Psycho (1960)
Janet Leigh: Marion Crane
Photos
Quotes
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Norman Bates : She needs *me*. It's not as if is she were a maniac, a raving thing. She just goes - a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?
Marion Crane : Yes. Sometimes just one time can be enough.
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Marion Crane : Do you go out with friends?
Norman Bates : Well, a boy's best friend is his mother.
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Norman Bates : Where are you going?
[Marion looks uncomfortable]
Norman Bates : I didn't mean to pry.
Marion Crane : I'm looking for a private island.
Norman Bates : What are you running away from?
Marion Crane : Why do you ask that?
Norman Bates : People never really run away from anything. The rain didn't last long, did it? You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.
Marion Crane : Sometimes we deliberately step into those traps.
Norman Bates : I was born in mine. I don't mind it anymore.
Marion Crane : Oh, but you should. You should mind it.
Norman Bates : Oh, I do...
[laughs]
Norman Bates : But I say I don't.
Marion Crane : You know... if anyone ever talked to me the way I heard... the way she spoke to you...
Norman Bates : Sometimes... when she talks to me like that... I feel I'd like to go up there... and curse her... and-and-and leave her forever! Or at least defy her! But I know I can't. She's ill.
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Marion Crane : Do you have any vacancies?
Norman Bates : Oh, we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 vacancies.
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Marion Crane : Wouldn't it be better if you put her... some place...?
[Marion does not finish the sentence as she thinks of the right thing to say. Norman leans forward with a concerned look on his face]
Norman Bates : You mean an institution? A madhouse?
Marion Crane : No, I didn't mean it like...
Norman Bates : [suddenly angry] People always call a madhouse "someplace", don't they? "Put her in someplace!"
Marion Crane : I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so uncaring.
Norman Bates : What do you know about caring? Have you ever seen the inside of one of those places? The laughing, and the tears, and those cruel eyes studying you? My mother THERE?
[subdued tone]
Norman Bates : Oh, but she's harmless. She's as harmless as one of those stuffed birds.
Marion Crane : I'm sorry. I felt that... well, from what you told me about your mother is that she might be hurting you. I meant well.
Norman Bates : People always mean well. They cluck their thick tongues, and shake their heads and suggest, oh, so very delicately!
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Norman Bates : Well, a son is a poor substitute for a lover.
Marion Crane : Why don't you go away?
Norman Bates : What, to a private island like you?
Marion Crane : No, not like me.
Norman Bates : I couldn't do that. Who would look after her? The fire in her fireplace would go out. It would be cold and damp up there like a grave. If you love sombody, you wouldn't leave them even if they treat your badly. Do you understand? I don't hate my mother. I hate at what she's become. I hate her illness.
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Marion Crane : A man should have a hobby.
Norman Bates : Well, it's - it's more than a hobby. A hobby's supposed to pass the time, not fill it.
Marion Crane : Is your time so empty?
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Norman Bates : You-you eat like a bird.
Marion Crane : [Looking around at the stuffed birds while eating] And you'd know, of course.
Norman Bates : No, not really. Anyway, I hear the expression 'eats like a bird' - it-it's really a
[stammers]
Norman Bates : fals-fals-fals-falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But -I-I don't really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things. You know - taxidermy.
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California Charlie : It's the first time the customer ever high-pressured the salesman. I figure roughly... your car plus seven hundred dollars.
Marion Crane : Seven hundred dollars?
California Charlie : You always got time to argue money, huh?
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Marion Crane : Oh, we can see each other. We can even have dinner but respectably in my house with my mother's picture on the mantel and my sister helping me broil a big steak for three.
Sam Loomis : And after the steak, do we send Sister to the movies? Turn mama's picture to the wall?
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[first lines]
Sam Loomis : You never did eat your lunch, did you?
Marion Crane : [on the bed in her underwear] I better get back to the office. These extended lunch hours give my boss excess acid.
Sam Loomis : Why don't you call your boss and tell him you're taking the rest of the afternoon off? It's Friday anyway - and hot.
Marion Crane : What do I do with my free afternoon? Walk you to the airport?
Sam Loomis : Well, we could laze around here a while longer.
Marion Crane : Checking out time is 3 P.M. Hotels of this sort are interested in you when you come in, but when your time is up... oh Sam, I hate having to be with you in a place like this.
Sam Loomis : Married couples deliberately spend occasional night in a cheap hotels.
Marion Crane : When you're married you can do - a lot of things - deliberately.
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Caroline : [taking pill bottle out of purse] I've got something - not aspirin. My mother's doctor gave them to me the day of my wedding. Teddy was furious when he found out I had taken tranquilizers!
Marion Crane : [applying lipstick] Any calls?
Caroline : Teddy called me - my mother called to see if Teddy called. Oh, your sister called to say she's going to Tucson to do some buying and she'll be gone the whole weekend, and...
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Highway Patrol officer : Uh... hold it there. In quite a hurry.
Marion Crane : [nervously] Yes. Uh... I didn't intend to sleep so long. I almost had an accident last night, from sleepiness. So I decided to pull over.
Highway Patrol officer : You slept here all night?
Marion Crane : Yes. As I said, I couldn't keep my eyes open.
Highway Patrol officer : There are plenty of motels in this area. You should've... I mean, just to be safe.
Marion Crane : I didn't intend to sleep all night! I just pulled over. Have I broken any laws?
Highway Patrol officer : No, ma'am.
Marion Crane : Then I'm free to go?
Highway Patrol officer : Is anything wrong?
Marion Crane : Of course not. Am I acting as if there's something wrong?
Highway Patrol officer : Frankly, yes.
Marion Crane : Please... I'd like to go.
Highway Patrol officer : Well, is there?
Marion Crane : Is there what? I've told you there's nothing wrong, except that I'm in a hurry and you're taking up my time.
[starts car engine]
Highway Patrol officer : Now, just a moment! Turn off your motor, please. May I see your license?
Marion Crane : Why?
Highway Patrol officer : Please.
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California Charlie : I'm in no mood for trouble.
Marion Crane : What?
California Charlie : There's an old saying, "First customer of the day is always the trouble!" But like I say, I'm in no mood for it, so I'm gonna treat you so fair and square that you won't have one human reason to give me...
Marion Crane : Can I trade my car in and take another?
California Charlie : Do anything you've a mind to. Bein' a woman, you will. That yours?
Marion Crane : Yes, it's just that - there's nothing wrong with it. I just...
California Charlie : Sick of the sight of it! Well, why don't you have a look around here and see if there's somethin' that strikes your eyes, and meanwhile I'll have my mechanic give yours the once over. You want some coffee? I was just about...
Marion Crane : No, thank you. I'm in a hurry. I just want to make a change, and...
California Charlie : One thing people never oughtta be when they're buyin' used cars, and that's in a hurry. But like I said, it's too nice a day to argue. I'll uh - shoot your car in the garage here.
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Sam Loomis : When I send my ex-wife her alimony, you can lick the stamps.
Marion Crane : I'll lick the stamps.
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Tom Cassidy : What you need is a weekend in Las Vegas. The playground of the world!
Marion Crane : I'm going to spend this weekend in bed.
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Marion Crane : You make respectability sound - disrespectful.
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Tom Cassidy : You know what I do about - unhappiness? I buy it off. Are - are you unhappy?
Marion Crane : Not inordinately.
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Norman Bates : The mattress is soft and there're hangers in the closet and stationary with "Bates' Motel" printed on it in case you want to make your friends back home envious.
[nervous laughter]
Norman Bates : And, the, eh, over there.
Marion Crane : The bathroom.
Norman Bates : Yeah.
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Marion Crane : I haven't even been married once yet!
Sam Loomis : Yeah, but when you do - you'll swing.
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Norman Bates : You're not going back to your room already?
Marion Crane : I'm very tired - and I have a long drive tomorrow. All the way back to Phoenix.
Norman Bates : Really?
Marion Crane : I - stepped into a private trap back there. I'd like to go back and try to pull myself out of it. Before it's too late for me too.
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Marion Crane : You can't buy off unhappiness with pills.
