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Title details for The Moment of Psycho by David Thomson - Available

The Moment of Psycho

How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder

by David Thomson
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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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 24, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780465020096

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780465020096
      • File size: 228 KB

  • Accessibility

    No publisher statement provided

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Booklist

      December 1, 2009
      In this compact bookextended essay, reallythe arguably most provocative and acerbic of major film critics (see the plethoric Have You Seen . . . ?, 2008) concentrates on a single work, Alfred Hitchcocks influential Psycho. The 1960 film was groundbreaking not just for bringing sex and violence to the fore and eschewing the expected happy ending but also for its efficient, low-budget production. It was shot in just three months in the expedient fashion of Hitchcocks television series. After an introductory passage on the films genesis, Thomson offers a close reading distinguished by insight and illumination, particularly about the problematic second half. He concludes with an analysis of Psychos impact, including an annotated list of films it influenced, especially in its treatment of sex and violence, from James Bond flicks to David Lynchs and Quentin Tarantinos bloodbaths. Thomson doesnt blame Hitchcock for touching off the subsequent wave of emotionally detached movies predicated on gory special effects but says Psycho opened the door to ignoring consequences if the end product is thrilling enough.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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