Much has been made of composer Bernard Herrmann's choice to use only razor-sharp, slashing strings for his score to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. And heaven knows it works like a dream (or a nightmare), the music feeling as edgy and colorless as the noir-ish black-and-white photography. But as noticeably effective as the knife-screeching violins are in the famous shower scene (followed by those deadly blows from the basses and cellos), they work just as powerfully--though perhaps not as noticeably--all throughout the picture. Herrmann evokes dread and tension with just a few notes, or captures Janet Leigh's flighty panic in pizzicato as she hits the fateful road to the Bates Motel after impulsively stealing a large sum of money from her employer. --Jim Emerson
