I don’t like horror movies. Even now, as an adult, they still cause me to get jumpy and on occasion have a bad dream; so I tend to avoid that genre. There are some movies, however, that we’re sometimes urged to watch because they are classics with respect to the historic time they were produced and who directed them. One such movie is “The Birds”. Filmmaker and director, Alfred Hitchcock, produced it in the early 1960s. The premise of the movie is a bit farfetched but it’s not something I would want to experience. Birds inexplicably attack the people in a small California seaside town; that’s it.

The lead actor in “The Birds” is Tippi Hedren. During the course of the movie, swarms of screeching birds attack her. At one point during filming “Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands).” This was contrary to what she was told would happen during the filming of that scene: the birds were supposed to be mechanical. Alfred Hitchcock saw nothing wrong with this realistic method and this horrifying situation ended only because a bird hurt Tippi Hedren and a doctor ordered the filming to end. I can’t imagine completely disregarding someone’s safety that way or committing myself to such true horror for a movie, or any job. However, Hitchcock claimed he did it for the sake of art and authenticity, while Tippi Hedren earned accolades for her performance.

For a time after watching the movie, when I heard the screech of seagulls it made me uncomfortable. I know how silly that sounds. However, if you haven’t seen the movie you should then let me know how safe you feel the next time you’re at the beach and seagulls try to get close enough to steal your French fries…