Today happens to be the birthday of former actor and movie hunk, Rod Taylor. He is 83, and, with no reports of him ailing, appears to be doing just fine. I mused that would have put him somewhere around his early thirties, when he made "The Birds," for Alfred Hitchcock. Then I realized that, this very year, that film turns 50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Actually, many memorable films turn 50--Elia Kazan's "America, America;" "Lillies Of The Field;" "Hud;" "How The West Was Won;" "81/2," "Cleopatra," to name a few. But the one that hovers above the rest is, of course, Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." How could it not, girls?????????
I remember when this film came to my local theater. Which would have then been the RKO Albany, on Albany Street, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I was eight at the time of its release, and, like everyone else, knew the bare bones of the plot--birds attack people! I was certainly keen on seeing it, but my more protectively minded parents forbid it. Still, it was exciting to drive past the theater, once the film arrived. Because some genius on the staff there got the idea of mounting along the rim of the marquee, a slew of sculpted birds--white seagulls, I think, with one seeming to fly above the rest--that one was a crow, I think. Whether or not one could read, it was known "The Birds" was playing there.
Then, in sixth grade, there was some reason, maybe before Spring break, that each school populace was given the afternoon off, by being shown a movie. Lafayette got "The Sword And The Dragon," which I had seen on television years earlier, and thought a big bust--the dragon does not show up till after the end, and is given less screen time than Fantine in "Les Miserables!" Irving, which I said was for the dumb, Wrong Side Of The Track Kids, got "Tonka," a Disney film, from 1958, in which Sal Mineo tames a wild, white colt. Of its kind, it was not so bad a film, but when I heard Hamilton School got "The Birds," I was livid!!!!!!!!!!! This was further proof I should have gone to Hamilton, and not Irving, because I was certainly sophisticated enough for "The Birds." And, when it premiered on NBC-TV, just the following year, it was the talk of the school. Susan Greenhaus refused to discuss it with me, but I remember Marcie Goldberg talking about that Hamilton School showing, and how it scared her. She said Judy Strauss was sitting next to her, and had already seen it. She loved it! As I would have! In fact, they must have had several showings, because I remember Judy saying, in seventh grade, she had seen it three times!!!!!!!!!!
My first viewing of "The Birds" was memorable. I remember being upset when "The Birds" are attacking the kids, and Cathy Brenner's (Veronica Cartwright) friend, Michelle, accidentally falls, breaks her glasses, and screams hysterically. I thought for sure she was going to get it. But by far, the best scene, then and now, is Doreen Lang in the diner! Talk about hysterics!!!!!!!!! Girls, let me tell you, even with Veronica Cartwright (who carved out a 40 plus year for herself, via hysterics!!!!!!!), whose big hysterical scene came later in the film, Doreen upstaged everyone in sight!!!!!!!!!!!! I should record her speech on our home answering machine--you know the one, loves, the one that ends with, "I think you're evil! EVILLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!"
Over the years I have seen "The Birds" many times in many places, but the best was several years ago at the Walter Reade Theater across the street from Lincoln Center. Not only because the screen and sight lines were so good, but so was the sound system. When the lights went down, and the credits rolled, with the birds flapping across the screen, the sound was almost excruciating!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have accepted the ending over time. The first time I saw it, back in 1968, I thought it was such a letdown. And when I heard how Hitchcock originally wanted to end it, I felt cheated by the lack of this brilliant move.
The plan was to follow the car as it drives away, cutting to the San Francisco area, as they get onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Slowly, the Brenners and Melanie look up in horror, as the camera pans, to reveal every inch of the bridge covered over in birds!!!!!!!! What a capper that would have been!!!!! Hell, even if the birds had just been seen following the car from behind, in the film's final shot, that would have been something. Yet the ending does not ruin the movie--just gives it a permanent mysteriousness.
So, happy 50th to "The Birds!" A screening is definitely in order, for this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tweet, tweet, tweet, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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