 Hello, and welcome to Release Date Rewind. My name is Marc J. Parker, and I am a film lover, filmmaker, film celebrator. And normally this is an audio podcast, wherever you get your podcasts on your favorite apps. But thanks to Portland Media Center, you are about to watch the video component of this show where I celebrate movie anniversaries with my friends. Each month I usually talk about two different movies that I love with different friends, and we talk about the making of the movies, trivia, any fun memories associated with them. So I hope you enjoy, because now it's time to rewind. All right, everybody, it is a milestone episode for this podcast that celebrates milestone anniversaries. It's my 50th episode, so it's only fitting to go back to the start with a guest who was in my first episode talking about a Hitchcock movie. Everybody, welcome back, Jeff Bogayski. Hello, everybody. This is the 50th episode, yep. I know, isn't that crazy? Because as you remember, way back in the day when you were my very first guest, Jeff, we would talk about two movies in one. But it was a little like too fast, and I just thought, you know what, let me let it breathe a bit. We'll just talk about one movie each time, still two movies a month, which we'll see. So I'm like, oh my god, I'm so exhausted, I can't do another episode. But you know, this way we at least let the movies breathe, and you know, we have more time together. But yeah, you're back. And of course, listeners, if you just listened to our last one, all about wild things, Jeff was in that one as well. Such a fun episode. Thank you for that. And honestly, our discussion of wild things made me want to watch it yet again. Like, it was so much fun for me. So thank you. Exactly. I can't do it, though. Tariq won't let me. I don't think he'll let me watch it unless it's like another year from now. Yeah, he's like, please, God, spread him out, space it out. But it's rare when, after I talk about a movie or something for the show, I mean, obviously I love them all. But it's rare for me to like want to dive back in so quickly. But something about that one, I don't know. I'm just like letting my freak flag fly, and I just want to jump back into it, like watch with the deleted scenes, because I know that's like in a 4K Blu-ray or something out there. So anyway, so if you haven't listened, check out our Wild Things discussion that was last week. But now we are getting into the birds. But before the birds, before we rewind back to 1963, Jeff, we were when you were last here last week, you were getting ready to do the half marathon. You did it. Congrats. I did it. Yes, thank you. Tell us, how was it? Was it painful? Was it horrible? Was it amazing? Yeah, I'll tell you some brief stories. Yeah, like it was very cold. It was probably the coldest race or coldest I've ever run by choice. Oh, God. It was probably like 30 degrees. It was, of course, it was started in Brooklyn. But the one thing, of course, I'm very excited. I got there in time and everything. But what happened is after I had my whole playlist ready to go, first song was ready for it by Taylor Swift. And immediately after that song played, I heard my earbuds died. So I'm like, oh my God, I want to do 12 miles with no music. Oh my God. So I did freak out a little bit. But it's funny, you realize once you're in that home with everybody around and you're seeing all the sites, you don't need music. So I chilled out. I got through it. But I saw I heard one guy, he like ran by me and he had his phone on his arm and when you get blowing, I'm like, well, I can do that too, right? Yeah, he's going to be upset. Lest they have the same pace as me. So right. But yeah, I finished. I was what I did it in two hours and one minute, which was quicker than four years ago. Yeah, good for you. Because you were saying you thought you're going to be slower than the last time you ran. Exactly. I thought I was like, yeah. What was your previous time? Do you remember? Two hours and six minutes. Oh, wow. You beat it just by about five minutes. Oh my gosh, good for you. Because I know you were saying you weren't really like training too hard, right? Like you kind of were. Yeah, I was kind of half assing it a little bit. Yeah. I give it a better term. But no, it was a great day. And then we came home and the kids, Tariq and the kids were there to cheer me on. That video is so much fun. I love that. And now I understand that you're the air pod. Because I feel like in the video, you're like, here, take them. Take them. Take them. I don't need them. And I didn't want to take them out because I'm like, of course, I'll lose them. You know, like just thinking about all the things that could go wrong. But no, the best part about the race is actually running on the Manhattan Bridge and then running through Times Square. That was really cool. Oh, fun. Oh, that's got to be so cool. And you know, one benefit of not having music playing in your ears is it was probably cool hearing, you know, the crowds along the way like cheering for you. Yeah, no, that was definitely, I could, I would probably do that again. You know, I just know running by yourself, I think is terrible without music. But in a race like that, I think it's perfect. Oh, that's so funny. I know I have one of those for my AirPods and my phone. I have like, I don't even know what it's called, but I got it a long time ago. Like it's like something where you just rest your phone on it. You don't have to plug it in. But I learned the hard way a few times. You got to really make sure it's charging because sometimes when you just put it on it, it's not like syncing correctly. Right, yeah, no. When I don't want everyone to think that I was not prepared. Actually, they were charged, but it was cold. It was so cold that they went dead because when I got home, I was like, let me just, you know, next to your phone that shows you how much energy they have or power they have. And it was at 75% or 90%. So, oh my gosh, it just was so cold. Oh my gosh. Well, that's like when it's so hot in the sun in the summer, your phone's like, take this phone out of the sun or it's going to explode. Right? Right, it is too hot. Now, what did you do after the half marathon? Did you like have a big meal? We came home and opened up bottles of champagne and got some mimosas. Oh, I love that. And very fitting for wild things. So, there you go. Yeah. You can make champagne theme going. Good, good. Right. That's great. Yeah, we kept our clothes on, unfortunately. Oh, okay, yeah. You know, the sequel's a little less, you know, explicit. You know, they're all older now, so. But no, that's so awesome, Jeff. Good for you and I'm so happy the kids got to see you and cheer you on. I'm sure they were so excited, right? Yeah, they're like, what is Baba doing? What is he, they call me Baba. So, I'm like, why is Baba, you're winning? I'm like, yes, I'm winning. I'm winning the race. Oh, I love it. Good for you. Well, that's awesome. Well, I definitely wanted to check in with you on that because, you know, it was kind of like a cliffhanger. Last time it was like, will he survive? Yes, will he actually be back for the next episode? We will see. And he's here. He made it. Now, let's rewind. Let's ignore all the cool stuff we're doing today. Let's go back a long time ago before you and I were born. Let's go back to 1963, 60 years ago, the 60th anniversary of the birds. March 28th, a little springtime horror thriller. I always like a nice springtime horror. We were just talking about Scream 6 and, you know, it's always fun when you got a good thrill as the start of spring, as things are heating up. So let me set the scene for you, Jeff. I'm going to tell you just a few quick little things. What was going on at this time? Some fun facts on the new side. JFK was our president, our youngest US president. And then, of course, sadly, he was assassinated later this year. So it wasn't our president for long. On the music side, Walk Like a Man by the Four Seasons was the number one song. I thought that was funny. Walk Like a Man. Frankie Valli, on the TV side, the Jetsons had just come to an end. I guess it was just like a one season wonder on ABC. But later it was revived in the 80s for a few seasons. But it had just come to an end. And I thought this was kind of fun. It was the first program in color on ABC. I guess a lot of stations still could not air in color. So this was the first one. So that had just come to an end and get this. General Hospital was about to premiere on TV April 1st, 1963. And I don't know, I think it's still on. Am I right? Do you know? I don't know. I think that that was one of those I never I was we were a all my children family. So yes, yeah, all my children was a big one. General Hospital, I feel like it's still on. But I could be wrong. I'll delete this if I'm wrong, because I don't want any haters out there going after me. You know, the soap the soap fans, if they hear a title, Whisper in the Wind, they're like, I have to be very careful. They're like Swifties. They had to be correct all the time. They were the original Swifties. They're the general hospice. I don't know. And then on the movie side, of course, the Birds was a big hit, very popular. But before that, another popular movie that came out just a few weeks prior was How the West Was One. That was a big deal at this time. Never saw it, but I know, you know, I know the title. But so, Jeff, I'm going to throw it over to you. Tell me in your own words for anyone out there who doesn't know what the birds is about. I'm it's pretty self-explanatory, but give me your own little short, you know, synopsis, a little summary of the birds. What is it about? Well, the birds is about a woman named Melanie Daniels, who has no job. Right. She's like this, like not Debbie Taunt. What do you call her? She's like a socialite. She feels like kind of like a 60s Paris Hilton or something. Right. Right. Yeah, so she she meets she meets a gentleman at a pet store and she kind of, you know, feels all the feels for him and basically chases him to where he lives, finds out where he lives, drives down the south coast to find him and to deliver these love birds. And, you know, we think she's she thinks she's going to have a nice little rendezvous with him. But does she know that there are these birds that are about to just come slamming down on Bodega Bay? Oh, my God. And they do slam. They're banging into things, poking their heads and things. Yes. Oh, my gosh. You know, so, yeah, it's about her and her interactions with what is the same Mitch? Yeah, Mitch, Mitch, which he looks like such a Mitch. He's like the iconic Mitch, right? Yeah. Yeah. And his family, you know, they're around and basically, yeah, they're just getting wham, bam, thank you, ma'am, to buy these birds everywhere they go. And this was not the wham, bam, thank you, ma'am, that Melanie wanted. She was going for a different kind of adventure here. So funny, because I hadn't rewatched this in quite a while. It's been a long time, although, of course, this movie just lingers in mind for most people, right? That's so memorable. But I completely forgot. Yeah, she's going after this guy like she wants him bad. But like, why do you think? Because at first, I'm like, man, this girl must just not be happy with any of the guys in her life. She sees Mitch. She wants him right away. She's got to follow him two hours north. She's looking around. She's going to the store. Do you know Mitch? Where is this guy Mitch? You know, like, I need that D. She basically wants. But I'm thinking, I'm thinking, oh, is it also like a bit of like a a bit of a guilt thing? Because as we know, when she first meets him in that pet store, he does we learn that like he met her in or he didn't meet her. But he saw her in court. He's a lawyer, right? He saw her in court and she's she's gotten in trouble doing different things. She's in the gossip, you know, magazines or newspapers, you know, age six, totally like doing bad stuff. I guess she did a prank and broke something and he thinks she should be behind bars. So do you think, Jeff, on this latest rewatch when you saw it, do you feel like she is also driving to Bodega Bay to kind of like not only because she likes him, but because she kind of wants to like do good. She knows that like he actually thinks what she did was bad, whatever it was. We don't know the detail, some prank. You know, does she kind of want to make it up to him and kind of let him know that she actually does have a conscience? Or am I reading too much into it? And I think, I think, yeah, you might be. I never thought about it and never thought about that. Like it's kind of like like she's redeeming herself kind of thing. Exactly. Yeah. Is it a redemption thing? She wants to like because because especially once she's there, she really, you know, she remembers that he wants to get these love birds, right? Which I never knew love birds are green or are birds any birds? Yeah, there's different colors. Yeah, I actually have a love bird growing. I had one love bird growing up, which you're not supposed to have just one. But that's a long story. Oh, my gosh, I'm worried about you. I don't want some courage, some bird curse. That's funny. Of course, I love that you had a love bird. This is this makes this guest appearance even more special. I mean, the thing is, I don't have a ticket stub because I wasn't alive when I wasn't alive when that movie came out. So at least I have, yes, I have a definite feeling for this movie. Yes. Oh, my God, I forgot. Yeah, I was hoping you would show me your ticket stub, but that's not possible. You'd have to like a parents stub or like, you know, something. Right. I'm seventy five years old. I do actually take off the mask. I never thought about that. It could be. It's a new thing that I literally thought of today. I'm like, is she going up there? Because she because she knows that he wants to get these love birds for his sister, which Jeff, we need to talk about. He has an 11 year old sister. Seems like his parents, you know, had a little surprise, right? Right, right. Well, I love the fact that I I probably saw alien before I saw the birds. Yeah, and I remember watching the birds. I think I don't I cannot tell you when I saw this move for the first time probably in college or something. But I remember I'm like, oh, my God, is that no? Is that the woman from aliens or the navigator? And I, of course, like, do you remember that movie? Remember the navigator? I don't know if I've seen Flight of the Navigator. Who else is in now? Oh, I think Sarah Jessica Parker. Oh, no, I haven't seen that. I've heard of it. I know the title. Oh, my gosh. Marty, it was one of those movies that like just resonated with me. It's sci-fi. It's like a little bit E.T. ish, you know. OK. Yeah. But she was she was in that movie. So I'm like, this girl's face is so. Yes, she has such a memorable face, right? Yeah, I was going to say it's not iconic. It's not an iconic face, but like just could be. I mean, it's funny. I don't know her from Flight of the Navigator. But of course, I know her from alien like you and I know her from the Witches of Eastwick. She's really screaming and crying. Oh, that's right. Oh, yeah. She's more supporting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's she's got some good horror sci-fi cred for sure. Veronica Cartwright. Yeah. It's fun to see her as a kid. Her face, yeah, has looked the same. It's amazing. It's the teeth. Yeah. And maybe also because in so many of these famous movies she's been in, she's crying and screaming that it's like she's always a crazy. She's always playing. Yeah, like a slightly unhinged, unhinged, perfect. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. So that's his little sister, Cathy. But the people think it's Alice. It's what did I write? The shop owners like her. I'm pretty sure her name is Alice. And then it's like, no, it's like Lisa or something. And no, it's Cathy. Oh, no, Lois, Alice or Lois and then Cathy. So there you go. But yeah, I'm like, OK, you have an 11 year old sister. That is a twist that we did not really get much backstory about. But OK, I'll let it slide, you know? Because Rod Taylor. Jessica Tandy, right? Jessica Tandy, absolutely. Driving Miss Daisy is Lydia, the mom who's got such an icy glare. Oh my gosh, we're going to talk about all of the stairs in this movie because so many people are just they are just acting with their eyes. Tyra Banks would be so proud. They are smizing. They are glaring. They are all sorts of things. But but Rod Taylor plays Mitch and I looked up his end Tippi Hedren's ages and they were both 33, which I just feel like that's kind of always rare when the leads are the same age. But I'm like, wow, that guy's 33. And you know, we were just talking about how Matt Dylan was around 33 when he made Wild Things. And I'm like, he doesn't he seems older to me. Sorry. But Rod Taylor definitely seems older than 33. What do you think? Oh, yeah, I thought he could be pushed in like 45. Yes, he's like he had some gray hair. I would have thought he was 50. Totally. I mean, nowadays, yeah, that guy would be, you know, a quite quite a hot DILF at like 50 with it with grays. I mean, you know, the ruggedness. So it's just funny. I mean, 60 years ago, 33 just just hit different. But no, very handsome guy. How do you do? My name is Alfred Hitchcock, and I would like to tell you about our good friends, the birds. That's the damage thing I ever saw. Birds just don't go around attacking people without no reason. Yes, they attack the children, attack them. What's the matter with all the birds? Let me now just kind of tell you where some of these stars and people were in the beginnings of this film and feel free, Jeff, to shout out, because I'm sure you know some of this stuff as well. So in case anyone doesn't know, this is based on the short story, The Birds by Daphne du Maurier, I believe. Is her last name? Is that how you pronounce it? That sounds nice. I think that's it. Maurier, I think, or Maurier, I don't know. But Daphne, we'll just call her Daphne because not enough people are named Daphne. So she wrote a short story as published in 1952. So about what is that, 11 years prior to the movie coming out. So it's interesting. And I don't know if you ever had ever heard this, Jeff, but I know they were thinking about doing a remake, of course, which even though this movie is so good, I'd be open to a remake. I don't know. I think it could be something. What do you think? Well, you're talking about the remake. You heard about the new Vertigo, right? Yes. Robert Downey, Jr. And it's like, you know, and I have to say, like I my my thing about redoing Hitchcock, it's, you know, I always go back to Psycho because they tried that. You know, I know which that turns 25 later this year. That was in 98 as well. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah. That was I saw that in the theater, too. So it's tough. It's tough, right? Like, if they're going to do it, they have to they should not do a shot by shot remake. I think that was like, no, that's, you know, that was that was not a great choice. Yeah. It could be fun. I'm actually it's hard. I don't know, because I saw Vertigo long, long ago. You know, I think I actually saw it for the first and only time at an outdoor screen in like Central Park years ago. And though I love seeing movies in a park, you know, but I feel like you can't see a movie for the first time in the park. So I kind of am a little my memory is a little foggy with Vertigo, which I know is terrible. I really need to watch it for real. So I don't know enough. I can't make a strong enough kind of decision about this. But it does feel a little weird to me like Robert Downey, Junior, do you think that's good casting? I don't know who else I would. I haven't really thought about who could feel that role. I mean, yeah, he's I haven't seen him, honestly, because I don't watch Marvel stuff. So I haven't seen him and he's only really done that. And so Iron Man things, right? But yeah, I don't know. And Jeff, did you see, speaking of remakes and speaking of Daphne, she also wrote the story Rebecca, which Alfred Hitchcock did, you know, about 20 something years before this. Did you see the Rebecca remake on Netflix with Armie Hammer? I thought that was pretty decent. What do you think? No, you didn't like it. OK. No, I didn't actually. Oh, and I didn't see it. I think, oh, was that did that come out during the cannibalism stuff? Or I don't remember. Remember, I know the cannibalism era. Oh, that came out like right before it. I think if I remember correctly, I feel like that came out. That was like his last movie before the news broke, if I remember correctly. So I remember at least watching it and not being creeped out by him. So I don't think it was just yet. Yeah. But I remember it looks very nice. I mean, it was a nice update, at least visually than the 1940 Hitchcock version, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So but I told you know what you mean, redoing, remaking Hitchcock is tricky. But something about the birds, I don't know, I could be open to it because what I was saying was. I don't know if you had heard this. This has been in the works for a long time. It's been rumored and buzzed about. But I feel like Naomi Watts, who's like the horror remake queen, right, was attached to a remake of the birds that was more closely aligned with the short story, because the short story, I've never read it. Have you read it? I haven't read it. No, I'm curious. I'd like to read it sometime and maybe get it at my local library. But it's set in the UK. It's in Cornwall, where Daphne was from, shortly after the Second World War. So different time period. It's on a farm, more rural, same, of course, same sort of thing, just lethal attacks from birds at random, no clear motive, you know, no clear reason. So, yeah, I don't know, I think because obviously, I mean, what works so well in Hitchcock's version of the story is, I mean, we're in San Francisco, then we're in this bodega bay. So we get some city, we get some beautiful coastal, you know, it's all very California, right? So it would be interesting to see a version that's maybe a little closer to the original vision of it being in Britain. So, yeah, I don't know. I'm open to seeing this again. I don't think it would be like sacrilegious, like Psycho was such a risk. I feel like the birds remake, if they ever do one, is a little bit, you know, less risky. Yeah, because that's, I think it was, I mean, if we're talking to Hitchcock, I think most people would say Psycho's probably like their number one on the list, right? So this one's kind of like maybe two or three. I think it's worth trying. Yeah, I do think it's worth trying. I'm curious, I just hope that if you do, they don't, one of the things I love, I'm sure we'll talk about this in a bit, but like I love the fact that there is no explanation and I hope that they keep that, you know, that there's no, we don't know why they're attacking. You like the no explanation. I don't want, you know, I like, I love the ambiguity. Yes. Okay, yes. Well, okay, I'll tell you a little later. I saw an interesting fun fact and maybe you did too about Hitchcock, specifically wanting it to be ambiguous. So I guess they maybe had more of a decision on why it was happening, but he wanted to cut it. Yeah, you know, I certainly don't mind the ambiguity. I do kind of wish, because I love, and I know we're jumping around a little bit, but we'll talk more about it in a bit, but I really do love the scene in the diner, in the restaurant where they're all talking and they're all trying to figure it out and you know, the cop's there and that's of course the hysterical mother is there with her kids, you know. It's just such a great scene. It makes me think of The Mist from, you know, however many years ago that was, right? It's very similar, but I do love all the kind of calm hysteria and all these theories and like all that stuff that I do kind of wish, because no one, I was watching that part closely, rewatching it this time. No one really has any clear hunch on what's going on with the birds. I know the older woman says, you know, oh, a year ago or something like, you know, some time ago birds got lost in the fog and then we're just attacking homes for just a day and then that, you know, so there was that, but I kind of wanted just someone, I don't know, maybe it's very 80s. I wanted someone to be like, well, you know, like a couple towns over there was that toxic spill or something, you know, but maybe I'm just getting, maybe that's like a good 20 years later or something. You know, that would be mentioned, you know. So yeah, I think a little hint of something I would have gotten a kick out of if there was just some hunch that I heard, but yeah, I mean, it's super, super spooky how these birds just strike at random and then they have these lulls where they're just around but not doing anything. Like it's this weird kind of timer or something that goes off, you know. Yeah, well, I kept, I think during this viewing I was like, I thought to myself, is this only happening in Bodega Bay? Like, is this like a, are they doing it in other towns or would they have heard like a newscast or something about it? Oh yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. You know, like a bird that's everywhere. You know. I don't know. Is it super centralized or is it all over? Because apparently at the end of this short story, it becomes clear that it's all over the country. So, yeah. That's a little bit more obvious here. We're really not sure. Yeah, but so of course, so this movie's inspired by the short story and also I thought this was really interesting, Jeff. You probably saw this. It's also partly inspired by a real mass bird attack that happened on a seaside town in California in 1961, August 1961. So very, you know, soon before this film came out, this really did happen in California. I thought that was wild. Oh my gosh. I don't think I knew that. I did not know that. Yeah, it was in a seaside town of Capitola, California and residents awoke to a scene that seemed straight out of a horror movie. Hordes of seabirds were dive bombing their homes, crashing into cars and spewing half-digested anchovies onto lawns. Now that is terrifying. That's pretty nasty. We didn't even know anchovies. It is about the birds and their age-long relationship with man. It will be seen in theaters like this across the country. In my lecture, I hope to make you all aware of our good friends, the birds. I mean, I don't love pigeons and birds and the wings flapping always. And I'm the kind of guy where always when a bird is flying overhead, I always duck, even if it's actually like a good 20 feet. I'm always like, ugh, you know, so, oh yeah. And maybe this movie did that to us, you know? Because it might be this, right? Yeah, because you don't have to see Psycho to know the scariest, craziest twist, the shower. So you don't really have had, you haven't had to really see the birds to obviously just see a quick shot. And you're like, oh no, I get it. I understand what's going on here. You know, all the wings flapping. So we won't do any sound effects. And apparently the cause for that, it did come out later. It wasn't known back in the 60s. But I guess years later, they realized the cause for the bird's behavior in Capitola, California was toxic algae. That's what I mean about the toxic sludge or whatever. So I guess the birds were eating something and it went to their brains and, yeah. Cocaine bear, you know, everything goes back to cocaine bear. So right, what a great, yeah, what a great connection to cocaine bear, yeah. Maybe the birds got into some Californian drug company. And yeah, oh, I could see that. I could see that in a post-credits scene. There you go. After the credits, we realized, you know, it's kind of like contagion. Remember, contagion's so good at the very end. It goes in reverse and then the bat and all that and you know, COVID. All comes back to Gwyneth. Yes, always goes back to Gwyneth, which, I mean, we got to speaking of, well, she's having a moment. Can we talk, we have, this will be extra, right? This trial is like, I can't, I can't open. It's the funniest thing I've seen. I just, I can't stop watching it. Thanks so much for watching. Next week will be part two of this discussion. And in the meantime, please follow Release Date Rewind on Instagram.