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A Tale of Two Staircases: Psycho and The Untouchables(1987)

posted 5 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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Hitchcock was once asked in an interview why he did so many scenes on staircases.

Hitchcock's reply: "Staircases take people up...and they take people down."

Indeed they do. In Hitchcock's films, they did that a lot:

Suspicion(Cary Grant brings up a glass of brightly lit milk.)
Shadow of a Doubt(in Young Charlie's home, she comes down it wearing the ring of Uncle Charlie's victim.
Notorious (staircase to Bergman's room, Grant goes up, Grant and Bergman go down.)
Strangers on a Train(The Dog at the Top of the Stairs; Bruno with gun in hand watching Guy walk down the steps)
The Man Who Knew Too Much(Jimmy pushes kidnapper down stairs to his own death -- via the bad guy's gun.)
Vertigo: The bell tower staircase!
Psycho: Two great scenes: one where Norman is followed by a camera going to get mother and...well, more to come...
The Birds: Tippi slowly ascends a staircase with a corner midway, to go investigate bird noises upstairs...
Torn Curtain: Paul Newman is tripped and process falls forwards down a staircase(reversing someone else' process fall backwards down the stairs in Psycho.
Topaz: An apartment stairwell in Paris leads to the discovery of a body outside.
Frenzy: One great reverse track down the stairs away from a murder...one final staircase climb for a good guy turned killer...
Family Plot: A diamond in the chandlier...near the top of the staircase.

...And I'm sure I missed a few.

But NO Hitchcock staircase scene will ever compare to the one in Psycho where detective Arbogast makes a decision in the foyer(great shots); climbs the stairs in a slow but steady ascent, is attacked at the top in an overhead shot, and then -- quite controversially -- falls in process all the way down to the foyer floor and being finished off. The music makes a big difference(screeching violins on the attack make the audience scream) but Hitchcock's shot selection and TIMING make it a classic. (And for my money, there is something magnetic and profound about those first shots of Arbogast in the foyer, looking here, there, and there -- POV shots included -- before deciding to climb the stairs. Its cinematic greatness on a monumental level, that foyer part.)

Psycho was my favorite movie of 1960 and took the decade even though it appeared in the first year of the sixties and was, in some ways, still a movie of the fifties. Irony: my favorite movie of the 50's was North by Northwest, released a mere 10 months before Psycho. But..."fair is fair." And I like the symmetry of it: NXNW climaxes the fifties for Hitchocck and the movies; Psycho begins the 60's for Hitchcock and the movies.

The eighties wasn't quite as compelling a decade for me at the movies. Here's my list of ten favorites:

1980: Used Cars
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982: ET (part of a two year one-two punch from Steven Spielberg similar to what Hitchocck did with NXNW and Psycho back to back.)
1983: Terms of Endearment(coupled with ET the year before, that's back-to-back tearjerkers on my personal best list of the 80's; but as William Friedkin said, you come to the movies for one of three reasons: to be thrilled(scream), to laugh, or to cry.
1984: Ghostbusters. The improv genius of Bill Murray as the SNL/Lampoon squad meet the monsters.
1985: Silverado: A Clean-Gene, sparkling version of the Western from the guy who wrote Raiders. The Magnificent Four all survive this one -- and its a warm-up for The Untouchables two years later. (Kevin Costner in common.)
1986: Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Bueller....Bueller..if John Hughes had a lock on the 80's, Chicago area teens wise, this is the funniest and most touching of them all(followed, in my book, by Uncle Buck.)
And then, rather miraculously, a three-movie run, one summer at a time, in which each year delivered a great and substantial action movie, two of them anchored by big stars, the third MAKING big stars:

1987: The Untouchables (Connery, DeNiro..Costner aborning.)
1988: Die Hard(Willis becomes a superstar and Rickman a character star.)
1989: Batman(Nicholson anchors, Keaton assists.)

I swear that that one-two-three of The Untouchables, Die Hard and Batman seemed to merge together into one big three-year long summer at the end of the 80's, as my strong memories of The Untouchables merged into my strong memories of Die Hard and climaxed with my stron memories of Batman. What a way to end the decade. And -- I find all three of them to be more involving action movies than the great Raiders of the Lost Ark, which suffered from Spielberg not using stars beyond Ford, not having one clear cut great villain, and allowing the story to peter out near the end.) I loved Raiders when it came out, but what it was missing...The Untouchables, Die Hard, and Batman provided.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

When the 80's were over, I chose The Untouchables as my favorite. The favorite would have to be one of that "final action trio" -- they were just too strong. If I pick The Untouchables, it is because the movie has a sad heart beating under its action movie surface...I remember thinking how PERFECT Morricone's music was to accompany the deaths of two sympathetic characters...and then Morricone also provided such musical motifs as a thunderous "ride of the Untouchables" aria(used for many an AFI awards event); the staccato gangster purr of the opening titles -- and a wonderful mix of a lullaby and building suspense music for the best scene in the movie:

A suspenseful and exciting shoot -em up on a long marble staircase in a Chicago train station.

Paired across the decades, Psycho took the 60's for me, and The Untouchables took the 80's for me...with many great scenes and characters. But especially with two unforgettable staircase scenes.

The one in The Untouchables was directed by Brian DePalma...and I think created by him, too. That is, written by him. The Untouchables script called for this scene to be a chase and gunbattle on board a train leaving from Chicago. But the budget couldn't hold it. So DePalma devised...pretty much with a day or two's lead...the idea of staging the shootout BEFORE the character reached the train. In the train station. On a staircase.

A question: is this the same Chicago train station in The Untouchables where Grant and Saint disembarked in NXNW? I dunno. I know that Chicago has/had at least two big stations. I wonder.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Now, DePalma -- so world famous for "borrowing" Hitchcock scenes and motifs -- here borrowed a bit from all of Hitchcock's staircase scenes(Arbogast's included) but added things that weren't Hitchcock: slow-motion; gunplay; and an homage to Eisenstein's Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin -- principally a baby carriage bouncing down the steps amidst all the carnage. (Ah, but Hitchcock had borrowed from Potemkin, too, in the Arbogast murder on the stairs -- the slash on Arbogast's face is presented much like the broken eyeglasses and blood on a woman's face in the Odessa Steps sequence.)

To the extent I disliked how DePalma handled suspense set-pieces in his films, I mainly complained about how OVERLONG the build-ups were. Example , just how long it takes that bucket of pig's blood to fall on Carrie, in Carrie, with the slo-mo camera crawling forever back and forth, up and down , to show us the rope, the bucket, the bad guys, the good guys.

I wrote that if DePalma had filmed the Arbogast staircase murder in Psycho, it would have taken the detective ten minutes in slow motion to get up the stairs, and five minutes in slow motion to get down the stairs. Hitchocck filmed the sequence with a much greater sense of concision and split-second timing. I like the timing on the Arbogast murder.

DePalma's staircase scene, nonetheless, surprised me: it takes FOREVER for the woman with the baby carriage to drag that carriage up the steps, one at a time, about two minutes per step. And when the gunfire finally unleashes and people start moving, that's in slow motion.

But somehow, this time, it works. The lady dragging the carriage up the steps is so aggravatingly slow that I had audience members yelling "C'mon!" -- for Kevin Costner's Elliott Ness needs woman and baby to clear the way before Al Capone's henchmen appear with a bookkeeper who is a "human MacGuffin" -- capture the bookmaker, capture Al Capone's tax records, put him away.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Costner has to move "off point" to go onto the stairs and help the woman get the carriage to the top. His one remaining Untouchable -- sharpshooter Andy Garcia -- is way over in another part of the train station. Costner, woman, and baby carriage reach the top of the stairs just in time for the bookkeeper and Capone's henchmen to enter(OTHER henchmen having come in earlier to assume THEIR positions, even as Costner is dragging the baby carriage up the stairs) and...(Morricone music a buildin' in countperpoint to a baby's lullaby)....

.....

...All hell breaks loose. But quietly. No screeching violins, just a whirring purr as the carriage starts to roll backwards down the stairs and gunfire is exchanged (in a nice cinematic touch, Costner has to start the shooting when he recognizes a henchman whose nose he broke and the henchman recognizes HIM. It takes a moment for the man's bandaged nose to alert us that he is "that guy.")

As with all great cinematic scenes, there isn't much way to replicate in writing what happens on the screen, but suffice it to say that there are "elements within elements" - the baby carriage(with a smiling toddler, unaware of what's going on.) Capone's bookkeeper -- if he is killed, all bets are off. "Innocent bystanders" -- most memorably a group of white suited Navy sailors who jump and leap to save the baby carriage and a couple of them are wounded and possibly die trying(spurts of red blood emit from their lily white shirts and the effect is oddly beautiful.)

And sharpshooter Andy Garcia is on the run to join the fray and ...how he arrives just in time to throw Costner another pistol(shades of Ricky Nelson and John Wayne in Rio Bravo) AND stop the carriage from crashing AND get a bead on the surviving henchman who now holds the bookkeeper hostage...its the stuff of audience applause and cheers.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Well...yes its a bit contrived and over the top, but its exciting as hell and rousing. The good guys win here, after some sad scenes where they lost...they're saving the day AND getting revenge for lost partners and the scene as a whole(for once) borrows from Hitchcock(and Eisenstein, and Hawks, and Peckinpah) while remaining solely the stylistic baby of DePalma.

Any time I need a quick "rush of cinema" to feel better about my day, I either put in a DVD or jump to YouTube to look at a favorite movie scene. The staircase scenes in Psycho and The Untouchables are very high up on my list for such personal entertainment value.

[–] swanstep (2616) 5 years ago

A question: is this the same Chicago train station in The Untouchables where Grant and Saint disembarked in NXNW? I dunno. I know that Chicago has/had at least two big stations. I wonder.

The Untouchables uses Union Station which is the *only* intercity rail link in Chicago these days. Up until the late 1960s, however, the less grand (on one level, no big staircases) LaSalle St station was also used for some important intercity links, including the (famous in movies since the '30s) 20th Century Ltd to/from NYC and the (famous in Blues and skiffle songs) Rock Island Line to/from points west (including the Golden State Limited to CA). Rewatching the NbNW scene now it's clearly LaSalle St Station that's intended and was used (both for live shots and for back projection plates). Note that when LaSalle lost intercity service the station buildings there were demolished. The current LaSalle Station is unremarkable, indeed it's a relatively minor, albeit terminal node in Chicago's commuter train system.

Thanks to ecarle for encouraging me to sort this out! In the '90s I caught the 20th Century Ltd many times always arriving at Union Station, and up until now I mentally pasted NbNW into that location even though I knew something was off about the level of the platforms (shown in NbNW at street level and evidently as more centrally into The Loop, which didn't fit Union Station). Glad to have that misimpression corrected.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

The Untouchables uses Union Station which is the *only* intercity rail link in Chicago these days. Up until the late 1960s, however, the less grand (on one level, no big staircases) LaSalle St station was also used for some important intercity links, including the (famous in movies since the '30s) 20th Century Ltd to/from NYC and the (famous in Blues and skiffle songs) Rock Island Line to/from points west (including the Golden State Limited to CA). Rewatching the NbNW scene now it's clearly LaSalle St Station that's intended and was used (both for live shots and for back projection plates).

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Aha. Union Staton. LaSalle St Station. I didn't get out my NBNW DVD to look at the scenes, but I can recall the LaSalle St.exteriors(as Grant and Saint walk together off the train, Grant disguised as a redcap) and the interiors(the phone booths for the call from Leonard, the men's room where Grant takes his funny shave; the area where Grant and Saint say goodbye.) No big marble steps.

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Note that when LaSalle lost intercity service the station buildings there were demolished.

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Like downtown Phoenix Arizona circa 1960 and Covent Garden circa 1972. The movies "preserve the past."

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The current LaSalle Station is unremarkable, indeed it's a relatively minor, albeit terminal node in Chicago's commuter train system.

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Hmmm. And North by Northwesters who seek the station out for a memory tour will be disappointed!

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

I'm reminded that NYC's Grand Central Station figures in NXNW as well. Its rather darkly lit in that movie, but much more brightly 34 years later in DePalma's "Carlito's Way"(1993), likely with newer cameras, films and lights. The Grand Central Station final chase in "Carlito's Way" is exciting, scary, and tragic, with great musical accompaniment. Funny that two of the best DePalma movies have big train station set-pieces. And "Carlito's Way" is my favorite of 1993.

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Thanks to ecarle for encouraging me to sort this out! In the '90s I caught the 20th Century Ltd many times always arriving at Union Station, and up until now I mentally pasted NbNW into that location even though I knew something was off about the level of the platforms (shown in NbNW at street level and evidently as more centrally into The Loop, which didn't fit Union Station). Glad to have that misimpression corrected.

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So the 20th used to go to LaSalle Street(in the era of NXNW) but is now re-routed to Union Station?

Two other points: the fun 1976 Hitchcockian comedy "Silver Streak" had the train crashing into one of those Chicago train stations? Do you remember which one?

And: The "Silver Streak" train was based on the real "Super Chief" train which I took as a kid with my family from California to the Midwest. I have very, very vague memories of switching trains in Chicago. We left the Super Chief with our sleeping compartment and got on a commuter type train with only bench seats, for the rest of our trip.

[–] swanstep (2616) 5 years ago

The Silver Streak station is Union Station.

BTW, a bit more digging has revealed that the official 20th Century Limited ended service in 1967, 4 years before Lasalle Station became just a commuter rail terminus, so the 20th was never 're-routed to Union Station'. The romantically overnight trains I caught into Chicago in the '90s (and that still run now) were either the Lake Shore Limited or (principally) the Capitol Limited. I just let my movie-imagination run away with me, damn it! :(

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

The Silver Streak station is Union Station.

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Thanks for all the research, swanstep, very illuminating about which stations functioned how, from 1959(NXNW) to The Untouchables, with Silver Streak in between.

I must remember to watch Silver Streak back to back with The Untouchables to see how the station and the staircase "match up" between the two movies. Though The Untouchables barely leaves the staircase.

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BTW, a bit more digging has revealed that the official 20th Century Limited ended service in 1967, 4 years before Lasalle Station became just a commuter rail terminus, so the 20th was never 're-routed to Union Station'. The romantically overnight trains I caught into Chicago in the '90s (and that still run now) were either the Lake Shore Limited or (principally) the Capitol Limited. I just let my movie-imagination run away with me, damn it! :(

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Letting one's movie imagination run away with oneself is...glorious. Especially in these crummy-news times...

[–] swanstep (2616) 5 years ago

...And I'm sure I missed a few.

The Lodger is the big one. The Psycho-ish main staircase is featured repeatedly with many angles the same as Psycho and there's one Vertigo-ish show-off shot directly down the stair-well tracing the Lodger's hand around the perspective receding spiral of the railing.

The semi-surprise that the foppish/matinee idol-ish Lodger is actually a super-rich dude is cinched at the end of the film by having him descend a grandiose, curving, marble staircase in his mansion.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

The Lodger is the big one.

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Aha. I've only really seen that once. Otherwise, I've seen some clips a few times.

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The Psycho-ish main staircase is featured repeatedly with many angles the same as Psycho

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"Self plagiarism is style" just could be the most self-aware statement Hitchcock ever made.

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and there's one Vertigo-ish show-off shot directly down the stair-well tracing the Lodger's hand around the perspective receding spiral of the railing.

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Yes, I recall that. The Vertigo bell tower stairwell is its own kind of effect, isn't it? Spiraling around and around(thought in a "square shape" in a dizzying simile to the dizzying spiral patterns of the Vertigo credit sequence. Moreover, that bell tower stairwell famously does the " Vertigo effect" of dollying up and zooming away, along with a great swish of Herrmann music for the effect. Another great "Hitchcock frisson."

And also: a much more gigantic version of the Vertigo bell tower and stairwell anchor the climax of Tim Burton's "Batman"(with a climactic cliffhanger pattened off of NXNW on Rushmore) -- yet another reason I LOVE that particular Batman movie. (That and Jack. And Michael.)

And also: to go along with the famous bell tower stairwell in Vertigo, we also have the opulent staircase at the McKittrick Hotel which looks like the Psycho house staircase on steroids. Detective Scottie McPherson takes on that staircase much as Detective Arbogast will take on the Psycho staircase....but survives.

Self-plagiarism. Style.

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The semi-surprise that the foppish/matinee idol-ish Lodger is actually a super-rich dude is cinched at the end of the film by having him descend a grandiose, curving, marble staircase in his mansion.

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Interesting that a grandiose staircase can be its very own atmospheric statement, yes? I am thinking of the one in Notorious, and for some reason, the one in Saboteur at the ball(I think.)

By contrast, the Bates House staircase is actually rather stark -- its the carpet all the way up on each step that makes it a bit more opulent than it is.

Now HERE's some trivia:

I researched various Hitchcock reviews on microfiche over the years. And I found one for The Birds(Newsweek, I believe) that said:

"Hitchcock sets one suspense scene on a staircase. But since he already gave us practically the same, scene, on practically the same staircase, in Psycho...the effect falls flat this time."

Hmm. No doubt the critic was noting Tippi's ascent to attic room in The Birds, but both the ascent AND the staircase are quite different than those in Psycho. Arbogast's ascent was a straight single shot(cut to and from) looking down on Arbogast in the near distance as he walked. Tippi is covered in a series of tight close-ups and inserts: her face, her hands, etc.

And indeed, whereas the Psycho staircase goes straight up, the Birds staircase takes a turn.

As does the staircase in Frenzy. Indeed, the walks of Tippi in The Birds and Jon Finch at the end of Frenzy are far more of a "matched pair"(close-ups, inserts) than the Psycho Arbogast climb to either of those two...

[–] slimone (7996) 5 years ago

Another famous staircase scene which The Untouchables adopted. . .. Battleship Potemkin, when the baby carriage falls down the stairs.