Beauty vs Beast: Worth Two In The Bush
Monday, September 14, 2015 at 3:15PM Jason from MNPP here swooping down from the sky with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" -- I am aware that this series has been heavy on the Hitchcock so far (we've previously covered Psycho and Marnie and Vertigo and Rebecca, oh my) but when I heard TFE was celebrating 1963 all month I could hardly let the chance go by to celebrate one of my fave Hitch flicks, The Birds, which has up til now slipped thru the cracks. (Flown the coop?)
The Birds also features one of the hardest choices we've asked of you so far, if you ask me - I can't be the only one who was rooting for Suzanne Pleshette's sad seaside school-teacher Annie, right? In fact I think it's why she had to [spoiler] go [end spoiler], before the "happy couple" of Melanie & Mitch could head off into the sunset. (A sunset covered with murderous birds, natch.) Although, truer truth be told -- we were all just rooting for Melanie & Annie to ditch Mitch and take off together. Admit it! Well unfortunately that's not your choice today...
PREVIOUSLY Last week marked the 30th anniversary of Smooth Talk, with Laura Dern and Treat Williams playing out Joyce Carol Oates' sexual psychodrama, and y'all came down on the side of Dern, Dern, determinedly Dern, with a full 65% of your vote. We'll give today's quote to Nathaniel cuz why not:
"I saw it years and years ago in my first flush of Laura Dern obsession (so it must have been around Wild at Heart time frame. She's soooo good in it."
Reader Comments (14)
If nothing else, I'd listen to Suzanne's sultry cigarette voice over Tippi's flat tinny tones any day.
I always get this lesbian vibe from the Annie character and always forget that she had dated Mitch earlier. I guess she's just forlorn but she seems tough throughout the film. The actor Mario Cantone has a funny bit on THE BIRDS where he blames the school attack on that anoying song the kids are singing. "Fuckity Suckity Lickity Clittity Now Now Now"
Pleshette was smoking hot in that movie- she really should have been a bigger movie star
I voted for Annie. Poor Tippi. She played two of the most unsympathetic Hitchcock 'heroines.'
I always felt bad for poor Melanie Daniels who really didn't do anything yet gets blamed for bringing the bird attacks by crazy luncheonette lady but Annie Hayworth is the obvious pick. She's just wonderful across the board.
Has anyone seen Pleshette in Rome Adventure? The movie is more of a travelogue than anything else but she was such a delight to behold...that voice, the face, etc.
Always Pleshette.
You've gotta wonder just how good in bed Rod Taylor is that you would uproot your life to become a schoolteacher in a small seaside town just to be near him.
At least, I know I wonder how Rod Taylor was in bed. Not much of an actor, but a whole lot of beefcake there.
Oh, uh, topic: Team Annie. Unrequited love is the hardest one of all.
Annie all the way.
I must confess that I don't really 'get' the love for Pleshette in this film. She's fine, looks great, delivers a salty line or two. But does she make me feel anything?
Team Melanie - a bit aloof and she's the movie's villain all of a sudden!
Would everyone who voted Pleshette have picked her over Tandy?
I voted for Tippi last time, so team Annie all the way. But yes Kermit the Frog, I would have pick Tandy if the choice was given.
Pleshette plays my favorite character in this film. With everyone else teetering on the edge of hysteria, she conveys a calm, measured presence that is a consequence of a crushing sadness. Almost as if not even a force of nature--a flurry of birds--can lift away.
kermit_the_frog - If I had the choice, I'd pick the birds.
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.