Coby has mixed feelings about THE BIRDS (1963)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.พ. 2024
- "It is mankind, rather, who insists upon making it difficult for life to exist upon this planet."
The Birds movie reaction. Check out Coby's first time watching The Birds reaction. The horror thriller film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1963 and stars Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor and Jessica Tandy.
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Movie reactions, first time watching The Birds, The Birds 1963, 2024 The Birds reaction, 2024 The Birds movie reaction, reacting to The Birds, The Birds first time watching, Alfred Hitchcock movie reactions, James Stewart movie reactions, Alfred Hitchcock First Time Watching
#TheBirds #MovieReaction #firsttimewatching #CobyConnell - บันเทิง
Coby + Hitchcock -- Round 5 !
Coby, I don't see your reaction to "The Birds" on the Patreon channel. Hope to see it there. You are my favorite.
Coby ..when Melanie Daniels is attacked in the phone booth Stephen Spielburg recreates this scene in the movie Jaws when Matt Hooper is in a cage underwater when a shark attacks the cage
that's jessica tandy playing the mom. her husband, hume cronyn, appeared in hitchcok's "shadow of a doubt" 20 years earlier in 1943. they both appeared as a couple in ron howard's often overlooked sci-fi classic "cocoon" (1985). and speaking of ron howard there's also "splash" (1983). a rare, early tom hanks film that was actually GOOD!
as for "the birds" - its based on a book by daphne du maurier who also wrote the book "rebecca" (1940). hitchcock's first american made film and the ONLY hitchcock film to win the best picture oscar.
the script included scenes beyond the film's end. the gang is attacked by the birds in their car on the highway as they're leaving bodega bay. the scenes were storyboarded but never shot. i guess ole hitch thought enough was enough with the crazy birds. thanks for the video.
The whole concept of stalking was not really a thing back then. That didn’t really become an issue to the general public until stalkers started murdering celebrities like 20 or more years later.
@@cjmacq-vg8um I heard that Hitchcock wanted to end the film with the family making it to San Francisco, only to be thwarted by a Golden Gate Bridge covered in birds, but the studio didn’t want to allow it because it was too much of a downbeat ending.
Tippi Hedren, mother of Melanie Griffith and grandmother of Dakota Johnson, is still with us at age 94.
Vera Miles, who plays Lila Crane in Psycho, is also still with us at 94!
And Veronica Cartwright who plays Cathy is still with us at 74.
@@MLJ7956 I wish Veronica Cartwright was cast in more new horror movies, she’s truly a horror legend
Kim Novak from Vertigo is 91 and still with us!
After „Roar“, that’s an achievement in itself. What a brave woman!
"Just throw a bunch of french fries!" LOLOLOLOL... omg, that cracked me up so much, thanks for that! 🤣
Me too. 🤣
Twenty six years after she appeared in this film, Jessica Tandy, who played Mitch’s mother, won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Driving Miss Daisy (1989).
I used to watch Batteries Not Included all the time as a kid. Jessica Tandy is so good in it!
@@melanie62954- and her real life husband, Hume Cronyn, played her husband in *Batteries Not Included.
Miss dais y iz cant tske a squirt in duvall county without permission.
And was nominated for another one, 2 years later at the age of 82 for Fried Green Tomatoes!
She was the original Broadway Blance duBois in "Streetcar Named Desire".
"Just throw a bunch of french fries"
You should be writing these scripts 🤣
The girl Cathy was played by Veronica Cartwright, who played Lambert in Alien. Her crying is super intense.
Was also in another great 70's Si/Fi movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Wasn't she in Lost in Space, too?
@@rebo2610 That’s Angela, her younger sister.
She makes me cry every time I see it. She was that good !!!
I just saw her fairly recently in the police detective TV series 'Bosch' (on FreeVee) - she played the mother of Raynard Waits (played by Jason Gedrick of Iron Eagle fame)...
That was a great reaction Coby! I loved when you were asking "doesn't she know there are 20 birds behind her on the...Aaaaaahhhhh!!!", and there were at least a hundred birds. And the "why don't they throw a bunch of french fries one way and run the other way", hilarious! I'm really enjoying your journey through the Alfred Hitchcock films! He was a mastermind of suspense and wonderment. And I'm definitely looking forward to your next movie reaction! 🎥🍿👍
I love when you said, “No” when Cathy asked , Can we bring the lovebirds? … I totally agree
Actually, the Lovebirds are domisticated form of bird. Like Canaries, Parakeets, Mina Birds and others that are kept as pets usually don't attack. Crows, Gulls, Finches, Sparrows and the rest are wild and the ability to attack to protect themselves is part of their genetic structure.
The birds may represent the inner turmoil in people. The bird attacks ramp up as the human interactions become more intense. An attack follows each emotional reveal. By the end the main characters have formed a tentative family unit and for the moment the birds are calmed.
Interesting analysis! It's plausible that the selfish and flamboyant Melanie touches off the bird attacks by stirring everyone in this dull little town up. She particularly upsets the mother, who has an unhealthy relationship with her son, and the attacks subside once the two women bury the hatchet and bond with one another. In any case, the birds appear to embody the negative emotions of the citizens.
The bird motif is also prevalent in Psycho. Norman's stuffed birds seem to be watching as well as hinting at hidden motives. There is also Marion's last name "Crane". Birds are a ubiquitous force of nature that have a god's eye view on human affairs. @@Venejan
Good reaction Coby. I watch this every Halloween season. Hitch felt that if he gave an explanation, that it would be pushing into science fiction, and he didn't want to do a sci-fi film.
I am hoping that Notorious, To Catch a Thief, and The Trouble with Harry will be in your rotation soon.
Veronica Cartwright gave an astounding performance two years earlier in The Children's Hour (1961).
Don't forget her performance in Alien.
😂 I was waiting for you to see the ending. Great reaction
😆
You are now my fav reactor! Cant wait to see the next adventure.
Mitch's mother is Jessica Tandy, who along with Hume Cronyn was one of Hollywood's royal couples. She won one or more of every acting award you can think of, and yeah - she was a real beauty.
And a major sub theme of this film is the death of her husband, and Mitch's sort of substitute stand in role replacing his father, evidenced many times as he sits beneath his father's picture, and calls his mother "dear" and has affection toward her that is a little unusual. Not to mention her initial rejection of Melanie, her well documented rejection of Annie (and if you're Rod Taylor how in the hell do you shun Suzanne Pleshette -- I'd be like "Sorry, mom, but I'm hittin' that shit -- I'll catch ya later").
Yet Tandy, of course, at 54, in 1963, is still attractive and quite fuckable. And the story ends with the "family" leaving this hellish port is pursuit of greener pastures for ostensibly the city, where she could quite easily meet new suitors and get laid. Which, she's clearly in need of.
This was based on a novel, but the novel was based (loosely) on a real event -- birds in a seaside town started attacking people. It happened again, decades later, and it turns out there's an algae that blooms occasionally and drugs the birds into going berserk.
Another great Hitchcock reaction, Coby! The other Hitchcock film that Tippi Hedren starred in, along with the late, great Sean Connery, is "Marnie" from 1964. Other classic films from the Grand Master of Suspense himself are "Strangers On A Train" from 1951, "Dial M For Murder" from 1954 and "To Catch A Thief" from 1955. One of his last very intense movies is "Frenzy" from 1972. I'm sure you'll love those movies as well.
In "The Birds", the alternative ending was actually director Alfred Hitchcock's preferred ending, but he had to switch to a less elaborate version for cost reasons. Originally, Hitchcock wanted to show a Golden Gate Bridge covered in birds in the final scene, in which Mitch (Rod Taylor), Lydia (Jessica Tandy), Melanie (Tippi Hedren) and Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) leave by car for San Francisco, thus expressing the fact that the horror is not over yet. For some viewers, the more peaceful "bird-free" ending may have been the better choice after all. (Source: ©filmstarts)
I think it's brilliant of Hitchcock that the shocker doesn't end like so many others: namely that an explanation is offered (for the aggressive behavior of the birds).
In "The Birds", Hitchcock varies his typical theme: the unusual breaks out of the framework of the familiar. It is not birds of prey but "everyday birds" that become unmotivatedly aggressive and lock people in their own bourgeois cages. What is new, however, is that the motive remains open. Why the birds attack is not answered, which contributes significantly to the creepy effect. (© tvspielfilm)
Great reaction, fantastic movie. 🤩
Enjoyed your reaction. I think the genius is that you fill in the cause with your own most fearful reasoning. So many years removed from its initial release, we're already cushioned to not personalize it in a believable fashion but back then people were probably wondering if this is what evolution has in store for the human race or is this what the apocalypse is going to be like... Hitchcockian!
I'm glad this was not your first Hitchcock film - I found it to be his weirdest. One of my favorites is "Dial M for Murder".
The towns people being so open about names and where Mitch lived, that was a different time. I was born in 83, smallish town and we had phonebooks that listed everyones name and address right along side of their phone number. It was still like that at the start of the 2000s that was going on.
It doesn't seem that long ago, I got my last phonebook. You used to have to pay if you wanted your number to *not* be listed.
19:07 The sounds right after "Does she know there's like twenty behind her?" are great!
Coby should watch:
Arguably the first ever film noir:
THE MALTESE FALCON
and in the same vein:
THE BIG SLEEP
and
MURDER, MY SWEET
For a channel called criminal content it’s pretty criminal you haven’t reacted to those all time classic crime movies 😉
OMG, hundreds of great film noir to explore.
This was the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I saw on VHS back in 2002-2003, and it's one of the best natural(when animals attack people) horror movies ever made.
The scene where the jungle gym is covered with crows was on Bravos 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
The film was nominated for Best Visual Effects but lost to Cleopatra.
There is no music score in the film, which was very rare for Hitchcock as his other films, like ROPE, had no music, except for the beginning and closing credits.
Have got to react to "To Catch a Thief" with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. Another Hitchcock film classic.
yep
To Catch a Thief is great, and so few react to it. Beautiful camera shots and the first serious aerial photography for the car chase scenes. And a good mystery.
Hey! I've been checking out your Hitchcock reactions and love them! Let me say, as an Alfred Hitchcock fan, the first time I saw the birds it didn't really land with me either. Not the way his other films did. But I promise, as you seem to be a burgeoning Hitchcock fan yourself, upon future viewings this film will take on layers and dimensions, especially as you start to kind of get Hitchcock's deal.
Also, this film is interesting from the perspective of being viewed as cosmic horror. It's not traditionally classified in that genre, but is in many ways the purest cosmic horror ever made.
"Your civilization is fragile, your knowledge is limited, your arrogance is unjustified and your safety is an illusion. What you take from nature can be reclaimed with extreme ease" That's the message of the movie
The love birds are not what caused it the curse, it caused the love story. It's what saved them in the end.
Veronica Cartwright, who plays Cathy, later had a part in Alien and played Mrs. Gus Grissom in The Right Stuff.
Lambert in Alien
Welcome to the club!
This is one of the most discussed movies ever.
There are actual web sights dedicated to getting an answer.
Hitchcock never revealed the motivations for the birds attacks.
I like your honest reaction!
Coby, a good crime movie, on the fun side- Ocean’s 11, the original from 1960.
That ending though! Still shocks after 60 years.
I think it is the greatest ending of any movie of all time. Pure genius. For an uncomfortable concept, what could be more uncomfortable to have a build-up with no release while challenging our ideas of story structure within film. Imagine what the reaction must have been like in the movie theaters at that time. Nothing like that had ever happened before. I am sure you will come to appreciate the brilliance once you get over the shock and anger of that ending like we all felt the first time watching it.
I remember before The Birds came out there was an ad campaign in New York that simply had "The Birds is Coming" on billboards, and on top of taxis and the ads in busses. The buzz became "shouldn't it be 'the birds ARE coming?'" I got in to the movie free because my sister was working at the theater. I remember catching myself trying to fend off the birds in the scene where Tippi Hedren goes upstairs during the night and is attacked and trapped behind the door. One other thing that sometimes isn't even noticed, is that there's no music track - just bird sounds. Actually there's the scene where Melanie is playing the piano, but that's not really a track. It's probably my second favorite Hitch films after Psycho. Btw - Hitch makes his cameo right at the beginning when he walks out of the pet shop with two dogs on leashes.
It's singular because it refers to the movie The Birds, not the actual birds.
While I was working at Stanford on contract 10 years ago, I made a pilgrimage up to Bodega Bay recalling my childhood nightmares from watching this on the big screen. Quaint, beautiful village, geographically as portrayed in the film. The town itself was not quite as accurate. The school on the hillside more modern (not much). I drove to the bay point where Mitch’s house would’ve had. It’s a public beach park, boat launch in reality. Later, I had a wonderful lunch overlooking the piers at the Tides restaurant, not so similar to the one in the movie. Returning to my car, there were two large crows perched in the hedge just above the hood of the car. We nodded. I left.
The actual definition of a Good Story is one that leaves you wanting more. By doing that you end up using your own imagination to create that 'more'.
Amazing for the early 1960s is that the bird noises were made with an electronic instrument, the Trautonium. It was developed in the late 1920s by German engineer Friedrich Trautwein and composer Oskar Sala at the suggestion of Oskar Hindemith, because all three of them were disappointed by the poor audio quality of the microphones back then and thought of recording music all electric without having to go through the air as sound waves. During the 1930s, the Trautonium was further improved, and the pissibility to mix different sound generators was incorporated, thus making it the predecessor of modern synthesizers. Oskar Sala in turn improved his musical proficiency on the Trautonium.
Hitchcock knew about the Trautonium in its prototype stages since his time in Germany in the 1920s. When he saw the ballet Electronics in 1961 in New York City, which was based on music composed by Oskar Sala and Remi Gassmann for the Trautonium, he knew that he needed this type of music for his film. Together with his long-term composer Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock travelled to Berlin to mee the two German musicians, and after a few test recordings, they were contracted to provide the sound effects for the film.
I enjoy your reactions. It was an interesting choice by Hitchcock to leave the story unresolved in a way.
Brilliant reaction video! 🙌 The Birds was the first Hitchcock movie I ever watched, and it’s still the one which fascinates me the most, exactly because of the lack of motive for the birds’ insidious crazy aggressive behaviour, as well as the inconclusive ending.
I love watching reaction videos to it on here, because it feels really interesting to see someone else’s views on such a thought-provoking movie, as well as validating in many ways. 🙏
I agree with so many things you’ve said here, especially about the stalkerish behaviours of Melanie early on in the storyline and the sadness when Annie dies(That one hit me harder than I was expecting, her story arc combined with that death seems profoundly tragic).
Love the observations and humour you put into the reaction too. 🙌🙌
Overall, awesome video!! 🔥
There are many film theories about the reason for the bird attacks. My favorite one is that the bird attacks are a manifestation of Lydia's fear and rage that Melanie has come to take Mitch away from her. Throughout the movie, every time that someone asks Melanie to extend her stay, or she and Mitch are together, we cut to a shot of Lydia frowning, and then a bird attack follows. Cathy asks Melanie to come to her party, and then she and her friends are attacked, twice. Annie gives Melanie a place to stay, and then she pays with her life. At the end, Melanie is broken by the final bird attack, and she changes from a strong, independent woman to a helpless child who needs Lydia to take care of her. Then Mitch and Melanie leave, but they take Lydia and Cathy with them, and Lydia is triumphant as she maintains her role as everyone's manipulative, domineering mother, even Melanie's.
A tip for all of you reactors..... let the movie play a bit before you jump up and make decision guess on whats going on.
The answer is usually just around the "corner"
It wasn't just Bodega Bay it was in other California towns too.
Fun Fact: In the open world driving game called.... "The Crew" if you drive and find Bodega Bay, there is an old looking school with playground equipment, and when you drive past the school birds come flying out !
Thank you for the movie and reaction.
When Melanie is attacked by the birds, the birds were actually tied to Hedren and pecked at her to get away. She had to take time off filming to recover from the trauma.
Yes, Coby there IS a Bodega Bay, It is roughly 40 miles from San Franciso and John Carpenter shot some scenes of THE FOG (the original one with Jamie Lee Curtis) there.
Ok. I think what this movie means is that we take Nature for granted. Nature can smite us at any time. (COVID, Climate Change, etc.) We should treat each other better and with more understanding. Mitch and Melanie pecking at each other, playing jokes on each other even though they are attracted to each other.
Hitchcock did have very strong female characters is many of his films. He met his wife Alma Reville at his first film job. She was already a script supervisor and a film editor. Until he became a director did he start dating Alma. Hitch would never film a story without running it through Alma first.
Yes, there is a bit of a Covid vibe going in this film. Covid was also a natural phenomenon that seemingly came out of nowhere and killed millions. It may have been triggered by an incident in a lab somewhere, but we'll never know for sure and in the end it doesn't really matter.
Criminal Content at 16:41. Me: LOL.
"she got some good wear out of the suit" 😂😂😂
that's jessica tandy playing the mom. her husband, hume cronyn, appeared in hitchcok's "shadow of a doubt" 20 years earlier in 1943. they both appeared as a couple in ron howard's often overlooked sci-fi classic "cocoon" (1985). and speaking of ron howard there's also "splash" (1983). a rare, early tom hanks film that was actually GOOD!
as for "the birds" - its based on a book by daphne du maurier who also wrote the book "rebecca" (1940). hitchcock's first american made film and the ONLY hitchcock film to win the best picture oscar.
the script included scenes beyond the film's end. the gang is attacked by the birds in their car on the highway as they're leaving bodega bay. the scenes were storyboarded but never shot. i guess ole hitch thought enough was enough with the crazy birds. thanks for the video.
The mother was the late great Jessica Tandy famous for 1: 'Fried green tomatoes ' 2: 'Driving miss Daisy with Morgan Freeman,and Dan Akroid.
Also don't forget her wonderful performances in *Batteries Not Included & Used People.
That Risseldy, Rosseldy song that the schoolkids sing is really ominous-sounding. Hitchcock needed a tune to use, and the screenwriter asked his own kids for one. Even the original lyrics of this Scottish folk song describe a cruel tale of a cooper beating his own wife for not being a good housewife and doing her chores diligently. The husband even offers to beat other men's similar wives. Hitchcock films have such great music and paintings - he had a good eye for visuals. Here where it's so cold for half a year, birds rely on people to survive for food - they can handle cold, but not hunger. You can see just how grateful they are, and I think remember your kindness. Had a wild bird, an orphaned crow, for a pet as a kid. They are so smart and friendly it's amazing.
Great critique, and you get to see the great actor and in his time considered to be good looking Rod Taylor , star of The Time Machine 1960, Darker then Amber 1971 , Hotel 1967 , The Liquidator 1966 , plus many more . Hope you get to critique Darker then Amber , great movie on You Tube , don’t forget The Omega Man 1971 with Charlton Heston another Sci Fi Classic
I consider Rod Taylor to be good looking right now!
Rod Taylor was also great in
Dark of the sun
Was ahead of it's time very violent
The omega men was great and so was " Soylent green " with Charleton Heston
And good one is
" No blades of grass " 1970
This film personally resonates with me. When I was at school there were lots of crows nesting in the trees on the school field. While sat in class looking out the window we would often see crows swooping at kids who were either walking down the path or on the school field. Watching it was often funny but also scary as I had seen this film by then. I got attacked myself usually at lunchtime when my friends and I were eating lunch on the school field (against school rules). Seagulls at the seaside are notorious for swooping and stealing food from unsuspecting people. Often birds are territorial and might be protecting their young if they see you as a threat.
Red-winged blackbirds are aggressively territorial and they WILL attack you like this if you ride past them on your bicycle (they position themselves on the tops of telephone poles along rural highways), so you'd better be sure to wear a helmet!!!
This is the film the Hitckcock made after Psycho and, because it had worked so well in Psycho, he went back to the idea of introducing you to the 'lead female' character, and letting you follow her for quite a long time, drawing you into her personal story, both involving a car journey, before suddenly taking you off in another direction. The obvious difference being that in Psycho (spoiler alert !) he kills her off and in this film he just has her being attacked by a seagull.
Rod Taylor, a true, gritty Aussie.
The birds really did make his hand bleed.
Suggest another Rod Taylor movie. The Time Machine, very good science fiction.
Rod Taylor is such good actor very underrated resembles Mel Gibson and Robin Williams
Only difference is Rod Taylor was a legit tough guy a good fighter in real life
The Time Machine is a great film.
Did you note that there was no music played except for the piano played by Melanie.
Another great Alfred Hitchcock movie you could check out is with Marnie with Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery and nobody made a reaction to it.
Earlier in the film there was a news report of chickens and the feed which is the thing that caught my attention as to why, remained mysterious
Also, in the first moments of the movie the seagulls are already acting strangely outside the pet shop. Melanie stops and looks at them for a few seconds.
Not everything is meant to be explained. Personally I find it more scary when we don't get an explanation. This movie is an example of how helpless we are if nature turns against us.
Yes, since the bird attacks are essentially a natural, impersonal phenomenon, what good would an explanation do us? What triggered the Black Death? What triggered the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii? And who's to blame? While we naturally take a scientific interest in such events in order to help avoid them in the future, knowing the answer doesn't do us any good in the moment.
The young girl
Mitch’s sister was in Alien 1979 movie, Veronica Cartwright
If you haven’t already, Rosemary’s Baby is well worth a watch.
THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE WHEN I WAS GROWING UP!!!!!
I first saw this when I was quite young in the early 70's and I was pretty freaked out by it. My conclusion then was it was the Lovebirds that were responsible.
Fun fact, Daphne du Maurier, whose book this is based on, was inspired to write it by observing gulls following the plough on the farmland where she lived.
Just remember Coby, the thing that made Hitchcock brilliant, is that he's operating superiorly, on a number of different levels. So, in order to really understand, you've really gotta peel back the onion.
Enjoyed your reaction. As you correctly pointed out, female characters in these older films tend to have a lot of personality. Not to mention they are feminine and glamorous. In contrast, female characters in a lot of today’s films feel rather flat and one dimensional in comparison. At least in my opinion. Anyway, thanks again for checking out another Hitchcock ! Hope Notorious is coming soon !
Great Reaction to this Hitchcock classic masterpiece Coby. I hope that you do more Hitchcock films, like The Man Who Know Too Much or To Catch A Thief or Dial M For Murder or Frenzy or Shadow Of A Doubt or Lifeboat or Torn Curtain or The Trouble With Harry or Suspicion or Stangers On A Train or The Wrong Man or Saboteur or The 39 Steps or The Lady Vanishes or Family Plot (Hitchcock's last film) or Rebecca (which won the best picture Oscar)....just more Hitchcock to add to your lists.
...Bodega Bay is also the setting of another horror movie franchise that started in 1989 (which the films and spin-off movies are still being made today)...the 'Puppet Master' movie series (a total of 13 films & 2 spin-off films in the offical canon, with several spin-off sequels currently in production). Would make for great Halloween/scary movie season marathon watching... :-)
Hi there and hello.
This movie is very good.
I had seen The Birds a LONG time ago. I was living in Dallas and Dallas is on a migration pattern for lots of birds. The mall was apparently a well loved location for these birds. They mobbed the entrances and were amazingly loud. I tried to tell my young daughter about the movie. She really didn’t get the scary factor. The not long after The Birds came on the tv. I forced her to watch. She never went to the mall so very casually after that always looking very carefully at the birds.
Rod Taylor also appeared in one of my favorite films of all time “The Time Machine” (1960 version).
The mom is being very protective of her family.
The similar looks of the mother and Tippi is hard not to notice.
Ah yes, the reason I panic anytime I see birds outside 😂
thx another great reaction, to my second favorite hitchcock after vertigo which you also did a great job on
Leave it to Alfread Hitchcock to come up with a movie like this, pure genius.
If Melanie, Annie and the school children had stayed in the classroom till the birds went away i wonder how long they would've had to wait.
After this flick, keep my eye on any suspicious birds !
The birds are the external manifestation of the relationship tensions between the characters, starts with love birds and develops into violent birds representing the jealousy of the mom and the teacher and their insecurities. They stop attacking at the end when the mom finally accepts her as part of the family.
Rod Taylor was the first Australian star in American movies that I know of.
Wasn't the first Erroyl Flynn ?
Notorious (1946) is one of my favourite Hitchcock films.
ours too ! coming soon
The biggest mystery is that no one in Bodega Bay owns a shotgun.
There is a rumor that Mitch's sister was actually his and Annie's daughter. And the mother agreed to raise the baby as hers.
I remember watching this as a young boy. I said the same thing when she went into the upstairs room and was attacked. They're just little wounds. My dad said there were so many of them that they added up and made her condition serious. Well, I wasn't convinced, but accepted his answer.
Also those little wounds could have easily become infected.
My interpretation has always been the most basic one: just like humans before them, birds have finally evolved sufficently to start being able to wipe out the apex predators around them... which of course means humans.
A little trivia about Bodega Bay: The beginning scene of the 90's film Sleepwalkers, which Stephen King wrote the screenplay for, takes place in Bodega Bay. Veronica Cartwright, who played Cathy, was in the 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and played Lambert in 1979's Alien. She was also in the 1989 film The Witches Of Eastwick and had role in a few episodes of The X-Files. Rod Taylor, who played Mitch, was in one of my favorite movies, the 1960 film adaptation of H.G. Wells The Time Machine as the Time Traveler. Another adaptation of H.G. Wells work that I love is 1953's The War Of The Worlds. I first saw that when I was 12, on Halloween night 1983. I watch it every Halloween as the anniversary of my first time seeing it. It's a true classic for a Sci-Fi nerd like me.
Have you ever watched the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes?" Jessica Tandy, who plays Mitch's mother is in it. She plays the elderly Ninny Threadgood.
24:22 those two look like a giant fresh corn on the cob with her green outfit and the girls yellow nibblet sweater . No wonder the birds going nuts .
this was based on an actual event in California in the early 60s, birds were going crazy
& they JUST found out what was causing it recently
it took 60 years to figure it out
that's crazy!
Here's a crazy theory about this: How to explain the large age gap between Mitch and Cathy Brenner. I think Cathy might be Mitch's daughter, and Annie is the mother. At the time,she may have been underage, and in order to avoid a scandal (Mitch could have been in law school) Mitch's parents arranged to adopt the girl. This could explain why Annie moved to Bodega Bay( she could have seen Mitch in S.F.), to be close to Cathy. I don't know if it's hinted at in the original story, so don't take this as anything but a crazy theory.
Fun fact: Veronica Cartwright had her 13th birthday while this film was in production. Hitchcock gave her a surprise birthday party on the set. Tippi Hendren gave her - in real life - a pair of lovebirds.
The Birds is loosely adapted from a short story of the same title by the English author Daphne du Maurier, best known for her 1938 novel Rebecca, which Hitchcock brought to the screen in 1940. (That film brought Hitchcock his only "Best Picture" Oscar.) In fact, The Birds was Hitch's third film based on a du Maurier tale, the first being the 1939 adaptation of her 1936 novel Jamaica Inn.
In any case, there are significant differences between Hitch's film The Birds and du Maurier's story. The original story was set in post-WWII Britain--specifically, in a farming community in Cornwall, where du Maurier lived, and her central character is a disabled veteran. Hitchcock, as he so often did, trained his camera--and the viewer's gaze--on a fascinating icy blonde.
The original story has a strong Cold War vibe and also ends inconclusively. While it provides no explanation for the attacks - which are occurring everywhere, not just in their village - the implication is that civilization is at an end.
Hitch directed this movie while sitting in his car and instructing some gopher/lackey what he wanted the actors to do.
LOL I think most people would like to see a different ending, but it's a Hitchcock, classic!
It is one of the thriller films, including Hitchcock, that Mel Brooks parodies in the comedy High Anxiety.
The Birds was partially inspired by the true events of a mass bird attack in the coastal town of Capitola, California, on August 18, 1961, caused by the consumption of toxic algae.
Hitchcock appears in the film's opening scene, leaving the pet store with his two dogs, Geoffrey, and Stanley.
Here's a thought.... Melanie went into the upstairs bedroom on purpose, knowing she would be hurt, so that in her injurious state, she would be able to more closely bond with Lydia, which is exactly what happened.
I read the story and it’s quite different. I think the violence of the birds was a manifestation of the distrust and anger of the locals toward an outsider. Mitch is tied to his mother and sister because of the death of his father. Melanie is attracted to his strength and is searching for an anchor. The end shows Mitch getting a woman that his mother approves of. Lydia gets someone to look after. Hitchcock used birds as placeholders for the darker side of human behavior.
The very interesting thing about your comments is the bits where they show the HUGE difference between social norms today and sixty years ago, and the myths they debunk. it is clear that women then were far more strong and independent, contrary to the common belief now. Also it shows how much extreme vanity have we grown accustomed to (you find it strange and unexpected that a lady traveling to another city would go to a kid's simple little birthday party dressed in the same clothes of the day before!)
in 2021, they said there are 50 billion birds on Earth,
about 6 for every human.
The movie was based on a real incident in the U.S. The authorities think the birds involved acted the way they did due to exposure to chemicals in algae. I live in Florida and believe me, seagulls are large. I wouldn't want one going for my eyes. Good movie.
Loved this movie when I saw it in the theater as a teenager . When it ended - I immediately said , " beautiful ! " and my friend said " I want my money back ! " ----- which was the majority of responses . All through the film , just could not think of a plausible, satisfying reason why the birds attacked . So I loved the ending instinctively . Still one of my favorite movies . You don't need everything tied up in a bow , that's the way life is .
Jessica Tandy plays Mitch’s mother. Maybe outside your “criminal” content purview, but she was spectacular as the demanding, aging title character in DRIVING MISS DAISY. Costarring the wealthy talent of Morgan Freeman as the determined chauffeur.
I’m glad the audience isn’t spoon fed an answer.
Hitchcock was obsessed w Tippi, when she shund his advances, he got mad and made her do 30 something takes in the room w the birds, by the end of filming that scene, they had to take her out on a stretcher.
This is one of those movies that could do with having a sequel, just so that us viewers can get answers to why the birds became aggressive. Maybe even a remake and then a sequel.
A year after The Birds, Tippi Hedren was in Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964) with Sean Connery and Louise Latham as her mother (and you thought Mitch’s mother had issues).
This film was influential on the original Night of the Living Dead (1968). Although in that film, a possible cause is suggested for the horror, but never definitively so.