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What Do Norman Bates and Rick Dalton Have in Common?

posted 5 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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I won't play games and leave the question open, I'll just tell you:

They both STAMMER. Or stutter. Or a bit of both.

Rick Dalton is the Leo DiCaprio character in QT's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," and having seen the film twice now, I picked up conclusively something I just sorta noticed the first time: when he is not on film delivering lines, Leo's TV star Rick Dalton has a terrible stammer.

Rick's stammer is particularly noticeable early on when he is talking to agent Al Pacino. One senses that if Rick is nervous in the presence of an "alpha type"..the stammer really manifests.

Though I can't name them, I have read of some real life actors who evidently had a stammering problem that disappeared when they took on fictional characters on stage or screen.

I assume QT got this trait for Rick Dalton...somewhere.

Hell, maybe he got it from Psycho.

Indeed, I don't think Norman's penchant for stammering has ever been fully "noticed" in the press on Anthony Perkins work as Norman. Perhaps because he doesn't do it a LOT.

He does it with Marion in Cabin One, just a little bit..trying to say "the bathroom."

He does it more markedly with Marion in the parlor, early on when he says "I hear the phrase eating like a bird is really a fal-fal-falsity."

He does it definitively under pressure from Arbogast's questioning:

Arbogast: Which day was this?
Norman: The-the-the-th-th..n-n-n-nex-next...the NEXT DAY!

But honestly, does Norman stammer OTHER than those times above? I honestly can't recall right now. Maybe a bit more under questioning from Arbogast. I don't recall Norman stammering under Sam's more angry questions.

On the "Making of Psycho" DVD documentary, Screenwriter Joe Stefano said that he noticed, in looking at other Hitchcock films that one of the two Rope killers(John Dall) stammered under questioning from James Stewart. The documentary then shows a quick clip of Dall stammering.

Stefano thinks that PERKINS added the stammer to Norman. It is conceivable that Perkins watched Rope to prepare for Psycho...and got it there.

In any event, stammering/stuttering characters are rather special in movie history, so here's two.

And "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" ends up with a solid connection to "Psycho."

[–] MizhuB (165) 5 years ago

But honestly, does Norman stammer OTHER than those times above? I honestly can't recall right now. Maybe a bit more under questioning from Arbogast.

========

Perhaps we could count when Norman climbs the stairs to tell Mother he's going to put her in the fruit cellar.

He starts with something like, 'Well Mother...I'm going to have to...I have to...I'm going to...' before she laughs and says, 'I am sorry boy, but you do manage to look ludicrous when you give me orders'.

Maybe not actually a stammer, just searching for the right words.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Perhaps we could count when Norman climbs the stairs to tell Mother he's going to put her in the fruit cellar.

He starts with something like, 'Well Mother...I'm going to have to...I have to...I'm going to...' before she laughs and says, 'I am sorry boy, but you do manage to look ludicrous when you give me orders'.

Maybe not actually a stammer, just searching for the right words

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Its certainly in the ballpark. It reminds me that when Norman has trouble saying "the bathroom" to Marion, he doesn't stammer...he just can't speak.

I've sometimes wondered if Norman's stammering in the original Psycho was maybe an "acting idea that didn't pan out"...like when an American actor tries to do a British accent for a few scenes, gives up , and returns to the American.
In short...did Perkins very, very SELECTIVELY choose to stammer? And to simply hesitate in other acting choices?

In Psycho II, I do remember Perkins rather overdoing the word "cutlery"(because: hey, that's KNIVES) by stammering out: "I'm not good with cut-cut-cut-CUTLERY.")

So: selective.

Something else I've noticed about the scene where Norman talks to Mother after climbing the stairs:

Norman: I want to bring something up...
Mother: NO! I will not be kept in that dark, dank fruit cellar..

...the way "Mother" anticipates what Norman was going to ask before he asks it. Its like he's screwing up his acting of both roles...and its(maybe) a clue to us that Norman ENACTS both roles...