I have always been fascinated by the promotional art and the concept of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds but had never seen it. This was rectified Saturday evening as we gave it a viewing for our spooky family night.
The Birds tells the story of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedron) who is a wealthy socialite and practical joker. While in a pet store she meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) shopping for lovebirds for his sister’s birthday. Brenner eventually admits to having some involvement in a court case regarding one of Ms. Daniels’ practical jokes. On a whim she decides to drive from San Francisco to the small coastal town of Bodega Bay to bring Mitch these lovebirds. Soon after arrival she is attacked by a seagull, the first of many inexplicable bird attacks on the unsuspecting townspeople.
If you have ever seen a Hitchcock film than you know he is a master of the medium in so many ways. Despite the fact that The Birds was released in 1963, the film does not have a dated look to it. The color palette, lighting, costuming etc. looks so good that it could easily be mistaken for a movie filmed today made specifically to pay homage to that nostalgic time period. The bird attack special effects are incredible, especially considering when they were done. The Collector’s Edition DVD has a long ‘making-of’ piece that includes recently filmed interviews with the main actors/actresses and others involved with the film. It shows in detail how they filmed the bird sequences, where live birds were used, etc. and it is fascinating.
Tippi Hedren was a model whom Hitchcock had seen in a commercial and he picked her specifically to play the role of Melanie Daniels. She was absolutely stunning and did a marvelous job. It was fun to see a ‘classic’ film with an actress that I had never watched before.
(click both actress pics to see an additional image)
Suzanne Pleshette played the role of Annie Hayworth, a school teacher who still held a torch for Mitch Brenner. Her smoldering looks and rich, deep voice was a far cry from her comedic acting on The Bob Newhart Show. The film also stars the veteran actress Jessica Tandy as Mitch Brenner’s mother and Veronica Cartwright as his sister.
The Birds is loosely based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca) and real life accounts of bird attacks that Hitchcock had read about. The sense of foreboding in The Birds builds slowly and deliberately, creating the right amount of tension to keep you in suspense as to what is going to happen. It is very well done and I highly recommend it.
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Prior to the Chiefs game yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a walk. While out walking I suddenly saw something in the air that just didn’t seem right. It was a B-2 Stealth Bomber, flying low over our neighborhood.
It was quite an amazing sight to say the least. Mary mentioned that it looked like something out of a Batman film. I guessed correctly that it was out for a pre-game fly over at Arrowhead Stadium.
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Target stores have a wonderful, artistic Halloween theme this year. Here are a few examples of the look of their displays:
I purchased a few more Halloween decorations there this weekend including a candy dish that looks like Itsy Bitsy. The legs are metal and bend down like spider legs, suspending Itsy’s body for you to put candy, etc in. They have some great, kid-friendly stuff there so check it out.
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Lastly I’d like to publicly thank my wife, Mary, for a delicious Sunday dinner of turkey legs, stuffing and green bean casserole! It was terrific and I get to take leftovers for lunch today…yay!!!
Happy Monday!
I bought Lydia a cat mask and cat ears at Target this weekend. It only cost 2.99. The Target in L.S. is great. Better than the Ind. one.
We should go to the air show at the AFB. It’s GREAT. They do it in the spring. One year I got to meet a couple of the B2 pilots. They had flown on some very important missions.
That would be fun, I haven’t been to an airshow since I was a little kid.
Oh! Those decorations are sassy! I think i may have to go into my bsmt to get all mine. Mwah hahahaha.
p.s. I saw the birds when I was 11 or so. It made me look like paranoid schizophrenic for about a month or so evertime a gaggle of birds flew by.
Oh I love everything Hitchcock, and The Birds is a fantastic movie.
I can remember seeing The Birds as a kid. On rainy Saturdays, we’d watch tv, manually flipping thru the stations (gasp!) til we found something we liked. Saturday afternoon movies rarely failed to delight!
Glad you had a yummy dinner and leftovahs!
I’m eating the leftovers right now! MMMMMMMM!!!!! Between this and the leftover chicken noodle soup that Jules gave us last week I’ve been in leftover heaven!
I’ve only seen a handful of Hitchcock films…I really need to make an effort to watch a more comprehensive grouping of his films.
I ditto the flipping through channels on Saturday afternoon and running across The Birds.
It freaked me out. My brother was watching and I was too proud to tell him it was scaring the crud out of me and to turn it. So I just sat there frozen and watched the thing. I think I would actually enjoy it now.
I love good leftovers. They are often better the second day. Especially soup…
I’ve only see The Birds once, a few years ago. The TV station did a Hitchcock season so I got to see The Birds and Psycho while out babysitting.
I’m still a fan of crows though.
I love both crows and ravens…they are such massively large, slightly creepy birds but they are also very intelligent and seem to have such interesting personalities. Psycho is another great Hitchcock film…the sequels are not worth watching, however.
You should check it out again Karen, I agree that you would enjoy it.
Turkey is one of the top left over foods in my opinion. I can eat turkey leftovers for a week after Thanksgiving. I envy you my good man.
I don’t remember ever seeing a Hitchcock film. I will have to check one out sometime. Thanks for the review.
The Target decorations for Halloween or any holiday for that matter always as much better than the other big box stores ( Wal-mart or K-mart ). Plus Target has great after holiday markdown sales. I always pick up some Christmas decorations for next year at Target after Christmas. Keri and I love looking for decorations at Hobby Lobby, too. It’s so Hot out yet though it’s hard to get into the fall season spirit yet. I don’t see how anyone who lives down in Florida or Arizona ever get into the holiday spirit when it never really gets cold or snows.
As for the Stealth bombers I used to see them when I used to go down to work at Whiteman Air Force Base. I agree with Mary’s comment, too. It just defiy’s your preconceived notions on how airplanes are supposed to look and you just can’t believe what your seeing. I also saw the Space Shuttle down their one day and it looked so small up on top of the giant jet plane. It was piggy back riding across the country from a California landing to Florida on ginat jumbo jet. Still cool to see though. Of course that was pre 9/11 and it was much easier to wander around the base.
Hitchcock rocks (Vertigo is my favorite), those Target decorations remind me of Jhonen Vasquez which is deeply odd, & i love this time of year.
i’m gonna go make some hot cider. with rum in it.
cheers.
That movie freaks me out way too bad to ever watch it again!
Wow, Jenn See, I was going to say Vertigo too! I love that movie. Seriously, what’s not to like about Jimmy Stewart! I am so glad we finally watched The Birds. I will definitely have to add this to my “must watch each year” list of movies.
You are welcome, Carl. It put me in the mood for Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family! I can’t wait.
There is some Vasquez there. What it really reminds me of is the work of Tim Biskup.
I really like Hitchcock but I must say, birds are not my friends. There are two things in life that really bother me:
a) eyes
b) birds
I won’t even go into pet stores because many have open bird cages. So this movie was so not for me. I saw it anyway. Had nightmares for weeks.
Well at the moment birds are SO not your friends. Cause you know, bird flu and mutating viruses/virusii (?) and death…
Not to panic anyone đ
Thanks for the public service announcement Fence! đ
Sorry Jay, hope this hasn’t brought up any old nightmares for you. Don’t want to be responsible for sleepless nights and increased bird paranoia!
Oh that’s right, I forgot all about Pleshette being in Newhart. Great show!
The Bob Newhart show really was a funny one. I wasn’t a big fan of the newer one but really enjoyed the reruns of the original.
while the Birds was good, i much prefer Hitchcock’s other classics: Rear Window, North by Northwest, Vertigo, etc… i guess i know what i’ll be watching this weekend.. it’s been ages!
I know I’ve seen North by Northwest but barely remember it. I need to check that one out again. Vertigo is a great one as well. I haven’t seen Rear Window but its on my Netflix list.
I agree with Ang, Rear Window is way better. My all time fave Hitch movie. It’s a toss up between NxNW and Psycho as a close second.
Rebecca is a really good Hitchcock film as well with the only exception being a major plot change between the book and movie about the nature of the original Mrs. de Winter. The book by Daphne du Maurier is excellent…makes a great, mysterious/creepy read. Don’t be fooled by the cover making it look like a romance book. It is great. The film is really good but I like the more recent BBC miniseries with Diana Rigg only because it is more true to the book.
Ooo, love anything Hitchcock. [Rear Window is also my most favorite, like other commentors here.] I was going to do that jawdropping thing and make a big deal that YOU of all people hadn’t seen The Birds yet. But then I decided your post was just too fabulous. That photo of Tippi is very cool, too. Glad you enjoyed the flick. I agree with what you said about the “look” of the film being so good, not outdated. Sounds like your Mary takes great care of you. đ
At least I saw it before I posted about it! Better late than never.
And yes, I get taken care of quite well…no doubt better than I deserve.