie was remade in the late nineties, uh, and all star cast. And it wasn't, it was very much a shot for shot remake. And if you can appreciate it for what it is, it's enjoyable. But my favorite thing is they did change a little bit. So we went to see it. It was Ronnie and Monika and I and some other friends, and in the peeping scene, um, you see his eye up against the. And you also hear, and Ronnie and I just burst out laughing. And manique goes, What? What's that sound? What's he doing? And we laughed even harder and we're like, We'll tell
Steve:you later. Yes, I certainly don't see that getting past the sensors at the time in 1960, not at all. Now Marion decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning and return the stolen. As Marion showers, a shadowy figure and address appears in stabs her to death. Soon afterward, Norman cleans up the murder scene putting Marion's body belongings and the hitting cash in her car, sinking it in a swamp. Oh, I
Stephen:mean, and he just tosses the money as part of the newspaper in the trunk. Unknown. Uh, yeah. So this iconic murder scene. is one of the parts that is prob is the most well known part of the movie and probably the most well known piece of
Steve:cinema. Yeah, it certainly is. I mean, I think that there was a lot going for it at the time. I mean, it made it shocking the way that they explained that, you know, critics at the time or like the sensors when they were viewing it, couldn't agree whether or not they saw nudity. Right. So they said take out the nudity and then when they send. He just takes outta the box, shakes it up, puts it back, sends it back, and they're like, Now the ones who didn't see nudity before see it, but the ones who just saw it, like, don't see it
Stephen:anymore. And so he changed it one more time by not changing it and said, I promise I took out the nudity. Yes. and the, um, the amazing shot where she's half in, half out of the. Just staring up at the sky. And you know, we learned in the podcast that, um, Hitchcock's wife saw
Steve:her blink when like hundred, like not hundreds, but dozens of men had seen it and were like, Looks good to me. Yeah. One woman saw and she's like, She blinked. Yeah.
Stephen:And so they had to like freeze frame it. When they did the remake and Hay was able to hold her eye the whole time without blinking. I guess she's
Steve:dead inside
Stephen:now. Marion dies 50 minutes into the movie, so she really is the other lead star of the film. But a lot of people, when you talk about it, Believe that she died in the first 20 minutes. Kind of like Drew Barry Moore and scream. Yeah. Because nowadays
Steve:we have an opening kill and then the main cast. Yeah. I, I still am trouble just racking my brain to find a movie where halfway through the main star dies and then we get like a brand new cast Right.
Stephen:For the second half of the movie where
Steve:well like, and even one of them dies shortly thereafter. So it's almost like three short movies telling this tale. You know, marrying the detective and then her sister and a boyfriend and it's, yeah, like it's
Stephen:bold. William h Macy played Aast in the new one. He does a really good aast. Um, so chocolate syrup,
Steve:Yes. I love that because it's in black and white with, they use chocolate syrup for.
Stephen:Which, and it doesn't look like chocolate syrup in the bathtub.
Steve:No, it doesn't. We'll have to try that. It sounds delicious
Stephen:now. And also, um, Hitchcock wanted this scene to be silent,
Steve:which I can imagine having a powerful impact of its own, but you can't be that iconic music that, um, Yeah. So, so that was the deal was just
Stephen:strings. So I, so I read the book and this always stuck out with me. So I found the. I wanted to read to you and the audience. Okay, go for it. Finally, she turned both faucets on full force and let the warmth gush over her. The roar was deafening and the room was beginning to steam up. That's why she didn't hear the door open or note the sound of footsteps. And at first, when the shower curtains parted, the steam obscured the face. Then she did see it there just a face. Peering through the curtains, hanging in mid-air like a mask. The head scarf concealed the hair and the glassy eyes stared inhumanely, but it wasn't a mask. It couldn't be. The skin had been powdered dead white, and two hectic spots of Ros centered on the cheekbones. It wasn't a mask. It was the face of a crazy old woman. Marion started to scream, and then the curtains parted further, and a hand appeared holding a butcher. It was the knife that a moment later cut off her scream and her head
Steve:Yes. Which is a little different. It is, but it's powerful the way that it's written for sure. I guess.
Stephen:And they never could have gotten a decapitation
Steve:through the, No, not at all. Not to mention like the wearing of like the skin rather than just like a s shotty costume. Right. Yes. Now, assuming this was Norman cleaning up his mother's mess, like we're supposed to think, how many people out there would you help bury a body? I mean, obviously me, right? Right. Um,
Stephen:I would say that there would be three, including you, probably five or six other people.
Steve:Yeah, I would say probably about that. The number's grown more since being in the program. Cuz there's something about that where we have that shared bond where I'm just like, Yeah, we've all done shit before. I'll help you. You'll help me.
Stephen:Yeah. And yeah, I had to think about it for a minute, but there's definitely some people that I'm like, You, you killed somebody. I know how to get rid of it. Come on Yes. Now, um, the controversial toilet that we talked about. It's not even used for its intended use. She doesn't use the bathroom and then flush or anything like that. She writes a note, scribbles on it, re and then it sets her mind of what she needs to do. Tears the paper up into little bit and throws the paper in the toilet and flushes it. And even that was controversial.
Steve:I know. It's just very interesting what it must have been like to live back then. Yeah. um, Marian's sister Lila arrives in Farve a week later, tells Sam about the theft and demands to know her whereabouts. He denies knowing anything about her disappearance. A private investigator named Aast approaches them saying that he's been hired to retrieve the money. It's a
Stephen:whole other movie
Steve:now. Yeah, it's just, It's crazy. Yeah. Even by today's standards like this, this doesn't happen. It, it's done well.
Stephen:Now aas stops at the Bates motel and questions Norman, whose nervous behavior and in consistent answers arou suspicion cuz he is like, Oh, no one's been by for a couple weeks. And then he is like, well there was a couple last week. And aas is like, See you remembered something. And um, so aas examines the guest register and discovers from a sample of Mart's handwriting that she spent a night in the motel under an assumed. Aas learns that Marion had spoken to Norman's mother, and aas asked to speak with her, but Norman refuses it. And Norman Creepily says, You know, Marion might have fooled him, but she didn't. Full mother. And aas updates Sam and Lila about a search and promises to meet them within an hour at Sam's home. And then Arga sneaks up into the bat's home to search for Norman's mother. And a shadowy figure emerges from a. Floor, bedroom and stabs him to death where he stumbles back down the stairs, Mother follows, and then just continues to stab him and stab him and stab him.
Steve:Yes. Norma Strikes again. Yes. And that's from Bat's Motel, isn't it? And it's in the book. It is in the book that, that her name is Name is Norma. Norma, yeah. Yes. Well, I mean, again, just what must have been like, just like wa like watching this, Obviously you would think it was the mother. I, I like, there's no other way where you could be like, maybe it's him. Like I, it's just so unseen. And
Stephen:it's really interesting in the book here that, um, mother saw, um, aas coming up the stairs Yeah. To talk to her. And she and Norman is trying to keep her from doing. But Norma answers the door and stabs. Aast right there on the doorstep. Yeah. And it's interesting how they do it in the book where there's much more interaction in the book between mother and Norma, that you're even more surprised later on.
Steve:Yeah. And plus, that's fun seeing him fall down the stairs.
Stephen:It, yeah, because, and I always wondered like what technology, they used to have him, you know, stumble down the stairs and then fall on his. to like, did they have green screen back then? Like how did they do that? Shots?
Steve:I did. It was really
Stephen:impressive. Yeah. So now it's time for our new two leads. Yes. To do some investigating
Steve:where, Yeah. No, Sam visits the motel when he and Lila hear nothing from Arbi. He sees a figure in the house who he assumes as Norman's mother. Yep. Lila and Sam alert, the local sheriff who tells them that Norman's mother died in a murder suicide 10 years earlier. The sheriff suggests Arabicas lied to Sam and Lila so he could pursue Marion and the money. And so
Stephen:what I love is whenever they're like, No. Um, Marion talked to Mrs. Bates. Oh, Norman took a wife, and he is like, No, his mother. And they're like, Well, sweetie. Norma Bates has been dead and buried for 10 years.
Steve:Yeah. And I love that they don't even just say that right away. Like it's minutes later into the conversation where they're like, Yeah. Oh, and by the way, that, that she's dead. That mother business, that's not how it works.
Stephen:And because it's almost like this is a second movie. Mm-hmm. Exposition is happening real
Steve:fast. Yes. And so, yeah, that's why I still almost feel like it is one movie. It's just the climax happened way earlier than it normally does, and they find a way to keep it going after. Yeah. Uh, Norman at this point says he needs to hide his mother in the fruit cell until this passes just a few days. She refuses, they argue and he carries her down. And
Stephen:again, this is, but this is our first time seeing Norman and Mother in the same scene together. Yes, it is. And is
Steve:shot from above in which I think works for it. Yeah. Cause you can't really see anything, any either of their mouths. Yep. Or her face. But I mean, it also just shows just how he is into the psychosis, where it's happening, even when he's alone. Yeah. Like we, we know certain people with certain ticks, that happen when they're in group settings. Yes. That I really don't see happening when they're alone. But this is one that like he's just like fully in it, where it's just agreed. It's
Stephen:wild. Now they're convinced that something has happened to Arga. So Lila and Sam drive to the. And Sam distracts Norman in the office. While Lila sneaks into the house suspicious Norman becomes agitated and knocks Sam unconscious. Sam had been provoking him, so Sam had that coming. Sam
Steve:did have it coming. Now as he goes to the house, Lila hides in the fruit cellar where she discovers the mother's mummified body. She screams and Norman wearing mother's clothes and a wig enters the cellar and tries to stab her. Sam appears and Seduces. Uh, so
Stephen:that all happened really, really fast. But it was, you know, if you're seeing it for the first time, you're like, Holy shit, because you had very few seconds between seeing. mummified mother and Norman in the wig.
Steve:Yeah. You're so, you're still reeling from one twist. Yeah. And then you're like, What is happening? And then all of a sudden another twist happens, like, what is
Stephen:happening? So they worked on many different versions of Mother to get the right mummified look for her. Yeah.
Steve:Didn't even like the little kid from Leave It to Beaver help, like make them one of the heads or one of the old time shows at the
Stephen:time. Yeah. Because he was, they were on the same set at Univers. And, um, he went over there and was helping with the mask and everything, but how
Steve:would they know whether it was a good one or not?
Stephen:Um, because Ms. Janet Lee was easily scared and so they would leave mothers around the studio in her trailer, um, on the craft services table and things. Mm-hmm. So they were waiting. They got the right screen from her. They got a screen from her every time, but then finally they got one that was a good sustained scream and they're like, That's mother.
Steve:Yes it is. And that makes me remember. Joy and pleasure before getting a dog of being able to scare the living hell out of you. And you came home as a way of saying, I love you.
Stephen:And I did feel so loved. I
Steve:know. It used to be so fun though, like hiding somewhere in the house and you knew Yes. Like you knew if you came in and I wasn't already on the couch, like with a video game or cell phone in hand that I was hiding. Yeah. And
Stephen:I had to like, I had to exist. So, you know, there, there is a changing of clothes that has to happen. I can't just sit on. Loveseat and And wake
Steve:me out. Nope. Yeah. So I, Cause you would've just fallen asleep. I would've just had fun. I had so much fun scaring you. But can you imagine me trying to do that now with either Remy No. Remy would not care for it. Yeah. Remy would. Well Remy would be just like, Hold on daddy, let me show you where other daddy's like, It's really weird and silly. It's over here.
Stephen:Yeah. Dad's in the bathroom. Come see. Yes
Steve:now. At the police station, a psychiatrist explains that Norman killed his mother and her lover 10 years earlier. Out of jealousy, which tracks, Yeah. Unable to bear the guilt. Norman mummified his mother's corpse and began treating it as if it was still alive. Doesn't track as much, but sure. Yeah. He recreated his mother as an alternate personality, as jealous and possessive towards Norman as he felt about his. When Norman is attracted to a woman, mother takes over. He had killed two other missing young women before Marion and Arabicas. The psychiatrist concludes that mother has now submerged Norman's personality. Norman sits in a jail cell and hears his mother saying the murders were all his doing. Marion's car is retrieved from the swamp and millions of people go out and buy it.
Stephen:and the final lines are from mother. It's sad when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son, but I couldn't allow them to believe that I would commit murder. They'll put him away now as I should have. Years ago, he was always bad and in the end he intended to tell them that I killed those girls in that man as if I could do anything but just sit and stare like one of his stuffed birds. They know I can't move a finger and I won. I'll just sit here and be quiet just in case they do suspect me. They're probably watching me. Well let them, let them see what kind of a person I am. I'm not even going to swamp that fly. I hope they are watching. They'll see. They'll see and they'll know and they'll say, Why She wouldn't even harm a fly.
Steve:Do you believe it is that personality that killed them?
Stephen:Oh yeah. I I absolutely believe that it was mother every time
Steve:someone died. Yeah. Now kudos for the time. I mean, being like, he's not a transvestite, you, he's just wearing his dead mother's stuff. Yeah.
Stephen:The, the psychiatrist was quick to say that this was not a sexual perversion. Yes. As they would've called it back then. Yes. That this was, um, multiple personality.
Steve:Yeah. Which was nice. Yes. Kudos. And it also helps it continue to age well. And I could watch it again and again. Yeah. And talk about it forever, but I would just, I would like to end it just saying that if it's been a while since you've watched it, go back and watch it this Halloween. Let us know what you think about it. The best way to get in touch with us would be. Uh, by emailing us at happy life pod gmail.com or
Stephen:on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. Happy
Steve:Life Pod. I thought for a moment about stealing it for us. I thought you were going to. Yes, but I gave it to you. So, yes, I love you and I love our listeners. And with that, stay tuned. Until next time and
Stephen:everybody, stay, stay, stay happy.