Classics in the Browning
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
With Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
Rated R, 109 minutes
A secretary (Janet Leigh, mother to scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis) just stole $40,000 from her boss. A first-time crook, she's nervous and on the lam as the famous violins in Bernard Herrmann's score chase after her. Her respite finally comes at a small roadside inn run by soft-spoken motelier Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who has a quirky fascination with taxidermy and an even quirkier relationship with his grandmother. Easily Alfred Hitchcock's most successful film at the box office, Psycho also garnered critical acclaim (in America, at least) upon its release with four Oscar nominations, including a Best Director nod for Hitchcock.