If Sam knew about Marion stealing the 40 Grand
Would he have gone along with it?
shareIMO...no. I rewatched "Psycho" a couple of weekends ago (first time in a couple of years I'd watched it) and one of the things that struck me about Sam is that he seemed "principled" from a business standpoint. I think he would have tried to convince Marion that she needed to return the $40K.
shareThere is that great moment among all the "imagined voices" that Marion hears in her head on the drive (Caroline, Lowery, Cassidy...likely all at the office), that Sam gets to be imagined once, too -- and early on in Marion's drive, away from the others. He says something like "Marion...what are you doing here? Of course I'm glad to see you, I always am...(long pause)...what is it, Marion?"
So Marion is ALREADY thinking ahead to what Sam is going to think, and how judgmental he will be.
And yet she drives on to him.
But I think it is telling -- and another of the multitude of horrible ironies in Psycho -- that when Marion learns that the Bates Motel is only 15 miles from Fairvale and Sam's home...she decides to stay at the motel.. She was only 15 MILES from Sam...and she decided to wait a night. I figure this was her internal "last chance" to decide AGAINST seeing Sam, she unconsciously knew it...Norman convinced her to go back...and she dies. Hitchcock could be profound and cruel storyteller.
But to answer the question...no, Sam would want her to give the money back. In the book, I think Marion's plan was to tell Sam she had received a sudden inheritance from an uncle. Sam might have accepted THAT -- with some skepticism, but the movie tells us the rest: Arbogast would have shown up, the crime had to fail.
Alternatively: what if Marion showed up with the money, told Sam the truth --"I stole it for US" -- and pushed Sam to run with her before the cops came. To Mexico, maybe..?
I still think Sam would have said no, had her give the money back ...and likely married her. More dark, sad irony.
One more iriony: Marion imagines Sam being surprised by her sudden visit to Fairvale..."what are you doing here?" Well, we sort of get that scene in another form: it is LILA who completes the trip to Fairvale, and surprises Sam. Sad, again.
*Spoilers*
I wondered what Marion was thinking? I mean, did she really think she would get away with it? Had she not changed her mind to return the money, what would've happened? Had Norman not killed her, would Marion have been caught by the police if she hadn't changed her mind?
I wondered what Marion was thinking? I mean, did she really think she would get away with it?
---
Analysis of the movie by others over the years have pointed out that Marion "goes a little mad" when she embrzzles that money, and did not think it through. But she DID elect to stay at the Bates Motel even with Sam 15 miles away and she DID allow Norman to change her mind:
Norman: We all go a little mad sometimes...haven't you?
Marion: Yes...and sometimes, just one time...can be enough.
She's come to her senses. She realizes it would never work, even if Sam believed an inheritance, Arbogast was on his way to prove it was a crime.
---
Had she not changed her mind to return the money, what would've happened?
---
She would have taken the money to Sam. If she lied and said it was an inheritance, in a week Arbogast would show up to prove her lies.
If Sam agreed to "be in on it" ..they would have to run. Mexico, most likely(Sam lives in California.) Maybe they could elude the authorities in Mexico, maybe not. But what would they DO there? I suppose forty thousand would stake a good claim to work at somethjing...
---
Had Norman not killed her, would Marion have been caught by the police if she hadn't changed her mind?
---
Not by her plan. On Saturday night, she decides to give the money back. She tells Norman she must drive the next day (Sunday) "all the way back to Phoenix." (She signed in "Los Angeles" on the register.) If she gets back to Phoenix late Sunday night, she can bank the money on Monday morning before coming to work and no one would be the wiser.