Midweek Mention... The Birds

The Birds

Reegs: That's a pretty cool

Dan: I like that, I like

Cris: No, I want a hug. Mav came in today, gave me a hug, he daughters.

I don't know what he feeds them, like steroids or something. Or Gary's,

Sidey: Or

Cris: both. should I hear myself in this?

Sidey: Almost certainly, yeah. I you. I can hear

Cris: Can anyone Speak in something.

Sidey: Speak in something?

Cris: Oh, yeah. Is that how I should hear you? Probably.

Sidey: You don't, you

Dan: I'm gonna

Sidey: you're just here, you don't need to lean forward.

Dan: one out.

Cris: Oh yeah, I know.

Sorry.

Sidey: Can you hear now? Can you hear anything?

Okay.

Dan: one out, Society.

Sidey: Because I

haven't got my glasses on. That's right. Yeah.

Sidey: Do you want me to press the button? Okay.

Cris: Bad Dads.

Sidey: the midweek of first

Reegs: As we always

Sidey: change to usual

Dan: a in a in a change to nothing we're staying the same service. Okay, what's that? Oh, it's birds,

Cris: Yeah, birds, eh?

Sidey: But we can't go yet

Reegs: He could actually edit some actual birds

Dan: some actual birds.

Cris: a, there were a couple of times where some of the birds sounded more like cats,

Dan: Yeah,

Sidey: Well, because they're in full attack.

Dan: They're bad

Cris: that how they sound when they're

Sidey: I reckon, yeah.

Dan: Bata cats

Sidey: And the reason we bring that up is because we watched The our first Hitchcock.

Dan: our first Alfred.

Sidey: It's taken over 400 episodes.

Dan: Yeah,

Sidey: well,

Dan: you know, it's about time

Sidey: Good things come to those who

Cris: Who watch

alfred hitchcock?

Sidey: right.

Dan: yes, that's right

Reegs: Was this a first time watch for you?

No,

Cris: Yes, Yeah,

this is the first time i've watched this it's the first time i've ever heard of it

Dan: since a child though. Really? Yeah,

Reegs: not.

Sidey: I had remembered it being black and white. I had remembered it being black and white. It's not.

Cris: It's the beginning though. No, black and white. Sorry, Dan. The beginning, I think, is when they just kind of show the birds

Reegs: Well it opens with some birds, believe it or not.

Yeah, and it just, it is black and white, raising to a cacophony of squawking, much like Dan at that intro there. And then we're in San Francisco following Melanie Daniels, Tippi Hedren, looking fucking

Sidey: Yeah, she is.

Reegs: And she notices the increased activity in the sky but then she fobs it off and goes to this, like, hamleys of pet shops.

Dan: You, you know who just walks out with the two dogs?

Reegs: the two dogs? Yeah, I saw

Sidey: Always has

a cameo,

Dan: Yeah,

Reegs: this one was right up front.

Dan: yeah, it was, it was really good. And she goes in asking about some birds to the lady that works there.

And as she That lady goes off to to find her order a chap walks in and he's kind of dashing and he's

Sidey: Mitch Buchanan.

Dan: Yeah, he's a he comes in and he asks her

if they have lovebirds and Instead of saying, oh, I don't work here. Wait till the lady comes back She starts wandering wandering around the shop and and introducing him to and showing him different birds and and just generally bullshitting because she's She's just there for the the laugh,

isn't

Reegs: there for the, the laugh isn't she?

And he knows that she doesn't work there, even

though

Dan: knows that she doesn't work there even though she's kind of Kind of leading him on

Sidey: She's a kind of prankster.

But as the audience, we don't know that.

Reegs: don't know that. She's got form you know,

Sidey: a, she's got form for, you know, messing about. She's a, she's a sort of wealthy socialite, isn't

Dan: Yeah. And she's obviously been in the press. Her dad owns a newspaper. There's rival newspapers, which seems to be well with a scandal written about her comes from but she is yeah, well deserving of that.

kind of

reputation on that first take you see her

Sidey: because

Dan: she's she's not being wholly honest with You know job and role and everything. She's trying to lead him on but you can see that she fancies

Sidey: Yeah, he's smooth. And the exchange is all about these lovebirds that he's trying to acquire for his sister, young, very young Sister

Dan: we'll go into ages later

Sidey: It's

all over the shop, isn't it? But

Reegs: Well, I thought it, I thought it could have been his daughter.

Sidey: Yes. Yeah.

Dan: and the mother could have been his

Reegs: No, I think actually in the film it could have been and the

Dan: have been his wife in the film. She wasn't that old, his mother, but Anyway.

Sidey: So they, they don't get the lovebirds at this point, but she hatches this idea, lol hatch, that she'll get the birds for him and take them out there, in some sort of ruse where she's going to just leave them in the gaff.

Reegs: It's so bizarre.

Sidey: She's got two letters, yeah,

Dan: well,

Sidey: unhinged behaviour.

Dan: of all, she, she finds out from his number plate and a friend where he lives. She goes to his house. There's a guy there who says, Oh, he's away for the weekend. I wouldn't leave the birds outside there because he's not going to see him until Monday.

So she goes, Oh, where's he live? All right. It's about an hour and

Reegs: Bodega Bay. It's 60 miles down the road. Alright. she

Dan: She

jumps in the car, hires a boat, goes across,

Sidey: like lunatic behavior.

Dan: really is. And, and then she breaks into the house, leaves the, the birds there

Sidey: She's got a choice because she's written two letters because she goes to the

The shop slash post office to find out exactly where he lives and this guy there's no GDPR or data protection He just spills the beans about everything that the sister the the mother's name everything Yeah

Reegs: she goes to school, so she goes and,

Sidey: so she goes and she

Reegs: for the

Sidey: Annie, and eventually then she's, so she's got a letter for the girl and she's got one for him and she decides to leave the one for her and she rips up what she was going to say to him.

And then

Reegs: Yeah, but just before we move on, I mean, it's really clear right in the first meeting with Annie that she's kind of a jilted ex lover because like the camera makes it really clear.

She asks a question and it rotates like in a film where there's barely any movement of the camera like that. It's like really obvious. And she says, Oh, where did you meet him? Oh, San Francisco. I guess that's where everyone meets him sort of thing. So

Sidey: Yeah. He's a player. He's wearing a neckerchief, for God's sake.

Dan: Yeah. And and she says, oh, what have you got there? Oh, just some lovebirds. And she gives him a she gives her a look like,

Reegs: she says, good luck. And there's like an implicit you'll need

Sidey: You're the next one on the line. Like he's he's a bachelor still.

Dan: it. You're the next one on the line. He's a bachelor. Crosses over the the the spit

Reegs: Wearing high heels and a fur

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. And and a handbag that's into our sneaks in sneaks into the house leaves the birds and then goes back again.

But Mitch spies her like escaping or just drifting watching him. He takes his car and then meets

Sidey: drives a, looks like a trillion miles an hour to get around the bay and intercepts her and is like, hey this is totally fine

that you've stalked

Dan: hey, this is totally fine.

Sidey: so. and cut her head.

Reegs: And this really is the first bird action in the, like, we've had at least half an hour of this movie, which is this bizarre, stalker, romantic comedy

Sidey: Yeah.

Reegs: and then suddenly there is this sort of gruesome bird

Dan: bird attack.

You know, they go into the little cafe that's next and the the guy straight away worried that it happened on his premises and he'd be sued but they say no No, nothing like that. You can just get his you know a Cloth and and things will wipe it.

But you meet a few of the the residents then in and around this town in the cafe and She's You

Reegs: Well, Lydia turns up, doesn't it, at the cafe. She comes up, Melanie comes up with this elaborate story straight away. Oh, I came to visit my friend Danny. She's an old school friend which Mitch doesn't really buy. And then before they've got a chance to get into that, Lydia turns up. And she's like, she saw the house, she saw the car on the outside stops.

And then she's like really displeased to see,

Sidey: She was a fucking bitch.

Dan: Who was, the mum, The mother.

Sidey: I

Reegs: Just straight away

Sidey: her. I wanted her to get her eyes pecked out. Like, from this point.

Dan: was she?

Sidey: I don't care how old she was, she was a fucking bitch.

Dan: was, yeah, she, she was a very jealous mother and she didn't really want her son Mitch to go off with anyone and Annie alludes to that a little bit later on,

Sidey: I suspect that he was he was the way he was because his mother was so disapproving of all

Cris: she has a reputation we find out later.

That's why her mom kind of,

knows. about her because she read in the gossip columns and all

that And

she allegedly had all this adventures in Rome and whatever.

Sidey: Oh, it's the naked thing in the

Cris: that's where you, you kind of get why she would be like that, although she's still a bitch.

Sidey: bitch. Yeah, she was. Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah, but also she also has sympathetic motivations because her husband died and she's terrified of being abandoned by her son So anyway, I don't have much faith in the future of this relationship between Melanie and Mitch He's a serial cheater and she is a little bit psycho Let's be fair anybody who would do all those crazy things when cheated upon may do things that could be even more crazy I think that was Hitchcock's way.

Anyway she

Sidey: invited for dinner, which Lydia's not keen on. And the sister, it's her birthday party tomorrow.

Reegs: That's where we find out that the chickens are playing up. 'cause that's gonna be important. 'cause it'll send

Dan: and you find out that the, the, the sister Mitch, there must be 30 years difference between them.

Yeah. Unplanned. I, I don't, yeah,

Reegs: I suspect it's his daughter and the mother is bringing them up, telling people it's brother and sister to hide it. Because, you know, he's like a guy who's in his 40s and he's got a string of women. You know, this, we know that Annie moved to Bodega Bay just to follow him.

I'm sure there were others. So, yeah, I don't think it was his sister.

Dan: sure there are others. So, yeah, I don't think

Sidey: Possibly everyone knew, but they just let it slide. No,

Dan: She, she says, I want

Sidey: But she, she says, I want you come, please come to my birthday party, Melanie, you fucking lunatic, please come to my party.

She's like, no, no, I'm not going to. She's like, oh, go on. You can stay here. And it's like, nah. She's just like, no, I'm not going to. She

Dan: and she isn't going to until like sparrows start attacking in the house, they fly down through the chimney as the, the family of just had dinner or

Sidey: great seeing this.

Dan: And we're not talking about one sparrow, we're talking about

Sidey: Hundred.

Dan: They're just flying in through and they

Reegs: upset Parrots and pigeons and shit,

Sidey: shit. Parrots and

Dan: pigeons and shit. Yeah,

Sidey: Because when the attacks, when they're kind of like pinned up against the wall and you get all kinds of things, it's really hectic. there's a

Reegs: was made, this scene where they come out is absolutely amazing.

Like,

Sidey: bit out of the chimney, yeah, they burst through.

There was a mixture of hand puppets Of just like cartoons but real birds.

Reegs: in the scene before we did miss them. Like a two or three minute sequence of children being attacked by a brilliant sequence. Yeah. Hitchcock

Sidey: there's a few where they look around or they just leave a building and they'll just be every like telegraph wire and every fence is just

Dan: Well, yeah, so this is ramping up after this. So this this town then

Reegs: this, so this this town

Sidey: sort of Yeah, but

Reegs: pretty good, he's like, oh yeah, the birds are great. He

Dan: Yeah,

Sidey: I think it depends on the kids or whatever, but it's like, yeah But then it's more defensive. Yeah,

Reegs: might

Sidey: But

Dan: But then we find out that there's a chap That the mother goes to see.

Reegs: Yeah, well, her chickens have been playing up.

They haven't been eating their food. We, we heard that in the tele telephone conversation earlier and the night after the chimney ship. When Melanie stays Lydia goes off in the morning to confront the farmer about his dodgy chicken feed. Yeah, there's goals

Sidey: literal chicken in

Reegs: it

Cris: them.

Reegs: So she goes to the house and she kind of finds signs of a struggle at first and then there are like dead birds everywhere and a bit of blood and then eventually she finds him dead. Just his body with his eyes pecked out and she like. Runs away in wordless horror back to her car in total shock drives home reminded me of hereditary And I

don't

know if anyone's seen that there's a scene a little bit like that Yeah, just like in wordless horror.

She goes home and you know

Cris: Mr.

Fawcett has his eyes eaten out by some birds apparently and there's a seagull, that's a great scene actually, where the seagull's kind of stuck in the window. I like that, that was quite

Reegs: This is where she reveals her fear of abandonment and all that other

Dan: Yeah, she

Reegs: also Melanie is, she has revealed earlier that she's estranged from her own mother.

She ran off with that she, her mother abandoned her family, didn't

Dan: That's

Cris: with some hotel man or something like

Reegs: that. Yeah, so everybody's got these fucked up dysfunctional relationships everywhere. Yeah. And also there's like some psychotic bird shit

Dan: happening and and it's it's getting worse. So,

Reegs: But this is where we get our great scene where she goes off to the school.

Lydia says, I'll bring, bring Kathy home from school.

Dan: Would you go and get her? I'm worried about would you go and get her? She

Reegs: goes to the school and I, they're singing or something or they're doing a test. So she goes outside to smoke a ciggy. It's such a great Hitchcock scene. There's like one bird and she takes a puff and then there's like two birds on the thing.

And then she just sort of looks around and then there's four birds. And then like, she watches one. It builds over a minute then she watches one as it comes around and settles on these like monkey bars and there's about two or three hundred birds there and you're like, oh

Dan: and you suddenly look at them and you get a bit closer and you realize they've got pretty big talons, they've got really sharp beaks, they all look angry.

Reegs: got unknowably cruel

Dan: yeah, really do, like a doll's eyes. And they're. They've just kind of got this menacing feeling around and she's like, they're queuing up for an attack this lot.

So, she thinks they're gonna

Sidey: That's mad to

Dan: it does.

But when you're watching it, you're like, they're

Reegs: They are?

Yeah,

Cris: know what's

Dan: she goes into the, into the school. And says that we need to, to Close that door. Close that door. We need to get all the kids down

Sidey: Yeah, yeah, yeah, evacuate, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Evacuate

Dan: as far as we can. Okay, right.

We're gonna do a fire drill children. And they're not pleased with this But they all go with it because they're perfect little kids in

Reegs: little kids in their 60s

Sidey: reminded me of

Dan: they're Anyway, they're the birds as soon as they see the kids. They're they're after them and they're Flocking down there poking kids have got birds in their ears and around their necks and biting at their ankles and their hair

Reegs: hair, and Yeah, it

Dan: yeah, it was and as they're running a long way down this hill, you think they're not going to outrun these birds.

There's just like

Sidey: No, but they've got to to keep going.

Reegs: Well, it just subsides for some reason, doesn't it? It just kind of stops, And then they get into the diner, which is where they have a big discussion about whether or not The bird's happening is because she's a whore, basically. That is basically the central conversation, isn't

Dan: that. At one point soon after this is that the fire starts, doesn't it? There's there's a guy gets a, who's filling up his petrol gets attacked by birds. And then

Reegs: they're very careless this bit. 'cause there's like

gasoline.

Dan: just pisses everywhere.

They're all checking on him. Haven't noticed the gasoline is just pissing everywhere. And then one guy with a cigar comes along, doesn't he? And they're all in the dino as just as they are. They see him light his thing. Woo. Don't with a match. Don't throw the match. Of course he does. He blow, he throws out on the

Sidey: Was it a light, the match when it hit?

Dan: it was, I, I assume so, which is why there was a massive

Sidey: Because it would never, like a cigarette or a cigar or a, it wouldn't light gasoline, it

Dan: But he does have a match and, and it does kind

Reegs: Oh, it's huge. The explosion's massive. He blows completely up the guy who has the cigar or whatever. And then it goes all the way back to the gas station and blows that up as well.

Dan: Well, they, and they have to they have to escape from the diner, which made me laugh because when they go back in there, it's like the only place that hasn't been touched, they've all escaped from.

But they're all running around with chaos and birds squawking everywhere and diving down and, and hitting everyone. And they're starting to crash into glass and smash the glass like kamikaze seagulls and things it's It's crazy. It sounds nuts. But this is this really

Sidey: When they, well, when they, cause they eventually end up back at the house, don't they? And like so attacks happen and

Reegs: I

Sidey: there's a great bit of Mitch trying to stop a gull and you can see he's like he's almost got it in his hand like wrestling it through the glass it's fucking

Dan: hilarious. There's four of them in the

Sidey: but they're they're like pecking through the door I fucking love that scene it's so good because there's an open basically there's a sustained prolonged attack and Mitch is running around trying to sort it out

Reegs: stop it.

And

Sidey: And Lydia fucking screams at him that it wouldn't have happened if his father was here and you're like, ouch, that is fucking uncalled for.

But they've left a window, a skylight or something, or a Velux, whatever it is, upstairs. And when Melanie goes in to look, she is subject to a Prolonged and violent pecking.

Dan: just can't get out. They, every time she reaches for the handle, they like, peg her hand,

Sidey: foolishly collapses in front of the door. Yeah, which means they can't get

Reegs: her. And she's, like, badly wounded, and they're, like, kicking the door against her head, trying to get in. It's Mitch and

Dan: and they

Sidey: I mean, I think

Dan: her out, don't

Sidey: famously Hitchcock was like pretty appalling to her, wasn't

Reegs: And I think this scene, I mean, it must've been one of the big moments. Yeah. And then they sort of, she's in shock, badly

Sidey: state, isn't she?

Reegs: They bandage her up, don't they? Sort of

Sidey: Well, they crack the booze open. I was like, there's no time for him to drink.

Dan: yeah, yeah,

Reegs: Well, they've got a drive ahead of them. They need a stiff one for the road.

Dan: And and Mitch says, right, I'm gonna go and get the car, and he opens the door, and you, it's like, just, you've never seen so many birds,

Sidey: Right, were you thinking, how do they get the birds to focus to stay out? But all

Reegs: the birds? Yeah, he, well, he

Sidey: Because he he tries to like You know, creep through very, very

still. He

Dan: believe he wouldn't just close the door and go, no, we can't go there,

Sidey: so, but he's doing it because he, he's like, we have to get her to a hospital.

I, I, the implication was she was gonna die. I dunno, she shouldn't seem that bad, but so that he's gotta do it. So he's like trying to creep through and I'm like, why are they not attacking? because

Reegs: just bad. No. Well, I, who knows? I

Sidey: because never, it is never explained

Reegs: bird thing. Yeah. The reason for it is never explained. And it's obviously much better for that. I just like the bit of the end.

Like you say, he's just tiptoeing through and they just look stupid. Like

Sidey: But did you read what they, how they got a load of birds to stand

Reegs: No glue them or something

Sidey: No, fucking booze. They soaked a load of corn in whiskey and fucking fed

Reegs: Amazing.

Sidey: don't, I'm not sure you'd be allowed to do that these days.

Reegs: So yeah, that is kind of how it ends. He gets the car and they sort of go off quietly and just, there's more birds than you've ever

Sidey: It just stops. Credits pop up and you're

Dan: is. Which is a great way

Reegs: well, the world's fucked.

It's bird mageddon, isn't it?

Yeah.

Sidey: Yeah. Because there was going to be a short. Of millions of birds on the Golden Gate Bridge. But they didn't do it, obviously, because it's not in the film. So the implication was that it was spreading.

Or following her. Or, you know, was it

Dan: the all the lovebirds

Sidey: Because, obviously, that's what you assume is that it's because she's brought these, somehow she's brought these lovebirds. But it wasn't happening

Reegs: It was sort of happening before that though. It was sort of.

Sidey: But there were some birds, yeah.

Reegs: the

Dan: were reports in other towns that it happened, so you, you realise, no, that, that theory doesn't really hold up. It was just this random kind

Sidey: birds fighting back.

Dan: yeah, phenomenon happening.

And

Sidey: no one will be able to hear this, but we can

Dan: Yeah, they're, ah, ah,

Reegs: could be happening outside here

Dan: They're, they're really lively. It was just still an epic film. The, the suspense that he's able to create, you actually start to believe birds could do that. You know, you start to think,

Reegs: the weird psychosexual stuff as well with all the women being basically freak shows in this, but and the men as well.

I mean, it's just, everybody was the central characters, lunatics and weirdness all around.

Dan: interesting characters though all of them were but you know the actual thought of You know, connecting up together, joining forces and, and just taking

Reegs: Connecting up together like ten birds

Dan: Yeah,

Reegs: getting one big bird. Yeah.

Dan: know, it's

Sidey: know, it's What's that?

Dan: big bird. But it's just such a fright, a cleverly frightening film that was just suspenseful rather than frightening.

It

Sidey: Yeah, this is like your level of horror, isn't it?

Yeah,

Dan: was pitch perfect to my level of

Reegs: think it's just interesting as well because it obviously ushers in like a whole, like, load of clones of other stupid animals.

Like, you know, Tack of the Ants, or whatever, the fucking crabs, the, yeah, whatever. No, more obscure though, and weirder, you know, wombats, whatever, beavers.

Every But nothing, nothing quite hits the spot like this one. It really doesn't. It's a really good one.

Sidey: That's it.

Cris: it? It was good, yeah. I enjoyed it. Especially because I wouldn't say I'm not a fan of horror movies. I like horror movies. But I think there's a very broad range of horror that I don't enjoy where it's just gore for the sake of being

Sidey: horrible.

Yeah,

Cris: Whereas I think this one was when I, when I've seen it's a horror, okay, but it's not as scary as, or as gory as it obviously 63. So they're not going to show much. It's enough to

The noise,

And I think it's more the noise and the effects than the

Sidey: right? So did you know like hitchcock would have very specific instructions for? Movie theaters I think famously like psycho was very very like came with Instructions for people the projection one or that but birds He would have them put speakers outside with amplified bird sounds so when people were leaving the cinema they'd be shitting themselves because of the bird

Cris: Oh, right.

Dan: you were going to say he would release birds in

Sidey: release birds. Well, I think if he could

Cris: No, I did enjoy it, and I, I don't know, I didn't, I just thought that

the sexual innuendo and all that, I thought there was a, A couple of times where you could almost see that there was a sexual connection between Mitch and the mum.

Dan: it

Cris: it was very strange a couple of times when he kept calling her darling.

Sidey: Well, mother stuff, you

Cris: Yeah, mother, darling, oh, it's all you,

it's all you do.

Dan: stuff, you know. Yeah, mother, darling, oh, oh, oh. It's all, yeah. And I'm

Cris: But no, it was good. I'm not, and I'm not one of them to think too much of it. It's a movie from 1963. It's good. I enjoyed it. A little bit too long for me.

Sidey: Wow.

When it flashed up at the start and it said based on story by blah, blah, blah,

Reegs: Daphne de Moya

Sidey: instantly read that as true story and I could double take it. I was like, what? Oh, no, it's not.

Cris: No, not after you watch the movie, but

Dan: true story, but a really good one.

Reegs: I think if any of them, it would be birds that would do it.

So

Dan: Yeah

Sidey: dolphins, they could be disgruntled, but it's hard to attack you on land.

Cris: but it's hard

Sidey: there. And

Cris: tell you on that.

Sidey: Well no, because

the

Dan: rats

Reegs: Rats are rats of the sky.

Cris: was all bird though, wasn't it? I think there's gonna be a brilliant

Dan: anything and they're invasive and they're difficult to kill This

Sidey: think there's going to be a brilliant film about mistletoes.

Reegs: My missus

was bombarded by a seagull for an ice cream that

Sidey: that she

Dan: Perfect let's leave that let's leave this here there

Cris: there.