The $40,000 Deadly Problem

What would you do for $40,000 cash?

That is the pickle that put Marion Crane in the infamous shower scene in Albert Hitchcock’s classic Psycho (1960). Set in Phoenix, Arizona, Marion, played by Janet Leigh (The Manchurian Candidate, Touch of Evil, The Fog), is a disgruntled lover, whose boyfriend Sam Loomis has an ex-wife to whom he must pay alimony, setting him back financially which he says is the reason he cannot marry her.

Frustrated with her life situation, Marion sees an opportunity when Mr. Cassidy, a wealthy man, purchases for his daughter who is getting married a house for $40,000 cash with the real estate firm for whom she works as a secretary. Her boss, Mr. Lowery, concerned over having that much cash in the office, instructs Marion to go to the bank and deposit the money.

The next scene we see Marion packing her suitcase, after which she drives away. At an intersection she sees Mr. Lowery walking down the street. He stops and sees her. The problem? She told him that she would be going home and resting due to a headache. Her headache apparently has dissipated, and she is magically feeling much better as she drives down the highway with a smile on her face, $40,000 richer to meet Sam at his home in Fairville, California.

Until she meets Norman Bates.

Things become not only worse, but infinitely more complicated when we do something grossly unethical, and illegal. We think we are getting away with it, essentially running away from our problems by taking something that does not belong to us, thinking it would make everything better. Instead, we are devastating the lives of others, and putting our own in jeopardy. Yet, humans have been doing this since the beginning of our time on this planet.

Marion runs away from her domestic challenges, only to die at the hands of a madman. Now she has no problems at all.

There are a whole population of people residing in cemeteries who wish they had our problems. Some of them did things similar to what Marion did, and regret that they didn’t make different choices. Despite the fact that Marion intended to return the money the following morning after her night at the Bates Motel, the deed had already been committed.

Hitchcock did a brilliant job directing a complex character who deserved consequences for her actions, and yet we cheered for her to get away from the Bates Motel so she could live. Perhaps in a sense we could empathize, that possibly if we were in Marion’s situation, we might have contemplated taking the money as well. After all, temptation is temptation, and desperate situations, coupled with high emotions, calls for desperate measures.

We would like to think we are highly ethical, and would not dream of stealing from others to deal with our problems, but are we? What happens when we believe we have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, and a chance to get away with it?

When we commit such acts, we leave ourselves in the hands of those who have darker motives than we do. Norman, brilliantly played by the legendary Anthony Perkins, lives in an insane world ruled by his mother whom he killed, who now lives in his head, as he personifies her during the murder of others. What were the odds that Marion, a fugitive of the law, who pulled over on the highway to sleep, would end up at the Bates Motel to spend the night? Perhaps the key word is fugitive. Yes, there were other innocent victims, but she was running away from the law, and from those who were directly impacted by her deed.

In the real estate office, Mr. Cassidy tells Marion that his 18-year old daughter never had one unhappy day in any of her years. He says to Marion about buying his daughter the house for $40,000 cash, “Now that’s not buying happiness. That’s just buying off unhappiness.” It was evident that the wheels were turning in Marion’s mind regarding unhappiness and money, and what she could do about it herself.

Sometimes we run into more than unhappiness from which we are trying to escape, especially if it is our own doing.