 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. Thousands of years ago, man was satisfied merely to steal an egg from a nest and use it for food. Now he has perfected this process by imprisoning each hen in a separate cage and by scientifically manipulating the lights so that she doesn't fall into the rut of the old 24-hour day. Thus, he can induce the bird to reach fantastic high-survive production. Hitchcock, of course. So Jeff, as I already said, has talked about Psycho on this show with me. His last movie was Psycho two and a half years earlier. The Alfred Hitchcock hour was a TV show that was currently airing, so of course Hitchcock had a few different TV series throughout his career. Screenwriter Evan Hunter. He had worked with Hitchcock previously. He had written Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and worked on a previous TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. So they knew each other, you know, good partnership. Evan Hunter was told by Hitchcock to develop new characters and a more elaborate plot while keeping Daphne's title and concept, of course, of unexplained bird attacks. But yeah, all the kind of love affair and how Annie will get into Annie, she's sort of in this like little love triangle-ish, you know, all of that was Evan Hunter's doing just to flesh out, you know, more of the story so that it's not only birds attacking that we actually care about these people, right? Our two leads, Rod Taylor, who we had just mentioned, he had just come off 101 Dalmatians, the famous Disney animated movie. He was a voice in that. And The Time Machine, H.G. Wells, Time Machine, that was a big movie back in the day. And Tippi Hedren, our leading lady, our new Marion Crane, our new Janet Lee, you know how Hitchcock loves those blondes. Screen debut, first movie I saw on her IMDB. She had a small, uncredited, maybe it was sort of an extra background player in a movie about 10 years prior. But she, this was her first speaking role. And what a debut, honey, yes, Tippi, looking amazing in the green, like stylish, what would you call that? Like a women's suit? I don't know, it's a skirt suit. Yeah, all I know is that it's something that I'm like one year for Halloween. Yes, I want to wear that costume. And I've seen that. You have to. You would look so good in it. I had to say was Halloween. And I was like, yes, do it. I approve later this year. You're Tippi. Can't wait. I've seen other people's versions of it. And I'm like, oh, I just want to do it so bad. Oh, you totally could get the blonde wig. It could be a little messy and you can have like a bird on your head, right? Oh, I would love to see it. Please do it and wear heels and have like blood on your legs and your arms and all that. Oh, so good. So good. So do you feel like, you know, because with Psycho, I forget the exact time. I used to know it. It's probably on our first episode. We probably mentioned it. But, you know, Janet Lee's big murder scene happens around like 30 minutes in, I'd say, somewhere around there. Now, this movie, we don't get the full on terrifying like proof that these birds are murderous when Jessica Tandy walks in on her neighbor's dead body with no eyes. Oh, my God. Terrifying, right? What a moment. They cut that in there. Yeah. What a moment. And just the quick like kind of zoom in on his face. We don't get that until one hour into the movie. So what do you think? Does it work for you? Or do you kind of wish we got a little scary a little earlier? What do you think? I think it actually works for me. I, you know, because I think, well, maybe the get into Boday, there are some like long cuts, you know, the driving. And I think the boat scenes could have been trimmed. Just a smidge, you know, when she's going out there. And it's, you know, it's because there's no dialogue. It feels long because there's a lot of some of it. There's like no talking. It's just her and the boat rocking back and forth. You're right. And I love one of my favorite scenes though, you know, is when she's coming back and she's like so proud of herself and the bird just swoops and pecks her. And, you know, it's a little taste, a little taste of what's to come. So it does work for me. I'm happy with, I'm happy with the length because then it just falls after. Well, when mom, the mom, Jessica Tandy meets, sees the guy. That's the first time we know that they're dead, right? They're killers, right? They're killer birds. Yes, because so what I wrote down was, so the peck on Melanie's head in the boat, that is 25 minutes in. And then, so that's one. And the women even say, you know, oh, basically bad things happen in threes, right? So that's 25 minutes in. The next thing was the bird bangs into Annie's front door when the ladies are, you know, hanging out at night. And that, I didn't know at the time. But then there's that moment. Oh, and that's like such a fun moment. Oh my gosh. Yeah, the bird bangs into the door. Annie goes, who's that at this hour? Opens the door. Oh, look, it's the dead bird. And Annie says, oh, poor thing must've gotten lost in the dark, right? And then Melanie goes, it isn't dark, Annie. It's a full moon. And then the camera just stays there for a while and then we fade. But it works for me. I make fun, but it works for me. Because you know, I mean, when it's a full moon, I mean, there's a lot of light in that sky, you know? That's one of the reasons why I love where we live and in Southern Maine and Kittery Maine. I mean, where we are when that moon is full, it is spooky, you see shadows at night. It is like, whoa. So, you know, Melanie's got a point. It's just the way that, you know, then they just like freeze, you know? Hitchcock's like, okay, say your line and then freeze. And we're not gonna do anything for a full five seconds. And then we'll move on, you know? So that's number two. And then number three, number three bad thing is when we know they are at least vicious is 53 minutes in at Kathy's birthday party with all the kids playing outside and then all of a sudden these- Oh yeah, they get, yeah. Yeah, that's when the birds started attacking. But not until one hour when the neighbor Dan, because I think Lydia is going to Dan's house because they're chickens, which we get a little hint of something. Chicken feed, the feed. Yeah, the feed, they are not eating their chicken feed. Something's wrong with the feed, you know? So that's when she goes to check on him. He hasn't called her back and there is Eilis Dan in a messy room with dead birds. Oh my gosh, Jeff, that is so scary. I love, that is one of my favorite moments in the movie. And maybe in just horror movies in general is the reveal of dead Dan. I love it. Right, they do like a zoom in like a one, two, three, right, when they show his body. Absolutely, it's not just a smooth zoom. It's like a cut zoom. It's like they're just kind of like cropping almost, right? Yes. And then Jessica, Tandy, Lydia, just, she can't even scream, right? She's so shook. She just drops her purse, gets the hell out of there. Oops, I'm knocking over my microphone. I'm so scared. I just love that scene so much. And maybe I love it because I kind of, it's not one that you were like, when you think of the birds, you don't necessarily think of that scene right away, right? So I kind of forgot about it. And then once I realized we're there, I'm like, oh, this part, you know? So it's a fun surprise, even if you've seen it a bunch of times, you know? Well, and it's pretty gore. I mean, it feels gory, right? Oh yeah, for 1963, it's pretty shocking, right? Yeah, I mean, maybe if we, because we, you know, Psycho was in black and white and we didn't really, the mummy, you know, mother at the end, you know, looks like a, it looks almost like a fake skeleton. But that was like, oh no, is that a really, is that really a man with nose? Right, yeah, you're right. That's a good point. But seeing the blood in color this time, because you know, in Psycho, it's all black and white. And you know, honestly, there really is very little blood. It's the blood in the shower, but it's watery, so it's not as like visceral. And you know, you see Arbogast, the cop, get slashed in the face, which is pretty shocking. But here, we are seeing like wounds. We are seeing bloody wounds, you know? Gouged eyes, oh my gosh. And you know what else makes that so scary? And I never realized it. In my multiple times watching this movie, I realized it on the latest rewatch, Jeff, and I think it is brilliant. There's no music, no score, right? I'm pretty sure through the whole movie. There is no music, whereas in Psycho, I mean, the music is, you know, what do they say? The city is the fifth character in Sex and the City. In Psycho, the music is the fifth character in Psycho, right? So like, that's just such a big deal, but in the birds, there's no music. It's all just ambient sound or no sound at all, right? Or squawking or like a motorboat or, you know, yeah. I think that's why, speaking of the motorboat sound, I think that's why you were saying, you know, some of the boat stuff, we're really there every second of the way, you know, because there's no music at least to sort of entertain us. We're just hearing that motor, looking at Tippi, looking at the house. So there's a little bit of that. I think it could be trimmed down because this movie is longer than Psycho. I looked it up, I think it's about 10 minutes longer. And at times, you know, I think it all works for me. I enjoy the very rom-com beginning. It's very, you know, screwball, rom-com vibe from the olden days. And I guess Hitchcock wanted that. He and the screenwriter, Evan Hunter, wanted to kind of do a twist halfway through, I guess, which it works, you know, going from pretty light, you know, we wanna see if this couple makes it, you know, if they become a couple and then all of a sudden, whoa, now we have some real issues. So yeah, but some of that stuff could be trimmed to touch, I think. Birds are not aggressive creatures, miss. They bring beauty into the world. Those girls attack, impossible. They came in right down the chimney. Why are they doing this? I do love when she gets pelted by the bird and then she's all like, oh, what was me? I love the gas station scene where it blows up. And I love the, like, the cut out, like, they like, they're all looking and her mouth is open, but like you can tell the camera's still, like they could move, like they're playing mannequin, you know? Yes, yes. It's so, it comes off so greasy, right? Yeah, yeah, it's a little, because it's like, it's almost like someone's looking, you know, and they're supposed to keep looking forward with their mouth open. But I love the gas station scene because you're following the gasoline line, right? And then you're watching, you know, go piece by piece, by piece, like, oh my God, something's gonna happen. Of course, I love the, yeah, I love the crazy lady scene. You know, you're the cause of all of this, you know? It's you, you know? And then she gets slapped. I just love that. The slaps are the unofficial theme of March with wild things and the birds. I mean, it's pretty perfect. But let's talk about that scene because I love that you posted it, Jeff. It's so spooky because she, that woman who, I don't think we get a name from her. She's just sort of like, I looked on IMDb. I think she's just called hysterical mother. She's looking right into the camera. She's got tears in her eyes. This is after the blow up, those explosions, that chaos, right, that iconic, and it's so clever before that scene, it is so clever to put Tippi Hedrin in a phone booth because she's surrounded by glass so we can see everything. She's contained in this little room. The birds are breaking the glass. There's like a horse and buggy or whatever, like falling over, like it is chaos, honey, right? And then Mitch is able to help her get back in the restaurant. But now before this mom, who we knew earlier, did not like the conversation happening. You're scaring the children. We know she's on edge, right? And she wants to get out of there. Now the guy with the cigar, is that the same guy who is gonna give the mom and her kids a ride? I think that's the same actor. I think so, yeah, I think you're right, yeah. They don't make it like super obvious, but I'm pretty sure that's him because he was just in the restaurant with them. But so he's gone, everyone's gone, but when our two leads go back into the restaurant, they kind of like look, it's a little weird. What do you make of it? They kind of like, it's very quiet. They look around the corner and like all the women are in the hallway and they're all kind of turned away and then they all slowly turn to them. What's up with that? I guess were they hiding from the birds in there just thinking like, we're as safe as possible back there? Cause I'm like, what's every, I almost thought, okay, is this the line for the bathroom? Like what's going on back there? Well, I guess there's no windows in there, right? You want to stay away from all the windows, right? That's true, yeah, yeah, it was shelter, I guess. You're right. Yeah, but I, yeah, there's just, there, when you talked about in the mist, that I will always love a scene where, cause I feel like Hitchcock wanted to make her, it's like religious, didn't want to go that route, but like anytime there's people are in a small space, you know, there's always going to be religious overtone of like, we're being punished, you know, like we must be being punished by something. That's why all these bad things are happening. I love that they did that in the mist and I love that they did this in the birds. And I thought like she, that's just, I, you know, Tariq and I actually, you know, whenever something bad happens, I'll say, you're the cause of all this. You know, like, it's one of those like ongoing jokes that we, you know, that we do. I mean, what's the expression rent free in your brain? Like that scene lives rent free in my brain. I am so happy. I love that because that was another moment where, again, I didn't think of that right away with the birds. Like once you posted that, as soon as I saw her face, I'm like, oh my God, that lady, that's right, I know her, but she's not like the first thing I think of, you know? So that is so funny that you quote that. She's got such a great monologue. Oh my God. And it's just perfectly over the top. It's not too crazy. She's not, she's not camping it up like Teresa Russell. She's still, you know, pretty natural, but also it comes at such a good time because Greg didn't rewatch it with me in full, but he was sitting next to me for that moment, for the chaos. Cause I said, oh quick, come over here, you're about to see the explosion. So he sat down and watched that and then did watch a little bit of crazy lady monologue. And he had said, it's so funny, it comes at a perfect time cause he said, now is this where they all kind of think like she could be a witch? And I'm like, oh my God, you're feeling it. It comes at that right time where you know, like what would naturally happen in this town? You have this blonde bombshell socialite who people do recognize, right? She is actually famous. Right. And it's like, yeah, I feel like it makes total sense for after all that craziness, the town is now in flames. I feel like, yeah, people would be like, what are you doing here? Who are you? What are you like? Why are you here? And it's kind of embarrassing. It's like, I came here cause I followed this guy. Like I just wanted to impress him, you know? It's human nature, right? To feel like, all right, what's the simplest explanation, right? And I'm like, well, everything was the same until this woman showed up. So she must have brought the birds here. It must be her fault. Totally. Especially, and you know, earlier we were saying like, you know, Lydia, the mom is really eyeing Melanie when she meets her. I mean, and she's kind of looking at her like, like I don't know if I like you. I don't, you know, you're kind of witchy. Like it's interesting. And I think it could have actually been even Suzanne Plachette who plays Annie, really staring at her. But I kind of got a queer vibe there for a second. But then we know Annie used to date Mitch. So maybe not, or you never know. But everyone stares at her in different ways. But she is the outsider. And I kind of would love, you know, if it ever is remade, a little bit more of questions from people like, so what are you doing here? Like, where did you come from? Just so that people just, cause that's just an easy connection to make. Like, here's this strange woman and why are these strange things happening? You know? Meanwhile, she has no, she has nothing to do with it. Although remind me, Jeff, why in the beginning, why is she in the pet store? Does she wants to get birds for herself or? It's, yeah. I actually thought about that yesterday. I'm like, what? Cause I figured we probably talk about why she's even in there. Yeah. She does order birds, right? And they're not going to be available until the next day. Yeah. I guess she just wants them just for fun. There's no real meaning. Cause I was watching it. I know she's talking to the older lady, but I can't remember like what really brought her in there. I guess, I guess it's just to show, she's just like any normal person. She just wants to get a pet bird or birds or, you know. Yeah. I'm confused because yeah, she calls at the end of that whole interaction and that's when she's told that the birds will be ready in a day or two. So I guess she's just hanging around. Right. Those are the birds that she orders for Mitch, right? The love birds. Yes. When she's on the phone with the daily news which her dad runs, right? Right, right. And then I love how after Melanie slaps her, then she just sort of like crumples and like turns to Mitch and he just sort of holds her. But like she just does this kind of like, oh, I'm exhausted kind of vibe from that, you know. It's great. It's great. It's the end of the love. Are the birds going to eat us, Mommy? Get yourselves guns and wipe them off the face of the earth. That would hardly be possible. Mitch, don't! The five continents of the world contain more than a hundred billion birds. Another scene is, let's see, is the actual scene where she goes upstairs at the very end where she gets really assaulted by. And it's not that I think it's funny, but I'm like, girl, why are you going upstairs to begin with? I know. Are you like, go check it out. Let's see what's scary upstairs. And, you know, she opens up the door and then she sees the birds. And of course, I love the fact that like, she can't get out. Like all she has to do is like pull the door, but, you know, there's so many birds. It's funny. It's sort of accidentally funny, but it's also kind of brilliant. Like she didn't walk very far into the room, but she literally can't, she just can't get it open wide enough because she keeps being like pelted by these birds, right? Right, right. When she falls, after they've been pecking her so much, which I'm like, wow, well, she's lucky her eyes weren't pecked out like it all down. Once she falls, right? And I mean, that scene is so good. Well, first of all, I'm getting ahead of ourselves. Let's just like walk through that moment, okay? So we know they're back home. The main core family is back home. Annie has died. That's a scary sight to see when her body's just like on her steps. Very scream five with spoiler. Right. So we know she's gone, but so the main core family's back home. The birds have attacked. They were breaking the windows and hurting Mitch's hand. They're pecking through the door, which is super spooky. I love that shot. That's scary. And then after some chaos, poor Mitch is doing all the work. The ladies are just sort of like hiding. Melanie is sort of just like up against walls, moving around slowly. I'm like, at least help get him something. I don't know. Get a net or something, right? Right, maybe, yeah. Just some sort of weapon or at least like some band-aids or paper towels. I don't know. But so he's done all that. And then the birds kind of like, what were you saying? This sort of weird natural timer. They attack and then they subside. So then they hear them go away, right? A little bit of time has passed. And now this is one thing where there's so much talking earlier in the film that I actually wish once we're just maybe, I don't know, half an hour, an hour later, we're not really sure. It's just a little bit of time later. We're still in the living room. People are sleeping, except for Melanie. I do kind of wish that maybe she and the mom or she and Mitch had a little conversation just to kind of make it feel not so like, okay, the birds attack, but then they go away. But then they attack again. Spread it out a little touch. That would be something I would just add in, some little conversation about something. Maybe it would be good with her and the mom or I don't know. Anyway, but yeah, then she hears that ominous flapping of the wings, which is so spooky, right? And I love how she grabs this massive flashlight. Maybe you should have that in your Halloween costume, Jeff. You should have a massive arm length flashlight. And she grabs it and starts walking and she checks on the lovebirds, but it's not them, because then she hears it again. I thought that was so spooky. They're just in their cage. They're the calmest birds around. So lovebirds are not affected by whatever plague is going on, FYI, everyone. And so she hears it and I love the shot of the stairs lit up by her flashlight it is so spooky. It's kind of ghosty, supernatural looking. And yes, this is probably the most typical horror movie thing in the whole movie is, she goes upstairs to investigate. And I kind of wish or wonder, wouldn't it have been interesting if she realizes where's Kathy? And like Kathy was upstairs like getting something from her room or something. Right, like a reason besides the noise. Like why are you going upstairs? Yeah, some other reason like Kathy, she's like, oh, I'm here. I'm just getting my sweater. And it's like, okay, well, hurry up. Maybe she goes up there and then here's the flapping. And then maybe then she opens the door and sees that, it's very Everett scissor hands, although that hole in the roof is huge, but this is a big hole brought on by these birds. Oh, shit, right? And then she just sort of like reacts to that and flinches and shines the light and the room is full of birds. And yes, they attack, attack, attack. Oh my gosh, brilliant. But yes, so that's when she can't get out of the room, right? The birds are messing with her, getting the door. And then when she falls down, she's basically like becoming unconscious, you know? Mitch can't even get in because then her body's blocking the door. It's pretty brilliant, right? Yeah, he's got to really like that door open because she's right there, right? Yes. And so, but he is able to get her out but he really drags her, which is another kind of creepy sight. Again, kind of accidentally funny, you know, but a creepy sight to see how just she's so flimsy and he brings her downstairs. And one of my favorite shots in the whole movie is when she kind of wakes up, you know, on the couch, right? That beautiful shot where we're close on her, but then the camera pulls back and she's looking right at us as if we are a bird, you know? And she's fighting, but it's all just kind of like in her head, she's just, you know, obviously traumatized by what just happened a minute ago. That's a really cool shot, yeah. Well, and I thought too, when right before they get in the car, they open the door and she's like, no, no. You know, like, I'm like, I'm like, because again, that's a genuine reaction after being almost, you know, by all these birds. Like, oh wait, now we're going to go outside, you know, into the barn. Again, such a great moment of suspense. Yes, all those birds. There were so many birds everywhere on the roof, on the tree, on the ground. It's so interesting. So I don't know, Jeff, what do you think? What's your theory? Why are they all of a sudden dormant? Like they're still obviously lingering. They're ready for their next attack, but they let Mitch walk right past them. Some of them even squawk at him, but they don't get all riled up. So why do you think, what's your theory? I know we don't get, you know, a reason, but what's the reason in your mind? Do you have one? It's funny. I don't think I've never, it's one of those movies where I let it wash over me and not try not to think too hard about it, but maybe as we've been talking about it today, like she, maybe because they knew she was gonna leave, maybe that she really was the cause and now that they know that they're gonna leave, she's gonna leave, they'll leave her alone. Or maybe, you know, everyone loved Mitch, so maybe the birds loved Mitch, I don't know. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, wow, yeah, maybe honestly, yeah, they know that, okay, she's basically almost dead. You guys get out of here and they really are there because of her and this love story just can't happen, guys, like you cause destruction with this romance. You know, what would have been very hitchcocky in and I kind of think a better ending is what if Melanie really did die? Maybe not right away. They bring her down to the couch, she's struggling to survive, she is bloody, right? And what if she really does die? That would be so dark, right? She dies in like the last, that's really the last five minutes of the whole movie, right? She almost made it, but her dumb curiosity killed her. So that would have been interesting if it's just Mitch and Lydia and little sister Kathy, they're the ones in the car and they just leave Melanie's body to the birds. That's kind of spooky, right? I think they should, I actually like that a lot. I think they could have done, I feel like if they remake that, one of those four people will die. It's kind of like that car scene at the end of The Mist, like they're sitting in the car and that's, I mean, it seems terrible, but it's very... Yes, absolutely. I think they could have done one more body count where somebody from that, you know, maybe mom, maybe mom gets it. Yeah, maybe mom, if not Melanie, maybe mom, not Kathy, Kathy can't go. I mean, that'd be real dark. If they wanted to really shock us, you kill the kid, right? That'd be real dark. You see Annie's body and then they're like, where's Kathy? And then Kathy's like not far behind. Ooh, you just see like a kid's feet behind the house. It's like, you know, that'd be really dark. But yeah, I could see mom going, because mom we know has some interesting stuff going on with the ladies. No lady is good enough for her son. A little freaky, a little weird there. She's so obsessed with her boy, Mitch, right? That that would be interesting. A little edifice? Yes, a little edifice for sure. That'd be interesting if she got it and maybe dies in like Melanie's arms or something, you know? Right. But I agree, there needed to be one more death end. I just would love. This is why I think this could be okay for a remake because I think you could do new things while keeping the DNA. You know, nowadays, oh my God, Jeff, have we made this movie? That whole ending scene would be much longer where like, it would be like Scream 2, it'd be like Scream 6. The ladder, the car scene and Scream 2. It'd be like, okay, is Kathy gonna make it? Right? Or whatever the order is, it's Mitch and then it's Kathy and then it's mom and it's like, oh, mom's not gonna make it. That would be a more drawn out suit because the birds are right there. I am sort of surprised Hitchcock didn't wanna give us one last, you know, cause it's tense, of course, but one last real scare that it's like, you know, what if there's just a single bird made its way in the car and they're like, kind of like she would away without exciting the others? Yeah, I feel like there's something there, you know? Yeah, and I do like the way just, there is no other ending other than they just drive off cause like, we really don't know what their fate is, right? They could be, you know, the minute they get out, they're like, woop, woop, woop, woop, woop, woop, woop, woop, outside of their, you know, set of birds or maybe everything's okay, I forget that, I don't know. Yeah, cause we don't know, like we were saying, we don't know if this is only in Bodega Bay, right? It could be everywhere and they don't know that. They're coming, they're coming. Thanks so much for watching. Next time, there's gonna be a new movie that we'll talk about so stay tuned and please follow Release Date Rewind on Instagram for updates. Bye.