John Gavin

We begin our survey our survey of the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1960s.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s, click here.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1940s, click here.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1930s click here.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1920s click here.

1. Psycho, 1960

At first glance Psycho looks like a cheap exploitation film. Hitchcock shot it with a television crew, not his standard, and very costly, feature crew. He filmed in black and white, and the $800,000, budget was low even by the standards of 1960. The Bates Motel and gothic style mansion were built on the back lot at Universal.

Hitch had just finished the hugely entertaining and successful North by Northwest, a glittering, all-star production. Psycho, on the other hand, looks like a sleazy production with B-list actors. Even the ad campaign—“Do not give away the ending”—feels like something cooked up by William Castle or some other schlockmeister.

But of course, Psycho has become the essential Hitchcock movie. It’s the film whose impact has been felt in almost every subsequent mainstream Hollywood movie.

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