Blueprints: "Psycho"

The April Showers series is back at The Film Experience, here's Jorge on how the most famous shower scene in cinema histor was written on the page.

One thing about iconic cinema sequences is that back when the script is written, before the movie is shot, released and gains critical acclaim (sometimes before it is even developed), they are not conceived to be iconic. They are simply a piece in a puzzle; one more segment in a longer story. 

But sometimes sequences transcend. Sometimes they become essential pieces of the cinema mosaic. And few scenes have stood the test of time better than the shower scene in Psycho. It has been recreated countless times, spun hundreds of homages and parodies, and changed the way horror scenes are shot, and what audiences should expect of the genre. Let’s take a look at how it looked in the page, before it acquired icon status, when it was merely three pages of a script…

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Worst Best Picture Snubs Ever?

by Nathaniel R

This week on Las Culturistas I froze on the question of "Greatest Oscar Snub of All Time?" so with 5 days out until the nominations (we know we know final predictions coming at'cha starting tomorrow), let's answer it! Restricting ourselves to Best Picture here because you gotta keep it tight when answering loose questions. 

SO WHAT WERE THE DOZEN WORST BEST PICTURE SNUBS EVER? Let's group them according to types of injustice...

TYPE 1. PLENTIFUL NOMINATIONS INCLUDING BEST DIRECTOR. SO WHY COULDN'T OSCAR GO THAT ONE SIMPLE HAPPY STEP FURTHER?  My Man Godfrey (1936) and Some Like it Hot (1959), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and They Shoot Horses Don't They? (1969) and Thelma and Louise (1991)

In all five of these cases the Best Picture snubs are puzzling. It's not just that the movies are all so grand that you watch them with jaw dropped -- from laughter, cathartic despair, or sheer awe. It's also that the Academy loved them enough to recognize them across multiple branches...

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All Eyez on Geronimo, Psycho, and the Pink Ladies

Happy weekend... almost. I'm in the Berkshires with a girlfriend and she informs me very emphatically that it's not the weekend until 5 PM. Why rush to the end of her vacation as its back to work with her on Monday. 

5 ways to honor this day (June 16th) in showbiz history

1995 Batman Forever opens in movie theaters to a then record-breaking weekend with new Bruce Wayne Val Kilmer and rising star Nicole Kidman as his love interest. Curiously it's the second most nominated Batman movie at the Oscars (3 nominations to The Dark Knight's 8). Isn't that strange?

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Today in Showbiz History: Oklahoma!, Martha & Missy, JLaw's Ascendance

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1873 WC Handy famous musician is born in Alabama. The first credited use of his music in a movie was in the original Scarface (1932). That same song "St Louis Blues" is his most popular with Hollywood and has been used in dozens of movies since including The Aviator and The Great Gatbsy recently.  But Blue Jasmine got all feisty and went with "Aunt Hagar's Blues" instead.
1889 Playwright George S Kaufman is born. He wins two Pulitzers and his work has been adapted to films many times including classics like You Can't Take It With You, Dinner at Eight, The Man Who Came to Dinner and Stage Door.
1907 Oklahoma becomes the 46th State...

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Debuts on this Day: Psycho, Spider-Man, Flatliners, Stardust

On this day in history at it relates to showbiz...

The Director and I

1787 Mozart competes his chamber piece "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" which has shown up in dozens of films over the years, many of which are classics. Here is but a small sampling of films that have used it in the past 40 years or so: Picnic at Hanging Rock, Alien, Sophie's Choice, The Bride, Hope & Glory, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, GI Jane, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Milk, and April and the Extraordinary World.
1896 Oscar nominated director Walter Lang (The King and I, 1956) is born
1897 Jack Haley is born. Enters screen immortality when he gets the part of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz when Buddy Ebsen has a terrible allergic reaction to the makeup...

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