Tippi Hedren is the mother of Melanie Griffith. And speaking of Miss Hedren, the scene in the attic with the birds took a week to shoot. Those were real birds thrown at her and pecking at her. When she fell against the door she was exhausted from the experience and spent a few days recuperating from a nervous breakdown.
Michelle, you wanted to know the name of that song the kids were singing at the school. My mom was a school music teacher and she taught a version of it. It's called The Wee Cooper of Fife. The version she taught went, "There was a wee Cooper who lived in Fife/ Nickety-nackety noo,noo,noo/ And he had gotten a gentle wife/ Hey Willie woe-wacky ho/ John Doogle-a lay/row rushity roo row row." Glad you were interested! Mom's been gone since December of '21 but I think she would have enjoyed teaching it to you.
great video and you are both very beautiful! Bodega Bay is a real place, it's northwest of the San Francisco Bay. I'm from the Bay Area and still live there! 🙂 The Tides restaurant -- where the gas tank explosion happens -- is still there! They did a bunch of renovations to the building, so it does not look the same, but the inside looks similar, and you can still go in and eat....they have a gift shop with a replica of how it looked when the movie was shot. You can still visit the church, but the school from the movie is now private property, and if you approach, the property owners get upset and might call PD 😲 I definitely recommend a visit...the closest airport is actually not SFO but STS. That's Sonoma. But Sonoma is part of the San Francisco Bay Area (it's "the north bay" and also "wine country"). From the airport, you can drive to Sonoma, or there is also a bus. It's the Bay Area after all. You don't have to drive around here if you don't want to. I'm 46 and don't how to drive, because of the world class transit, lol. 🙂 They have an Alfred Hitchcock movie festival and a Birds festival every year! 🙂
The little girl was Veronica Cartwright who also played Lambert in Alien (1979). She has a sister, Angela, who played Penny in Lost in Space and was one of the children in Sound of Music.
In 1963 I was the age of those kids in this movie. The hair styles and clothes are familiar, the men usually wore suits, and the adults all smoked. This still is one of my favorite movies, partly because of the suspense, and partly because it's from an era I remember that's long gone.
I was a freshman in 1968. When we went to the Freshmen Dining Hall for dinner, we were not admitted unless we had a suit coat and tie. I had a lab on Tuesdays which ended at 6 and I had to rush back to my room to change and get to the dinning hall before it closed at 6:30. However, this was a year when everything changed. (Freshmen also had to wear a special beanie the first week, down from a full year in the past.) By the end of that year, guys were going to eat in shorts and a tee shirt, with the required coat and a tie loosely draped around their neck. The dress code ended for the next year. There are many things from that era I fondly remember but also tons of things gladly discarded.
Hitchock puts so many things in his movies that are supposed to hint at where it is going, that i found watching them many times gives me a fuller understanding. The Birds is one of those movies.
Rod Taylor also stars in the 1960 movie "The Time Machine" based on H.G. Wells' 1895 novel, it was one of the first movies about time travel and won an Oscar for best visual effects, check it out if you get a chance
The scene where Melanie is sitting on the bench when the birds gather and the children are singing is a masterclass of building suspense and is so eerie. Also, the ending is perfect. No explanation for why the birds were attacking and it's left up to our imagination what will happen next. That's the best kind of horror, the fear of the unknown...
Tippi Hedren and the teacher is Susan Pleshette. The little girl is Veroncia Cartwirght who played Joan in Alien. The grand ma is Jessica Tandy al al Driving Miss Daisy
Susan was most famous for playing Bob Newhart's wife in the 1970's Bob Newhart Show. She also made a cameo in the last episode of the Newhart show where Bob woke up from the terrible nightmare of being an innkeeper in Vermont with a different blonde wife, ie. the entire run of the 1980s TV series. It was a brilliant example of Bob's warped sense of humor.
It's old fashioned in that the action and horror serve to show character development. That's why the movie is "slow" at first to a modern audience. The movie isn't about "how realistically can we depict gruesome killings" and more about the war of the sexes (humankind's complicated mating ritual) in the first 45 minutes. Then, like 'Psycho' abrupt change in tone. Too bad the gorgeous California scenery bored you.
I think he was trying for some misdirection with the first 45 minutes being kinda of boy meets girl type movie and then little hints are being thrown with random bird attacks. One of my favorites. Gotta remember the year it was made was 1963. Lots of changes in 61 years.
In that 45 minutes, he also introduced all the key people and locations so it is always clear to the viewer who each is, where everyone is and how far it is from other locations. It's a good old filmmaking that respects the basics things.
What young people do not get is there was no internet, many small towns only had a theatre, nothing else, so when they got a baby sitter went to a movie, they loved the movie being long, they weren't getting text messages and watching youtube, lol. P.S. I agree, I never cared much for The Birds, but some people from that era really loved it.
Force Of Light Entertainment When I was 14, I asked my father what the scariest movie was he ever watched and he said, "The Birds" and I asked him why and he said, "Because it could actually happen!".🐦🐦🐦💀😱🤣
According to a Sept 2016 article on the website the ultimate rabbit: “The Birds” actually marked Hedren’s film debut as an actress. Hitchcock saw Hedren in a diet soda commercial, and this led him to cast her in the movie. This opportunity came at a crucial time for Hedren as she had just moved back to Los Angeles with her daughter Melanie Griffith and was experiencing some problems. “My daughter was presented with a box when Hitchcock took us to lunch, and it was a wooden box and Melanie opened it and it was an incredible doll of me in the green suit that I wore in ‘The Birds,’” Hedren said. “The face was so perfect that it scared her to the point where she kind of freaked out. Everybody made it sound like it was Hitchcock playing a dirty trick or doing something really nasty to Melanie and that wasn’t it. It was supposed be a very, very beautiful gift and it just went awry. She was so affected by it that it was put away somewhere, and I unfortunately don’t even know what happened to it.”
Back in the early sixties, a lot of people never locked their doors. Crime wasn’t as prevalent as it is today, we had about half the people today and a strong middle class. The tax rates rose as your income rose, topping off at 91% if you had no deductions. A single income could support a family.
Such a classic animal horror film! Poor Tippi Hedren had to go through a lot, especially the final scene when all of the birds attack her ☠ Great reaction, as always!
When I was growing up in the 70s this was often on TV so it was my real introduction to Hitchcock abd though it was based on a book there was a real incident in 1961 that inspired Hitchcock to make the movie the the California town of Capitola was bombarded by seabirds that had become disoriented and crashed into buildings and cars
"Don't they ever stop migrating?" Now that you've seen this movie, I highly suggest Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (1978) get on your list. It (and its immediate sequel) is on Tubi right now. Fun Fact: Theatrical movie debut of actress Darlene Conley. Practical Wardrobe Fact: Melanie wears the same green suit throughout the movie, so Tippi Hedren was provided with six identical green suits for the shoot. Get Them Off Fact: The scene where Melanie (Tippi Hedren) is ravaged by birds near the end of the movie took a week to shoot. The birds were attached to her clothes by long nylon threads so they could not get away. Premiere Shenanigans Fact: When audiences left the U.K. premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further. Bird Wrangler Fact: Sir Alfred Hitchcock revealed on The Dick Cavett Show (1968) that 3,200 birds were trained for the movie. He said the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious. Rod Taylor claims that the seagulls were fed a mixture of wheat and whiskey. It was the only way to get them to stand around so much. Location Location Fact: Mitch Zanich, owner of the Tides Restaurant at the time of shooting, told Sir Alfred Hitchcock he could shoot there if the lead male in the movie was named after him and Hitchcock gave him a speaking part in the movie. Hitchcock agreed. Rod Taylor's character was named Mitch Brenner, and Mitch Zanich was given a speaking part. After Melanie is attacked by a seagull, Mitch Zanich can be heard saying "What happened, Mitch?" to Mitch Brenner.
The mother, played by Jessica Tandy, was 54 yrs old at the time of this movie. The right age for having a full grown son at the time. Her son would have been about 35.
🐦 24 years after this movie came out, the the actress who played the little girl (Veronica Cartwright) gave a really great comical performance in "The Witches Of Eastwick" (1987), which is also a fun movie to watch at this time of the year. 😉👍
According to a May 2021 article on the website Grunge: "Roar"(1981) is probably considered one of the most dangerous films ever made. It was very much a family picture - literally. It starred Tippi Hedren with her husband, Noel Marshall (who also wrote, directed, and produced the film) "Among those injured on the set included Hedren and her family. Hedren had to get 38 stitches after being bitten by a lion and also endured a fractured leg and multiple scalp wounds. Her husband was injured so many times he ended up in the hospital for gangrene. Daughter Melanie was mauled so badly by a lion that she needed facial reconstructive surgery. The movie's filming was supposed to take only nine months, but the entire project ended up taking five years to complete. According to The Week, Roar cost $17 million to make, and the movie only made $2 million after it was finally released."
This film needs historical consideration as overwrought, cheesy, mellow dramas were very big at the time. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, etc etc so the idea was to get the audience thinking this was one of those and then…half way through…absolutely turn it on its head! A modern day equivalent would be something like, From Dusk till Dawn.
The scene where Tippi Hedren was being attacked by the birds, actually traumatized her. There were live birds attached to her with strings so they couldn’t get away.
My first Hitchcock movie, in 1965 or 66, when local TV stations showed movies on Saturday nights after the network signed off. I was in the 5thor 6th grade, and the whole preceding week it was the talk of the school yard. Oooo, The Birds! Oooo, Hitchcock! Oooo, scary!
His mom played the old women in *Fried Green Tomatoes* and in *Diving Miss Daisy* she was like 54 in this movie and Rod Taylor (son Mitch) was like 33. So, meet "Idgie" when she was young.
Always love how nice everyone dresses and the colors in Hitchcock movies, seen this many times, Rod Taylor always a favorite, I like how Tarantino put him in Inglorious Bastards as Churchill shortly before he died, thanks Yall!
When I saw that you two were doing a reaction to The Birds, I knew right away that Michelle was going to get mad at certain people for their stupidity so I had to check it out. She didn’t disappoint. :)
In the book and ended up being all the damage caused to the planet from World War II disrupted the birds to the point where they were attacking based on whatever the tide went in or out. Of course the book was set in Europe.
Come on, it's just good filmmaking. The characters are given a decent background and motives that will justify their actions in later events. At the same time, the locations of the film are carefully presented. This is how a movie is made. Not just "a bunch of random guys go somewhere for some reason and then horrible things start happening."
I've never understood how, at the end, they had a choice between Melanie's sports car and a truck. Mitch had that 1963 Ford Galaxie that he was driving in the city. That's a heavy full sized car, with heavy duty windows, and room for all of them. Where was it?
I thought it was interesting how the son and the mother addressed each other as "dear". Like a married couple. Also, the mother and Melanie look similar with the same hair style. The son seemed closer to him mom's age than his sister. I feel like people have more patience with movies when you watch for enjoyment rather than creating content.
Agree about the hair - have another closer look at Melanie and Lydia's hair, when they first met in the restaurant. Hitchcock spends a lot of time with close-ups in this scene.
The mom is the Great Jessica Tandy. Most famous for the movies 1: Driving miss Daisy 2: fried green tomatoes. Tippy Heddrin is a animal activist, mother of Melonie Griffith. The age difference between siblings was lack of birth control. The birth control didn't come out as a regular use in the early 60 s. Because of no birth control my mom had 13 children. I'm the youngest my older siblings are 20 years older. My mom and oldest sister were both pregnant at the same time. I was an uncle when I was just a baby. ✌️❤️
It’s important to remember times were different back in these older films. * People didn’t always lock their doors back then. It also wasn’t uncommon for people to just walk into someone’s home after a quick knock. * Peoples phone numbers and addresses were public information via Phone Books. In other words, it wouldn’t be odd to give someone that information.
We never looked at our feathered friend's the same way again after this the BIRDS 🐦🐦 one of the great thrillers i grew up watching . This was Tippi hedren's debut and yes there are stories of how traumatized she was filming this it does a slow burn and then the switch from a rom com to a horror thriller . i rank it as one of my favorites of Hitchcok's body of work and yes while Rear Window and Psycho are more effective in their delivery , i still enjoyed this one . Thanks for the reaction Michelle and Natalie And thank you for your force of light .
Veronica Cartwright who play Cathy will play in another great suspens movie later : Alien. Rod Taylor (Mitch) was one of the favorite actor of my dad since he see him in the 60's adaptation of "The Time Machine". I think Hitchcock wanted to experiment something with this film. It made it just after psycho, which was an experimentation too. He wanted to put his obsession in a situation of pure suspens. No one psychokiller or something else but just the nature which become dangerous. I like there isn't explanation of why the birds kills. I like this part of mystery where you can imagine what you want. But you also can see the movie like a fantastic movie, where the birds are the materialization of the frustrations of the characters.
My theory is that Melanie's boat ride with the love birds in a cage was what first provoked them. They wanted to give humans a taste of their own medicine
TO CATCH A THIEF (1954) with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. North by Northwest (1958) with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. Vertigo (1958) with James Stewart and Kim Novak.
Nice reaction ladies. You know, Disney did that last shot where all the birds were roosting on the front lawn. Most of them were animatronic. Very impressive.
The rating was added to the modern media, such as DVD and Blue Ray coppies, as.well as streaming services. There was no MPAA when this movie was first released.
The birds terrorizing the town is the predominant story, and the substories: Mitch and Melanie's blossoming relationship, Melanie's mother abandoning her and her history of acting out with her constant lying and pranking, Melanie's need for a mother, and Mitch's mother dealing with the loss of her husband. The characters in this movie are more interesting than the main story.
Remember, birds are dinosaurs. Just think of this movie as an early Jurassic Park. By the way, bird's brains, and apparently dino brains in general, are/were wired a lot more efficiently - which is why parrots, crows, and ravens are so super-smart for the size of their brains.
The song is called Risselty-Rosselty. Pete Seeger, released in 1956 is a traditional Scottish folk song. This is part of it: Married a wife in the month of June Risselty rosselty, now now now! I carried her off by the light of the moon (in a silver spoon) Risselty rosselty, hey bombosity, nickety nackety Retrical quality, willaby wallaby now now now! She combed her hair but once a year Risselty rosselty, now now now! With every rake she gave a tear Risselty rosselty, hey bombosity, (etc.)
Ladies, you both look Beautiful this morning! So this movie traumatized me as a kid in the 60's. It got a lot of tv time back in the day. Holy moly! Thanks for sharing it.
Hi ladies! Happy Halloween week to you both! Hope all is well with you two beautiful ladies. I have always enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's films and both this and "Psycho" are my favorites. I'm glad you both got the chance to watch and react to it. The actress in the lead is named Tippi Hedren. She was excellent in the film. Always enjoy your channel, ladies. Have a great rest of your week! Happy Halloween to you both! 👻🎃🍂
Most Would say the 1950s were really Hitchcock’s golden years. The big four for most film buffs are Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and North by Northwest.
I’m 62 now. I first saw the birds at home on TV when I was nine or 10 I think. I was scarede of birds for years! You’ve got to remember back in those days you didn’t see scary movies, or things that “could “possibly happen on TV that kids could see. It was deemed we were too young for the way our minds worked back then, because Most “middle-class kids”which I was, didn’t have any experience with that kind of violence yet of any sort on TV in the 60s. A lot of the people that love it now, watched it and we’re scared of it as kids. The reason I said ”middle class” kids, and the era is that there was violence in Vietnam and civil rights protests, etc. on the nightly news for half an hour every night. But back then most kids were made to go out and play until dark. Parents didn’t like them sitting in front of the TV all night. most of the neighborhood kids played together all the time and didn’t have to be in till dark, but we’re also known around the neighborhood and all the parents knew each other. Mothers mostly stayed home and we could go in any house if we needed help and all the mothers help keep an eye out. But ANYWAYS, so we didn’t even watch the news and if we had to be in because it was raining, we played a game because the news was boring to kids back then. Parents also didn’t talk in front of their kids about scary things going on in the world. It was a wonderful way to grow up to be honest, But now, with technology will never come again, probably. Anyway, that’s my thoughts on why a lot of reactors don’t think it’s that scary now, but it really was scary especially for kids back then. Great reaction!!
For a bit of trivia, the girl who plays Cathy is a young Veronica Cartwright who also plays Lambert in Alien. I think you justified your score but personally I think it's a 4. I wonder what you would make of Marnie or Vertigo?
She was also in the TV shows Daniel Boone and Leave it to Beaver. Her younger sister Angela was on The Danny Thomas Show, Lost in Space, and in The Sound of Music.
I'd really like to recommend to you ladies to watch the Mel Brooks movie "High Anxiety". He combined a plethora of Hitchcock movie themes into one story. You'd enjoy it even more now that you have some Hitchcock under your belt. Thank you for your channel!
Veronica Cartwright was 13-14 when she portrayed Cathy. She was also in Alien. You didn’t like the character development? Many young people want action from the first minute. Try empathizing with the characters, imagine you are attacked by a seagull, attacked as a child, your ex is murdered by crows (pun intended). As in most horror movies, the characters make bad decisions. If they didn’t it would be a 15 minute short. Definitely not Hitchcock’s best, but not the worst.
This is one of those really true classic B&W movies that I really liked and has stood the test of time. Thanks to the both of you for this watch reaction 😊
“Plot is not primary for Hitchcock. The plot is just a line, upon which he hangs moments of cinematic poetry.”-Martin Scorsese. Makers of great films, I would call them masterpieces, know that the visual and aural journey takes primacy over the characters and even a logical storyline. A sublime and palpable experience of a poetic reality is the point. Lesser films strive to give you answers and satisfaction; Hitchcock, Tarkovsky, Lynch, and Kubrick know better.
Thanks for your reaction! I highly recommend other Hitchcock films: North by Northwest (1959) Vertigo (1958) To Catch a Thief (1955) Dial M for Murder (1954) Strangers on a Train (1951) Rebecca (1940) Notorious (1946) Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
When I moved to San Francisco in the '80s, that space near Union Square was still a pet store. I remember visiting it and recognizing it. Tippi Hedren.
Besides the fantastic Rear Window, I highly recommend “Notorious” (romance plus suspense) “North by Northwest” (top level entertainment) “Vertigo” (profound and seeing Hitchcock manipulate his audience is an amazing feat). Others include Strangers on a Train, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt, Dial M for Murder, and an older film made as a propaganda effort to urge the US to enter WW2 is Foreign Correspondent,( 1940) where you can see early forms of typical Hitchcock themes, character types, his brand of humor/wit, and creation of big set pieces for finales. For pure fun, and to enjoy the locations of the beautiful south of France, and gorgeous Edith Head costumes - “To Catch a Thief.”
The movie rating system was implemented in 1968. The original ratings were G , GP, M (mature ), R, and X. Movies before this can be given ratings from the current system based on the MPAA review of the film
You should follow up with a lesser known but equally disturbing Hitchcock movie featuring Tippi Hedren, “Marnie.” And if you go back a few years, “Dial M for Murder” and “To Catch a Thief” are great movies. Loved your reactions! BTW, movies in that era were more deliberately paced and it seems a little slow by today’s standards. 😎 Lastly, I saw this as a kid in the 1960s and it gave me nightmares.
I think we cheat ourselves of fully enjoying a films story and its characters if we constantly think how we’d do things differently. That’s probably not how the storyteller meant it to be interpreted. We all do this from time to time don’t we. We watch and rewatch films because we enjoy them. It’s the journey the film takes us on that we remember.
You ladies are young, but there used to be a time we didn't have to worry about strangers, believe it or not we kids played all over town all day. We left our door unlocked.
I really DO love Tippi Hedren's "No! NO!" at the end. Best one word dramatic acting since the little girl in "Them!". And have you watched "Birdemic" yet?
Veronica Cartwright is an amazing actress. She did a remarkable job as Rosalie Wells in The Children's Hour (1961) along with everyone else in the cast of that film: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Fay Bainter, Miriam Hopkins, James Garner and Karen Balkin.
I agree with both of you. These old movies are usually quite slow and a little weird. The reason I think a lot of us like these old scary movies is because we were young and it scared the crap out of us.
I'm with you on "The Birds;" it's for the birds. I never watched it as a kid because it seemed like a ridiculous premise. I did watch it later on and pretty much had the same sentiment; it was okay, but once is probably enough. Love the reactions though!
Perhaps you mentioned it on your other platform(s) but, did you notice Hitchcock, walking two dogs, leaving the pet store as Tippi enters? He appeared/cameoed in all of his movies. Great reaction.
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Tippi Hedren is the mother of Melanie Griffith.
And speaking of Miss Hedren, the scene in the attic with the birds took a week to shoot. Those were real birds thrown at her and pecking at her. When she fell against the door she was exhausted from the experience and spent a few days recuperating from a nervous breakdown.
It like 3 birds max 💪🤠
Do American girls like big curls? Aww shit that rhymed. Just makes me think of, you should be in Charlie's Angels or some shit lol
Michelle, you wanted to know the name of that song the kids were singing at the school. My mom was a school music teacher and she taught a version of it. It's called The Wee Cooper of Fife. The version she taught went, "There was a wee Cooper who lived in Fife/ Nickety-nackety noo,noo,noo/ And he had gotten a gentle wife/ Hey Willie woe-wacky ho/ John Doogle-a lay/row rushity roo row row." Glad you were interested! Mom's been gone since December of '21 but I think she would have enjoyed teaching it to you.
great video and you are both very beautiful! Bodega Bay is a real place, it's northwest of the San Francisco Bay. I'm from the Bay Area and still live there! 🙂 The Tides restaurant -- where the gas tank explosion happens -- is still there! They did a bunch of renovations to the building, so it does not look the same, but the inside looks similar, and you can still go in and eat....they have a gift shop with a replica of how it looked when the movie was shot.
You can still visit the church, but the school from the movie is now private property, and if you approach, the property owners get upset and might call PD 😲
I definitely recommend a visit...the closest airport is actually not SFO but STS. That's Sonoma. But Sonoma is part of the San Francisco Bay Area (it's "the north bay" and also "wine country"). From the airport, you can drive to Sonoma, or there is also a bus. It's the Bay Area after all. You don't have to drive around here if you don't want to. I'm 46 and don't how to drive, because of the world class transit, lol. 🙂
They have an Alfred Hitchcock movie festival and a Birds festival every year! 🙂
The little girl was Veronica Cartwright who also played Lambert in Alien (1979). She has a sister, Angela, who played Penny in Lost in Space and was one of the children in Sound of Music.
She looks more to her sister Angela Cartwright that played Penny in Lost in Space.
Oh that's why they looked alike.
In 1963 I was the age of those kids in this movie. The hair styles and clothes are familiar, the men usually wore suits, and the adults all smoked. This still is one of my favorite movies, partly because of the suspense, and partly because it's from an era I remember that's long gone.
I was a freshman in 1968. When we went to the Freshmen Dining Hall for dinner, we were not admitted unless we had a suit coat and tie. I had a lab on Tuesdays which ended at 6 and I had to rush back to my room to change and get to the dinning hall before it closed at 6:30.
However, this was a year when everything changed. (Freshmen also had to wear a special beanie the first week, down from a full year in the past.) By the end of that year, guys were going to eat in shorts and a tee shirt, with the required coat and a tie loosely draped around their neck. The dress code ended for the next year.
There are many things from that era I fondly remember but also tons of things gladly discarded.
Hitchock puts so many things in his movies that are supposed to hint at where it is going, that i found watching them many times gives me a fuller understanding. The Birds is one of those movies.
Rod Taylor also stars in the 1960 movie "The Time Machine" based on H.G. Wells' 1895 novel, it was one of the first movies about time travel and won an Oscar for best visual effects, check it out if you get a chance
Whenever Mitch speaks I can't not hear Pongo's voice from 101 Dalmatians lol
A great Australian actor. His last film role was as Winston Churchill in Tarantino’s Inglourious B.
That version of THE TIME MACHINE is the absolute best one. The movie holds up well 60 years later.
The scene where Melanie is sitting on the bench when the birds gather and the children are singing is a masterclass of building suspense and is so eerie.
Also, the ending is perfect. No explanation for why the birds were attacking and it's left up to our imagination what will happen next. That's the best kind of horror, the fear of the unknown...
@@Cadinho93 brillant set design was that most of the birds/crows on the playground jungle gym were black cardboard cutouts.
I agree
I'm not entirely sure, but this might be the first film in the history that doesn't give the antagonist any kind of motive.
Her actions were not all that unusual in the 1950s. We didn't even have a lock on our door until late in the 70s. Good reaction.
Thanks!!
Tippi Hedren and the teacher is Susan Pleshette. The little girl is Veroncia Cartwirght who played Joan in Alien. The grand ma is Jessica Tandy al al Driving Miss Daisy
Thanks!!
@@ForceOfLightEntertainment
Actually, Veronica Cartwright's character in "Alien" is Lambert.
Tandy was also in Fried Green Tomatoes.
Susan was most famous for playing Bob Newhart's wife in the 1970's Bob Newhart Show. She also made a cameo in the last episode of the Newhart show where Bob woke up from the terrible nightmare of being an innkeeper in Vermont with a different blonde wife, ie. the entire run of the 1980s TV series. It was a brilliant example of Bob's warped sense of humor.
Jessica was 54, Rod and Tippy were 33, and Veronica was 14 the year this film came out.
A true classic. Never gets old.
Tippi Hedren is still alive and will be 95 in January 🎩
The genius of this film is that it does start out like a romantic comedy which makes it even more unsettling when that all shifts
It's old fashioned in that the action and horror serve to show character development. That's why the movie is "slow" at first to a modern audience. The movie isn't about "how realistically can we depict gruesome killings" and more about the war of the sexes (humankind's complicated mating ritual) in the first 45 minutes. Then, like 'Psycho' abrupt change in tone. Too bad the gorgeous California scenery bored you.
@@Sirala6 Amen!
I think he was trying for some misdirection with the first 45 minutes being kinda of boy meets girl type movie and then little hints are being thrown with random bird attacks. One of my favorites. Gotta remember the year it was made was 1963. Lots of changes in 61 years.
In that 45 minutes, he also introduced all the key people and locations so it is always clear to the viewer who each is, where everyone is and how far it is from other locations. It's a good old filmmaking that respects the basics things.
He did the same with Psycho, about her stealing the money and the cop keeping an eye on her.
What young people do not get is there was no internet, many small towns only had a theatre, nothing else, so when they got a baby sitter went to a movie, they loved the movie being long, they weren't getting text messages and watching youtube, lol. P.S. I agree, I never cared much for The Birds, but some people from that era really loved it.
What I like about the movie is the lack of an explanation. Why are the birds attacking? What happens next? I love unanswered questions.
Force Of Light Entertainment When I was 14, I asked my father what the scariest movie was he ever watched and he said, "The Birds" and I asked him why and he said, "Because it could actually happen!".🐦🐦🐦💀😱🤣
According to a Sept 2016 article on the website the ultimate rabbit:
“The Birds” actually marked Hedren’s film debut as an actress.
Hitchcock saw Hedren in a diet soda commercial, and this led him to cast her in the movie. This opportunity came at a crucial time for Hedren as she had just moved back to Los Angeles with her daughter Melanie Griffith and was experiencing some problems.
“My daughter was presented with a box when Hitchcock took us to lunch, and it was a wooden box and Melanie opened it and it was an incredible doll of me in the green suit that I wore in ‘The Birds,’” Hedren said. “The face was so perfect that it scared her to the point where she kind of freaked out. Everybody made it sound like it was Hitchcock playing a dirty trick or doing something really nasty to Melanie and that wasn’t it. It was supposed be a very, very beautiful gift and it just went awry. She was so affected by it that it was put away somewhere, and I unfortunately don’t even know what happened to it.”
Back in the early sixties, a lot of people never locked their doors. Crime wasn’t as prevalent as it is today, we had about half the people today and a strong middle class. The tax rates rose as your income rose, topping off at 91% if you had no deductions. A single income could support a family.
Jessica Tandy, that plays Mitch's mom, was 54 years old, when this movie was made. Rot Taylor was 21 years younger than her.
Such a classic animal horror film! Poor Tippi Hedren had to go through a lot, especially the final scene when all of the birds attack her ☠
Great reaction, as always!
Thank you!!
When I was growing up in the 70s this was often on TV so it was my real introduction to Hitchcock abd though it was based on a book there was a real incident in 1961 that inspired Hitchcock to make the movie the the California town of Capitola was bombarded by seabirds that had become disoriented and crashed into buildings and cars
"Don't they ever stop migrating?"
Now that you've seen this movie, I highly suggest Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (1978) get on your list. It (and its immediate sequel) is on Tubi right now.
Fun Fact: Theatrical movie debut of actress Darlene Conley.
Practical Wardrobe Fact: Melanie wears the same green suit throughout the movie, so Tippi Hedren was provided with six identical green suits for the shoot.
Get Them Off Fact: The scene where Melanie (Tippi Hedren) is ravaged by birds near the end of the movie took a week to shoot. The birds were attached to her clothes by long nylon threads so they could not get away.
Premiere Shenanigans Fact: When audiences left the U.K. premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.
Bird Wrangler Fact: Sir Alfred Hitchcock revealed on The Dick Cavett Show (1968) that 3,200 birds were trained for the movie. He said the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious. Rod Taylor claims that the seagulls were fed a mixture of wheat and whiskey. It was the only way to get them to stand around so much.
Location Location Fact: Mitch Zanich, owner of the Tides Restaurant at the time of shooting, told Sir Alfred Hitchcock he could shoot there if the lead male in the movie was named after him and Hitchcock gave him a speaking part in the movie. Hitchcock agreed. Rod Taylor's character was named Mitch Brenner, and Mitch Zanich was given a speaking part. After Melanie is attacked by a seagull, Mitch Zanich can be heard saying "What happened, Mitch?" to Mitch Brenner.
Opening the door ----- the first recorded " dumb blonde " moment 😂
The mother, played by Jessica Tandy, was 54 yrs old at the time of this movie. The right age for having a full grown son at the time. Her son would have been about 35.
This was Hitchcock's third Daphne du Maurier novel he made a film out of. Jamaica Inn and Rebecca. Both good films from the 30s and 40s.
🐦 24 years after this movie came out, the the actress who played the little girl (Veronica Cartwright) gave a really great comical performance in "The Witches Of Eastwick" (1987), which is also a fun movie to watch at this time of the year. 😉👍
According to a May 2021 article on the website Grunge:
"Roar"(1981) is probably considered one of the most dangerous films ever made. It was very much a family picture - literally. It starred Tippi Hedren with her husband, Noel Marshall (who also wrote, directed, and produced the film)
"Among those injured on the set included Hedren and her family. Hedren had to get 38 stitches after being bitten by a lion and also endured a fractured leg and multiple scalp wounds. Her husband was injured so many times he ended up in the hospital for gangrene. Daughter Melanie was mauled so badly by a lion that she needed facial reconstructive surgery. The movie's filming was supposed to take only nine months, but the entire project ended up taking five years to complete. According to The Week, Roar cost $17 million to make, and the movie only made $2 million after it was finally released."
1:36 they didn’t have movie ratings at all at the time. Anything from before 1969 is either not rated or has been given a rating retroactively
Don’t forget this was 1963. Directors weren’t in a hurry to get to the main plot.
This film needs historical consideration as overwrought, cheesy, mellow dramas were very big at the time. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, etc etc so the idea was to get the audience thinking this was one of those and then…half way through…absolutely turn it on its head! A modern day equivalent would be something like, From Dusk till Dawn.
This started as a fun rom-com, then the birds attacked! I avoid showing my birds this movie, don’t want them getting any ideas!
The scene where Tippi Hedren was being attacked by the birds, actually traumatized her. There were live birds attached to her with strings so they couldn’t get away.
My first Hitchcock movie, in 1965 or 66, when local TV stations showed movies on Saturday nights after the network signed off. I was in the 5thor 6th grade, and the whole preceding week it was the talk of the school yard. Oooo, The Birds! Oooo, Hitchcock! Oooo, scary!
His mom played the old women in *Fried Green Tomatoes* and in *Diving Miss Daisy* she was like 54 in this movie and Rod Taylor (son Mitch) was like 33. So, meet "Idgie" when she was young.
Always love how nice everyone dresses and the colors in Hitchcock movies, seen this many times, Rod Taylor always a favorite, I like how Tarantino put him in Inglorious Bastards as Churchill shortly before he died, thanks Yall!
I'll tell you this, this movie scared the hell out of everyone! Ever time we saw a bird it was like noooooo!!!
When I saw that you two were doing a reaction to The Birds, I knew right away that Michelle was going to get mad at certain people for their stupidity so I had to check it out. She didn’t disappoint. :)
In the book and ended up being all the damage caused to the planet from World War II disrupted the birds to the point where they were attacking based on whatever the tide went in or out. Of course the book was set in Europe.
I think they needed to have the romantic build-up just to have the humans bond together, and stick together later on in the movie.
What is the movie about? Birds, love, alienation?
Come on, it's just good filmmaking. The characters are given a decent background and motives that will justify their actions in later events. At the same time, the locations of the film are carefully presented. This is how a movie is made. Not just "a bunch of random guys go somewhere for some reason and then horrible things start happening."
It's my favorite Hitchcock film. I first saw it, as a kid, on TV in the late 60's or early 70's.
I've never understood how, at the end, they had a choice between Melanie's sports car and a truck. Mitch had that 1963 Ford Galaxie that he was driving in the city. That's a heavy full sized car, with heavy duty windows, and room for all of them. Where was it?
Good question
I thought it was interesting how the son and the mother addressed each other as "dear". Like a married couple. Also, the mother and Melanie look similar with the same hair style. The son seemed closer to him mom's age than his sister. I feel like people have more patience with movies when you watch for enjoyment rather than creating content.
Agree about the hair - have another closer look at Melanie and Lydia's hair, when they first met in the restaurant. Hitchcock spends a lot of time with close-ups in this scene.
The mom is the Great Jessica Tandy. Most famous for the movies 1: Driving miss Daisy 2: fried green tomatoes. Tippy Heddrin is a animal activist, mother of Melonie Griffith. The age difference between siblings was lack of birth control. The birth control didn't come out as a regular use in the early 60 s. Because of no birth control my mom had 13 children. I'm the youngest my older siblings are 20 years older. My mom and oldest sister were both pregnant at the same time. I was an uncle when I was just a baby. ✌️❤️
Force of Light Entertainment You are two of the most cordial people I know of on RUclips.🥰
Aww thank you!!
@@ForceOfLightEntertainment You are more than welcome, thank you for being who you are.
It’s important to remember times were different back in these older films.
* People didn’t always lock their doors back then. It also wasn’t uncommon for people to just walk into someone’s home after a quick knock.
* Peoples phone numbers and addresses were public information via Phone Books. In other words, it wouldn’t be odd to give someone that information.
We never looked at our feathered friend's the same way again after this the BIRDS 🐦🐦 one of the great thrillers i grew up watching .
This was Tippi hedren's debut and yes there are stories of how traumatized she was filming this
it does a slow burn and then the switch from a rom com to a horror thriller .
i rank it as one of my favorites of Hitchcok's body of work and yes while Rear Window and Psycho are more effective in their delivery , i still enjoyed this one .
Thanks for the reaction Michelle and Natalie
And thank you for your force of light .
Veronica Cartwright who play Cathy will play in another great suspens movie later : Alien. Rod Taylor (Mitch) was one of the favorite actor of my dad since he see him in the 60's adaptation of "The Time Machine".
I think Hitchcock wanted to experiment something with this film. It made it just after psycho, which was an experimentation too. He wanted to put his obsession in a situation of pure suspens. No one psychokiller or something else but just the nature which become dangerous. I like there isn't explanation of why the birds kills. I like this part of mystery where you can imagine what you want. But you also can see the movie like a fantastic movie, where the birds are the materialization of the frustrations of the characters.
Jessica Tandy, who played the mother, was born in 1909, so she was in her fifties. Not a young woman but so beautiful she could be mistaken for one.
My theory is that Melanie's boat ride with the love birds in a cage was what first provoked them. They wanted to give humans a taste of their own medicine
TO CATCH A THIEF (1954) with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. North by Northwest (1958) with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. Vertigo (1958) with James Stewart and Kim Novak.
Nice reaction ladies. You know, Disney did that last shot where all the birds were roosting on the front lawn. Most of them were animatronic. Very impressive.
Thanks!
The rating was added to the modern media, such as DVD and Blue Ray coppies, as.well as streaming services. There was no MPAA when this movie was first released.
Exactly, the movie rating system began on November 30, 1968. 👍
The restrictive, extremely restrictive Hays Code was still in effect, dating from the early '30's.
The birds terrorizing the town is the predominant story, and the substories: Mitch and Melanie's blossoming relationship, Melanie's mother abandoning her and her history of acting out with her constant lying and pranking, Melanie's need for a mother, and Mitch's mother dealing with the loss of her husband. The characters in this movie are more interesting than the main story.
This is one of my favorite movies thank you ladies for reacting this awesome movie
Remember, birds are dinosaurs. Just think of this movie as an early Jurassic Park.
By the way, bird's brains, and apparently dino brains in general, are/were wired a lot more efficiently - which is why parrots, crows, and ravens are so super-smart for the size of their brains.
13:08: [thunk!] “Oh, the poor thing!”
“Luca Brasi sleeps in a featherbed.” 🤪
Everyone is sketchy because it's a Alfred Hitchcock movie.
The song is called Risselty-Rosselty. Pete Seeger, released in 1956 is a traditional Scottish folk song.
This is part of it:
Married a wife in the month of June
Risselty rosselty, now now now!
I carried her off by the light of the moon (in a silver spoon)
Risselty rosselty, hey bombosity, nickety nackety
Retrical quality, willaby wallaby now now now!
She combed her hair but once a year
Risselty rosselty, now now now!
With every rake she gave a tear
Risselty rosselty, hey bombosity, (etc.)
Ladies, you both look Beautiful this morning! So this movie traumatized me as a kid in the 60's. It got a lot of tv time back in the day. Holy moly! Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks for watching!
Hi ladies! Happy Halloween week to you both! Hope all is well with you two beautiful ladies. I have always enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's films and both this and "Psycho" are my favorites. I'm glad you both got the chance to watch and react to it. The actress in the lead is named Tippi Hedren. She was excellent in the film. Always enjoy your channel, ladies. Have a great rest of your week! Happy Halloween to you both! 👻🎃🍂
Thank you! You too! 🎃
I haven't seen this for close to 35 years and i am only 41. 😮
Most Would say the 1950s were really Hitchcock’s golden years. The big four for most film buffs are Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and North by Northwest.
I saw it for the first time when I was around 8 years old. That bedroom scene gave me nightmares for a long time.
I’m 62 now. I first saw the birds at home on TV when I was nine or 10 I think. I was scarede of birds for years! You’ve got to remember back in those days you didn’t see scary movies, or things that “could “possibly happen on TV that kids could see. It was deemed we were too young for the way our minds worked back then, because Most “middle-class kids”which I was, didn’t have any experience with that kind of violence yet of any sort on TV in the 60s. A lot of the people that love it now, watched it and we’re scared of it as kids.
The reason I said ”middle class” kids, and the era is that there was violence in Vietnam and civil rights protests, etc. on the nightly news for half an hour every night. But back then most kids were made to go out and play until dark. Parents didn’t like them sitting in front of the TV all night. most of the neighborhood kids played together all the time and didn’t have to be in till dark, but we’re also known around the neighborhood and all the parents knew each other. Mothers mostly stayed home and we could go in any house if we needed help and all the mothers help keep an eye out.
But ANYWAYS, so we didn’t even watch the news and if we had to be in because it was raining, we played a game because the news was boring to kids back then. Parents also didn’t talk in front of their kids about scary things going on in the world. It was a wonderful way to grow up to be honest, But now, with technology will never come again, probably.
Anyway, that’s my thoughts on why a lot of reactors don’t think it’s that scary now, but it really was scary especially for kids back then. Great reaction!!
For a bit of trivia, the girl who plays Cathy is a young Veronica Cartwright who also plays Lambert in Alien. I think you justified your score but personally I think it's a 4. I wonder what you would make of Marnie or Vertigo?
Thanks, I was going to look that up. Was pretty sure that was Cartwright.
She was also in the TV shows Daniel Boone and Leave it to Beaver. Her younger sister Angela was on The Danny Thomas Show, Lost in Space, and in The Sound of Music.
@@UncleDeadly We will have to watch and find out!
I'd really like to recommend to you ladies to watch the Mel Brooks movie "High Anxiety". He combined a plethora of Hitchcock movie themes into one story. You'd enjoy it even more now that you have some Hitchcock under your belt. Thank you for your channel!
Veronica Cartwright was 13-14 when she portrayed Cathy. She was also in Alien.
You didn’t like the character development? Many young people want action from the first minute. Try empathizing with the characters, imagine you are attacked by a seagull, attacked as a child, your ex is murdered by crows (pun intended). As in most horror movies, the characters make bad decisions. If they didn’t it would be a 15 minute short. Definitely not Hitchcock’s best, but not the worst.
Have no problem with character development but we didn’t find this one that particularly interesting:)
20:49 This was a much better plan than just staying safely inside and calling for help.
When that gas station blew up, I exclaimed, full Yoda, “Begun, the bird war has”
😂😂
@ and you should do Vertigo… maybe my favorite Hitchcock
Older films were slower.
Attention spans have gradually shortened over time. 👆👆👆👆
We watch older movies a lot. This movie just didn’t captivate as much as some of his others in the beginning:)
This is one of those really true classic B&W movies that I really liked and has stood the test of time. Thanks to the both of you for this watch reaction 😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
It's not black and white though!
@@pobstrel It must’ve been a one of a kind because years back I saw a B&W version of this movie 🤔
Many of us watched these films on old black and white TVs as kids. So that's our memory.
It was filmed in color. It was not B&W
Thaaaa Burts. They had a lot of trouble making this one I think, which one could easily foresee...you don't even need an eagle eye view
Yes Tippi Hendren, she is also in Marnie with Sean Connery it's a Hitchcock movie
“Plot is not primary for Hitchcock. The plot is just a line, upon which he hangs moments of cinematic poetry.”-Martin Scorsese. Makers of great films, I would call them masterpieces, know that the visual and aural journey takes primacy over the characters and even a logical storyline. A sublime and palpable experience of a poetic reality is the point. Lesser films strive to give you answers and satisfaction; Hitchcock, Tarkovsky, Lynch, and Kubrick know better.
that's our cue: a bombshell blonde wearing a striking green dress...Vertigo, anyone?
This film seems outlandish but read about what happened to Capitola California in 1961. Alfred Hitchcock visited nearby Santa Cruz and read about it.
Just to clarify: the actress's name is Trippy Headroom
Tappi Ballroom.
@@brianbell3836 Topo Giggio
That is a amazing movie, i was scared as a child and the REDHEAD is super fine bella bella
🥰
My mom was terrified of birds after this movie 😂
@@kingspanky2794 understandable!
What a classic choice. Well done 👍
Thanks for your reaction! I highly recommend other Hitchcock films:
North by Northwest (1959)
Vertigo (1958)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Rebecca (1940)
Notorious (1946)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
This movie ranked at #96 in the 100 scariest movie moments on Bravo, cool reaction as always ladies 🥰❤️
@@coreyhendricks9490 thank you!!
A fun Hitchcock-like movie is Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.
When I moved to San Francisco in the '80s, that space near Union Square was still a pet store. I remember visiting it and recognizing it.
Tippi Hedren.
They won't escape. Tippy Hendren's character seems to be the epicenter of the chaos. The birds will find them. Ha ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
Besides the fantastic Rear Window, I highly recommend “Notorious” (romance plus suspense) “North by Northwest” (top level entertainment) “Vertigo” (profound and seeing Hitchcock manipulate his audience is an amazing feat). Others include Strangers on a Train, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt, Dial M for Murder, and an older film made as a propaganda effort to urge the US to enter WW2 is Foreign Correspondent,( 1940) where you can see early forms of typical Hitchcock themes, character types, his brand of humor/wit, and creation of big set pieces for finales. For pure fun, and to enjoy the locations of the beautiful south of France, and gorgeous Edith Head costumes - “To Catch a Thief.”
The movie rating system was implemented in 1968. The original ratings were G , GP, M (mature ), R, and X. Movies before this can be given ratings from the current system based on the MPAA review of the film
You should follow up with a lesser known but equally disturbing Hitchcock movie featuring Tippi Hedren, “Marnie.” And if you go back a few years, “Dial M for Murder” and “To Catch a Thief” are great movies. Loved your reactions!
BTW, movies in that era were more deliberately paced and it seems a little slow by today’s standards. 😎
Lastly, I saw this as a kid in the 1960s and it gave me nightmares.
Thanks!
Marnie's one of my favourites. I would also suggest a reaction to "To Catch A Thief" with Cary Grant & Grace Kelly. ♥️♥️♥️♥️
Mitch looks older than his mother and his little sister looks like his grand daughter.
At 2:30 . . I do not have any more love birds for sale,
How about just a couple of casual acquaintance birds ? 🐤🐤
I didn’t recognize Suzanne Pleshette until now in the movie. Loved her in Bob Newhart show. Sorry she passed.
I think we cheat ourselves of fully enjoying a films story and its characters if we constantly think how we’d do things differently. That’s probably not how the storyteller meant it to be interpreted. We all do this from time to time don’t we.
We watch and rewatch films because we enjoy them. It’s the journey the film takes us on that we remember.
That is a fully reproduced set replica of a very famous pet shop in San Francisco.
You ladies are young, but there used to be a time we didn't have to worry about strangers, believe it or not we kids played all over town all day. We left our door unlocked.
I really DO love Tippi Hedren's "No! NO!" at the end. Best one word dramatic acting since the little girl in "Them!".
And have you watched "Birdemic" yet?
Veronica Cartwright is an amazing actress. She did a remarkable job as Rosalie Wells in The Children's Hour (1961) along with everyone else in the cast of that film: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Fay Bainter, Miriam Hopkins, James Garner and Karen Balkin.
I agree with both of you. These old movies are usually quite slow and a little weird. The reason I think a lot of us like these old scary movies is because we were young and it scared the crap out of us.
Great movie ❤
As a Film Noir fanatic the next Hitchcock I recommend checking out would be Shadow of a Doubt (1943).
I'm with you on "The Birds;" it's for the birds. I never watched it as a kid because it seemed like a ridiculous premise. I did watch it later on and pretty much had the same sentiment; it was okay, but once is probably enough. Love the reactions though!
Perhaps you mentioned it on your other platform(s) but, did you notice Hitchcock, walking two dogs, leaving the pet store as Tippi enters? He appeared/cameoed in all of his movies. Great reaction.
We didn’t! Thanks!
Strangers on a Train is a great Hitchcock movie or Vertigo two of his best.
Please please react to “Birdemic”