Hitchcock (2012)

For a Psycho (1960) mark, a film about Hitchcock getting the itch to make a film that is “so unlike him”, a take on Robert Bloch’s novel revolving around Ed Gein is too good to be true. Anthony Hopkins may not be able to totally get down the voice but he damn sure gives it his all. Presenting Psycho to Paramount suits, he got the shaft. They were afraid. Supposedly, Hitch was “too old”. Yet he had just made a grand masterpiece, North by Northwest, so that nonsense was mere poppycock. Hitch had that itch, though, and he was undeterred by those who considered it a mistake.

****

 

I love how Alma is so presented in this film (Helen Mirren, who is wonderful and makes Alma wonderful), as Hitch’s partner and confidante. Alma believed in her husband and his talents. Funding it independently (himself, basically) and just having Paramount distributing it. Nice surprise seeing Ralph Macchio as Joseph Stefano, screenwriter of Psycho (loved the brief scene talking about him and his therapist).

Going over what will be shown on screen with “right to censor” (including flushing a toilet!), like a nude body or a knife stabbing flesh (the notorious shower killing). Hitch sitting on the couch in therapy with shrink “Ed” (a fantasy scene with Ed Gein about how Hollywood resents him!). The casting process, with Anthony Perkins being recommended by Alma because he’s gay (subtly implied without necessarily blurted out), and his “interview” with Hitchcock (he liked Rope and Strangers on a Train, films that had gay characters (again, implied, but obvious) about how he loved his mother very much and wanted his father to drop dead! Janet Leigh, in the form of curvaceous dish Scarlett Johansson, has created a whole “double life” for her character of Marion Crane, and with Hitch passing off flirtatious remarks, Alma barely can hide her dissatisfaction of his behavior. Alma’s made of steel, though.

The film seems to indicate Hitch cut a hole in his office so he could spy on Vera Miles! I wasn’t sure of Jessica Biehl’s casting as Vera (Vera was a gorgeous woman, but during her Psycho time, she’s not quite sex kittenish as Biehl), but she imbues this woman with a sort-of attitude that possibly comments on the friction she had with Hitch. I love this remark by Hitch (the irony in it) where he worried when awakening from a “horrible dream” if Psycho would be “another Vertigo” (now considered to be the greatest film of all time according to the “critics circle”). We see Hitch swear his cast and crew to secrecy regarding the secrets of Psycho.

The film suggests Alma’s insecurities because of her husband’s lust for the babes of Hollywood. Perkins is shown doing his “actor’s studio” (what’s my motivation?) reasoning of what makes Norman Bates act as he does (the studying of Marion’s body through the peephole). Alma is shown respect in this film like how important she was in the development of the screenplay and the film (the revisions), and Hitch describes how boring Gavin is on screen (particularly how horrifying his lovemaking is with Janet in that opening scene in the film!).

The film offers the idea that screenwriter Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston, working that charming smile and constantly appealing to Alma’s dismay with her husband during the time of Psycho’s process) and Hitch’s progressive jealousy in him (and how this motivates his direction of the film). Vera is shown as an actress ignored, and she tells Janet that he is basically Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo (but not as skinny or good-looking!).

Of course, the film procures that Hitch, a genius behind the camera, is littered with psychological issues, like overeating, his problems with “the women that seem to betray him”, rage with those who seem to “be against him”, bad health besieging him, and the shortcomings that seem to arise while on set.

There’s a fantastic scene where Hitch takes the knife from the stunt double (dressed in Mama Bates’ rags and wig) while Janet is in the shower and shows them how it’s done (imagining the likes of Paramount’s exec, Barney, and Whit he’s plunging that knife into!). The narrative trick of having Hitch sharing dialogue with the figment of Ed Gein is a touch that equal parts disturbing, provocative, and morbidly fascinating.

They have Hitch act a bit like a Prima donna sometimes, and Alma seems to be the adult who tolerates his “diva moments” but seems to have endured enough, becoming fed up with his accusations of adultery, telling him that she, for once, is having fun collaboration with Whit on something other than a Hitchcock picture. Vera has to tell him that those leading ladies he fancies so much are a fantasy, that she wanted a home and family. Biehl doesn’t really look a thing like Vera and that distracted me, and her Vera (much like Vera’s in Psycho) is kind of an afterthought besides a couple of scenes that call out Hitch for flaws in his own character. I love this one scene where Hitch receives word from his “yes man” that Psycho didn’t get a good review by Paramount (and considered Winchester ‘73 a “dog”! Haha! What a remark!) To think that Hitch considered Psycho stillborn after a rough cut, feeling like a failure and inadequate as a director (the film fails to “come to life”), also regrets letting Alma down, too. It just amazes me, this. One of the greatest films ever made, and it was considered by Hitch to be a failure.

There’s this marvelous moment where Hitch becomes animated outside in the lobby while the crowded theater at the opening of Psycho shriek along to Hermann’s score and shower slaying of Marion. He could see them transfixed, in awe, totally enwrapped in the scene. But this stillborn film that couldn’t come to life does once Hitch and Alma brush aside their differences and form that terrific combination that created classic after classic. Alma does say (in the film) she does tire of people seeing through her and only at Hitchcock, the genius and master. I think I have taken on a different perspective in regards to Hitchcock. I will include the genius of Alma, too, when I talk about how their films really compelled, thrilled, excited, and gripped me. She deserved credit, doesn’t she? We see that once Alma and Hitch reunite and reinforce their energies to Psycho and its betterment, this collaboration sparks magic and what we horror fans (and cinema fans who don’t consider it a horror film…Bah humbug) are rewarded in return.

Hitch giving credit to Alma after Psycho’s success by kissing her and complimenting her as his true love (even though, in the next film, The Birds, it is reputed he become overly obsessed with Tippi Hedren) was a nicely warm moment, as was, Hitch’s practical joke on Leigh by placing the corpse dummy of Mama Bates in her dressing room. I got a kick out of Hitch’s “deal” with Geoffrey Shurlock (Kurtwood Smith; when you need someone to play a tight-ass hardball, he’s your man) to keep his shower scene by allowing him to dictate how to shoot the opening lovemaking scene between Gavin and Leigh, was the icing on the cake.

I wish I could have been in a theater with people during the initial opening of Psycho. I don’t know how else to emphasize my absolute love for this film. So seeing a film detailing a “making of” regarding it—what might have happened between Hitch and Alma, the troubled production, dealing with those with power in Hollywood who might trip up his release of it, coming up with a marketing strategy, etc.—is special to me. I had a ton of fun watching this. Sometimes we do place these people on a pedestal. Hitchcock was a human being of flesh and blood, but he and Alma were responsible for some of the all-time great entertainments. I watch North by Northwest and Rear Window (which is a film I can watch over and over and never tire of it) and see the brilliance from scene to scene, acknowledging that not only behind a master director was a special woman, but Alma should be considered his equal.

 

 

Look, the film obviously dramatizes events for purposes of storytelling effect, and Hopkins cocks his head back and speaks as if he has a stiff back, doing what he can to speak like Hitchcock and match his mannerisms. I give him credit for doing what he could to mimic the man. I haven’t seen the other film about Hitchcock yet, but I plan to soon to see how he’s viewed in that one, so it will eventually surface on the blog, I hope.