Friday, December the Eleventh
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shareAh...a cycle that comes around only once every...few?...years. (I wonder if it can be calculated? When December 11 falls on a Friday and thus matches up directly with the opening of Psycho.
One of the nostalgic bonuses of an "emotional fealty to Psycho" is that December 11 in GENERAL becomes a date to remember, but when it is actually FRIDAY December 11 in a given year...all the mo' bettah.
I post this on Saturday December 12...the day -- 61 years ago?(Shall we agree that movies take place before they are released, and when they were filmed? In this case, December 1959) --- the day when Marion Crane was awakened sleeping in her car by a highway cop, made a suspicious trade of cars at California Charlie's in Bakersfield, California (hence, she's out of Arizona) and then takes that long, long, LONG drive hundreds of miles north to Shasta County, a rainstorm, and a wrong turn to the Bates Motel.
Marion dies on Saturday night , December 12, in that historic, and horrible way. Given that the murder happens not too long after supper with Norman, we can figure that Marion dies sometime before midnight -- and then Norman spends an hour or so cleaning up and burying Marion and her car in the convenient swamp. FADE OUT.
FADE IN on Sam writing a letter that says "Saturday" at the top. So it is exactly one week later. Lila arrives at his hardware store, followed closely by Arbogast ("If you knew who I was, I wouldn't have been able to follow you.") Though Arbogast later tells Norman, "I've seen so many motels the past few days my eyes are bleary with neon," the actual narrative suggests that Arbogast's canvas has only taken one Saturday...and he arrives at the Bates Motel as late afternoon sunlight closes down to creepy early evening darkness. The second after Mother has rained her final killing blows on Arbogast on the foyer floor, there is a "quick fade in/fade out" to Sam noting to Lila "Sometime Saturday night has a lonely sound. Ever notice that, Lila?"
So Arbogast dies exactly one week later than Marion -- on Saturday night December 19. Two Saturday night massacres. Gives a whole new meaning to "Saturday Night Fever."
Later that Saturday night, Sam makes his fruitless journey to the Bates Motel ("Arbogast!") as Norman finishes burying the man and his car in the swamp and then Sam and Lila have their first meeting with Sheriff Chambers in the dead of Saturday night(perhaps Sunday morning.) It is also in this twilight zone of night that Norman elects to carry Mother down to the fruit cellar. Something about this action taking place in the dead of night makes it creepier.
We are reminded that while Saturday night can be a time of relaxation and fun for many people who "go out on a Saturday night," it can also be the loneliest night of the week for people removed from friends, work, and family.
Sam and Lila meet the next day with Sheriff Chambers and his wife as they come out of church -- locking in the logical note that it is now Sunday morning. And on a brightly lit Sunday December 20, Sam and Lila discover the secret of Mrs. Bates and capture Norman for the authorities. The psychiatrist makes his briefing in Redding(the Shasta County seat) on Sunday night. A calendar page of the wall says "17," which isn't necessarily a gaffe. Maybe somebody forgot to pull down the pages going into the weekend(Thursday would have been the 17th of December.)
Thus, it would seem that the events of Psycho take place over 9 days, from Friday December 11 to Sunday, December 20. Which is pretty much true...except the final shot of the film is Marion's car being dragged out of the swamp. Probably happened the next day, Monday December 21. Three days before Christmas.
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These dates famously make Psycho "a Christmas movie with no Christmas in it." But actually , there IS Christmas in Psycho. Its the Christmas decorations on a Phoenix city street when Marion sees her boss in the intersection. The second unit filmed that street in the run up to Christmas, 1959, and Hitchcock elected to slap "Friday December 11" on the screen to cover it (he had no money for a later second unit shoot after Christmas.)
Joseph Stefano's screenplay for Psycho puts the events in "late summer," but now, for all time, that is not the time of the story. Psycho is a Christmas movie without Christmas. There are no Xmas decorations at the real estate office, at California Charlies' , in the Bates Motel office, at the Chamberses' home, or in the DA's office.
But nobody cared. The movie was just too scary and involving and great.
I was trying to think of any other movie that is exact about time and days as Psycho is. Some other movie where "when those days arrive each year, you think of the movie."
Seven Days in May comes to mind. Though I can't remember if those days are named and numbered. (I think they are.)
Three Days of the Condor comes to mind. Though I don't think THOSE days are named (the movie was retitled froma book called 'Six Days of the Condor," because the producers thought that this would make audiences think the movie was too long, and not come.)
Camille Paglia wrote a piece on The Birds and gave it a timeline. Amazing: Both Psycho AND The Birds start around 2:43 on a Friday. Its a title in Psycho(exact); its the clock on the wall in The Birds. Recall that Melanie brings the lovebirds to Mitch on a Friday and is told by a neighbor(Richard "Dick Van Dyke Show" Deacon) that Mitch always spends the weekend with his family. Thus, Melanie delivers the lovebirds on Saturday morning; has dinner with the Brenners on Saturday night, and the attacks happen over Sunday and Monday(on Monday, the kids are in school to get attacked.) Melanie and the Brenners make their escape by dawn's light on Tuesday morning. No dates are given, as I recall.
I suppose aside from Psycho, an entire genre of movies that are VERY specific about their dates are: Christmas movies in general. From Miracle on 34th Street to White Christmas to National Lamppon's Christmas Vacation to Die Hard...tis the season. Except Die Hard was released in summer. A movie by the same producers -- Lethal Weapon -- opened in March, and its opening credits unfurl while "Jingle Bell Rock" is on the soundtrack, which was mind-jarring to see back in 1987 when it came out. (Christmas was behind us, but by only a few months.)
No, for all of those comparisons, I will go with Psycho as having a certain specificity of time that looms above all others. The shower slaughter of Marion Crane and the staircase slashing of Arbogast were historic events -- both in film history and in history itself. Two violent Saturday nights that shocked the world.
And the killer caught after church on Sunday.
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Sidebar: one year in which December 11 actually fell on a Friday was 1998. And Universal had scheduled its release of Van Sant's Psycho for the Friday BEFORE that -- Friday, December 4. Entertainment Weekly did a cover story on Van Sant's Psycho before release, and the interviewer asked the producer, "why don't you open it the next Friday on December 11 -- the same day the movie itself begins?" The producer responded something like "hey, that's a great idea!" But they didn't do it. I suppose the machinery of opening movies nationwide and worldwide can't take such last minute tampering.
But they sure blew a historic opening day...
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