Hitchcock's 'Psycho'- 1960s, what was unacceptable at that time?

Question

I have an essay due, and I have to write about 'How Hitchcock raises suspense and tension in his film 'Psycho'?', this film was released in 1960, and I was wondering, what kind of things were unacceptable, or taboo in filming at this time?

Thanks in advance.

Jeena
xxXxx

Answer 1

This is ridiculous but true. The film Psycho was banned from being shown in many locations because in the beginning of the movie, when the woman has arrived at the motel and is considering whether to turn herself in and has written out all of the money she has spent on everything and how much she has left, she tears up the piece of paper and FLUSHES IT DOWN THE TOILET. The movie was not banned because of the vivid slashing scenes or the sight of Bates' dessicated mother's face, but because of the toilet.

I found this from a biography of Hitchcock, and this is because he had wanted to do something like this in a much earlier film he made in England. Specifically, a serial killer is living in a building, and he keeps track of when his potential victims are at home by listening for when the toilet flushes, but for the censor he had to change that to waiting to hear the pipes banging.

I hope this is not too disappointing. There has always been a market for graphic gore in movies, whether it is Faces of Death, I Spit On Your Grave, The Passion of the Christ, Blood Sucking Freaks, or Ilsa She Wolf of the SS. Heck, in the first silent version of Ben Hur when the pirate fleet attacks the Romans, a Roman prisoner is tied to the bow of a pirate ship as it rams and the pirate king runs around with a Roman head on his sword!

Answer 2

1. nudity, they only showed shoulder, legs, bra.
2. gore, they only showed the knife, but not hitting anyone.
3. language, there was very little curses.

Answer 3

There was a shot from above of Janet Leigh dead in the shower, and since you could see the top of the butt, the had to take it out. Other than that, interestingly enough, half of the censors said they saw nudity in the shower scene and told him to edit it. He took it back to them later, not changing one thing, and they thanked him for taking the nudity out.

Answer 4

Killing a woman was very Taboo back then. You dont see the knife go in but the blood spatters.
Psycho scares the sh*t out of me even just the music.

Answer 5

An alleged dead persons face had never been shown in a major film. That and the main point of controversy was the shot where she throws the torn up paper down the toilet and flushes it A toilet had never ever been in a major film up to that time. I guess they just didn't want to accept the fact that everyone uses one and every home (most) have them. Boy ! How times have changed.

P.S. Do you know that to this day, I still double check my front and back doors to make sure they are locked before I get into the shower? Silly, isn't it?

Answer 6

It was unacceptable for him to tell people that if they were late to the film they couldn't come in cuz the story would be ruined. It was Unheard of to kill off the main character and the most famous person in the film less than an hour into it.

Answer 7

frontal nudity

sex of any kind

curse words

all of these things were no-nos. and still he scared me so bad i still dont close my eyes when I shower

Answer 8

my guess is nudity, they only show her shoulders and her legs. Probably not a whole lot of swearing. There's also not a whole lot of blood. this was mainly a suspense film, so it was fear of the unknown that sold this movie. I think you'd have to research the laws of the time. Try Wikipedia and just look up Psycho