SHOWERS AND BLADES

Happy Psycho Day everybody!

That's right, December 11 (at two-forty-three p.m.) is the day when, according to the opening titles, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho begins, right here in Phoenix, Arizona...

Saturday before last was, by Phoenix standards, pretty rainy. Your Humble Narrator was driving home up I-17 and listening to Reel Music, the movie music show on KBAQ...

...which was devoted that evening to scores from Hitchcock flicks. So there I was, listening to Bernard Herrmann's great theme from Psycho, with my windshield wipers keeping time, and it occurred to me that this was likely as close as I would ever get to knowing what it felt like to be Janet Leigh...

ROC STAR

Obviously this week…

Monster-of-the-Week: …a Ray Harryhausen monster was in order. But which, out of all his wondrous fauna, ought to get the nod? Then it occurred to me—this weekend is also Mother’s Day. The choice is clear: The Roc, the awe-inspiring two-headed bird from my personal favorite Harryhausen movie, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

 

The Roc comes flapping back to her lofty nest, to the accompaniment of vertigo-inducing Bernard Herrmann music, to find that a couple of scurvy sea-dogs of Sinbad’s crew have cracked open one of her eggs and are enjoying a drumstick of the sweet two-headed chick that emerged. Bad luck for those guys.

A very Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms everywhere.