MovieChat Forums > Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Discussion > McQueen

McQueen

posted 11 years ago by anthonylchamberlain
8 replies | jump to latest

There is a point where Poirot (Albert Finney) is talking to Mr. McQueen (Anthony Perkins) and he is talking about his mother and how he still dreams about her and how she influenced him, ... You remember?

Anyway, the second or third time I saw this scene I thought "this is a reference to Psycho of which Anthony Perkins played the main character". It seems like it, but it must be a coincidence because, though "Murder on the Orient Express" was made in 1974, 14 years after "Psycho", the book was written in like 1934, and Anthony Perkins would have been 2 years old, and this was over 20 years before Psycho was filmed (maybe not written), and there's no way Agatha Christie could have known that Anthony Perkins would play him, right?

As an asied, I wonder what Agatha Christie would think of her grandson, the Governor of New Jersey. (Yes, that is a joke).

[–] DwightFry 11 years ago

McQueen is not like that in the book. All that stuff was added for the movie.

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[–] anthonylchamberlain 11 years ago

So you think it is a reference to Psycho?

[–] dohaperson 11 years ago

I think it was written like that, then the casting of Perkins adds the Psycho references....

[–] DwightFry 10 years ago

My guess is the character was reshaped after the (type)casting of Perkins.

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[–] Eric-62-2 10 years ago

Agreed. In the climax, MacQueen (the correct spelling) admits that his connection to the case is that he idolized Sonia Armstrong from afar. But all the "mother" fixation stuff is a product of the film and surely stemmed from the casting of Perkins so the audience would have some punchlines to laugh at being in on the inside-joke as it were.

[–] time_again 11 years ago

McQueen had to be an intentional reference to Norman Bates. Not only the bit about the "mother" but the character even acts like Bates, the same sort of nervousness and stuttering.

[–] Audunhaugnilsen 10 years ago

Had to? He's got an oedipal complex all right and he's got it bad, but I don't see why you should go for the jugular right away and pin the tail on that donkey. I mean.. He did kill somebody, but it's not like he was pulling prepubescant girls off the street.. If you want to talk psychopathic, that's psychopathic. Why don't we say sociopath or, rather, not? He was disappointed with the legal system and took it upon himself to do something about it. By definition that's sociopathic, but he did feel a heck of a lot as he did it, so he's not a psychopath in addition and, you know what, I agree; todays justice system sucks donkey ass. Sooorry. I'll settle for jittery with a twist of malicious, but not much more, because even Norman Bates is way too theatrical. If you want to know what a true psychopath acts and looks like, watch Brute Force from '47. I think it's '47. The head honco's number two man there is a total psychopath. A man that relishes any thought of excercising power like we would love. Other good films are The Hill '65 and the Secret Six '28. Hollywood actually institutionalized a mild form of psychopathy with their Hay's Code in '34 (No swearing). That equates to more regression on the part of actors, which normalizes stunted expression and teaches children it's wrong to get excited for any reason, even where it's completely fine and normal and all right, which in turn extends childhood - the real twister up in all of this. Long live prussian unit education.. Nooot.

[–] greenbudgie 10 years ago

I think that Perkins part as McQueen is especially tailored to reference 'Psycho' in this film.