The Birds Quotes

Quotes about The Birds investigated a strange event in 1991 that caused ] around {{w|Monterey Bay}} to act bizarre and die. He identified the culprit as {{w|domoic acid}}, which was produced by {{w|Phycotoxin|toxic algae}} off the Pacific Coast. Those acid-making algae were consumed by ] and {{w|shellfish}}, which were in turn gobbled by birds, who couldn’t effectively rid the toxin from their systems.“There were reports of ] and {{w|cormorant}}s wandering around drunk and throwing up {{w|Anchovy|anchovies}},” said Garrison, who is based in {{w|Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington, Va.}}Domoic acid was probably responsible for another instance of strange bird behavior reported in 1961 around Monterey Bay, when ] was said to be vacationing nearby, Garrison said. The filmmaker reportedly asked to have a copy of the newspaper sent to him, the scientist added.

Taglines The Birds is coming!

Melanie Daniels Look at the gas, that man's lighting a cigar!

Annie Hayworth Did you drive up from San Francisco by the coast road?

Melanie Daniels Yes.

Annie Hayworth Nice drive.

Melanie Daniels It's very beautiful.

Annie Hayworth Is that where you met Mitch?

Melanie Daniels Yes.

Annie Hayworth I guess that's where everyone meets Mitch.

Quotes about The Birds * {{w|Bosley Crowther}}, {{cite journal|title='The Birds': Hitchcock's Feathered Fiends are Chilling|journal=The New York Times|date=April 1, 1963|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/040163hitch-birds-review.html}}

Lydia When do you think they'll come?

Mitch I don't know.

Lydia If they're bigger birds, Mitch, they'll get into the house.

Mitch Well, it's just a chance we'll have to take.

Lydia Maybe we ought to leave.

Mitch No, not now. Not while they're massing out there.

Lydia When?

Mitch We'll just see what happens.

Lydia Where will we go?

Mitch I don't know. We're safe here for the time being...

Lydia What happens when you run out of wood?

Mitch I don't know. We'll break up the furniture.

Lydia You don't know. You don't know. When will you know? When we're all dead?! If only your father were here! I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mitch.

Annie Hayworth This tilling of the soil can become compulsive, you know... Well, it's something to do in your spare time. There's a lot of spare time in Bodega Bay.

Lydia Brenner I wish I were a stronger person. I lost my husband four years ago, you know. It's terrible how you, you depend on someone else for strength and then suddenly all the strength is gone and you're alone. I'd love to be able to relax sometime. I'd love to be able to sleep... I'm not like this, you know, not usually. I don't fuss and fret about my children. When Frank died, you see, he understood the children, he really understood them. He had the knack of entering into their world and becoming part of them. That's a very rare talent... Oh, I wish, I wish, I wish I could be like that. I miss him! Sometimes even now, I wake up in the morning and I think: I must get Frank's breakfast'. And I get up, and there's a very good reason for getting out of bed until, of course, I remember. I miss talking to him. Cathy's a child, of course, and Mitch, well, Mitch has his own life. I'm glad he stayed here today. I-I feel safer with him here... Don't go. I feel as if I don't understand you at all and I-I want so much to understand... because my son seems to be very fond of you and I don't know quite how I feel about it. I don't even know if I like you or not... Mitch is important to me. I want to like whatever girl he chooses... Well, I don't think it's going to matter very much to anyone but me... Mitch has always done exactly what he wanted to do. But, you see, I don't want to be left alone. I don't think I could bear to be left alone. Oh, forgive me... This business with the birds has upset me. I don't know what I'd do if Mitch weren't here... I wish I was stronger.

Mrs. Bundy Yes, sir, I recall it. The town was just covered with seagulls... A large flock of seagulls got lost in the fog and headed into the town where all the lights were.

Traveling Salesman And they made some mess too. Smashing into buildings and everything. They always make a mess.

Mrs. Bundy The point is that no-one seemed to be upset about it. They were all gone the next morning just as though nothing at all had happened. Poor things.

Mother in diner Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil. EVIL!

Cathy Brenner He's got a client who shot his wife in the head six times. Six times, can you imagine it? I mean, even twice would be overdoing it, don't you think?

Cathy Brenner (crying) When we got back from taking Michelle home, we heard the explosion and went outside to see what it was. All at once, the birds were everywhere. All at once, she pushed me inside and they covered her. Annie, she pushed me inside.

Radio newscaster In Bodega Bay early this morning, a large flock of crows attacked a group of children who were leaving the school during a fire drill. One little girl was seriously injured and taken to the hospital in Santa Rosa, but the majority of children reached safety. We understand there was another attack on the town. But this information is rather sketchy. So far, no word has come through to show if there have been further attacks.

Radio newscaster The bird attacks have subsided for the time being. Bodega Bay seems to be the center, though there are reports of minor attacks on Sebastopol and a few on Santa Rosa. Bodega Bay has been cordoned off by roadblocks. Most of the townspeople have managed to get out, but there are still some isolated pockets of people. No decision has been arrived at yet as to what the next step will be but there's been some discussion as to whether the military should go in. It appears that the bird attacks come in waves with long intervals between. The reason for this does not seem clear as yet.

Mitch Well, small world...How do you know Annie?

Melanie We went to school together - college...

Mitch So you came up to see Annie, huh?

Melanie Yes.

Mitch I think you came up to see me.

Melanie Now why would I want to see you of all people?

Mitch I don't know. You must have gone to a lot of trouble to find out who I was and where I lived.

Melanie No, it was no trouble at all. I simply called my father's newspaper. Besides, I was coming up anyway. I've already told you that.

Mitch You really like me, huh?

Melanie I loathe you. You have no manners, you're arrogant, and conceited, and I wrote you a letter about it, in fact. But I tore it up.

Quotes about The Birds ] ... begins, innocently, with a haughty ] girl having a testy encounter in a ] with a man on whom she plays a practical joke. Then, mischievously, he leads her to the fellow's family home in a fishing village north of San Francisco to deliver an impudent present of two {{w|Lovebird|love-bird}}s. ...Then, sneakily, Mr. Hitchcock tweaks us with a tentative touch of the bizarre. The plausible is interrupted by a peculiar avian caprice. A {{w|Gull|seagull}} attacks a young woman. Flocks of angry gulls whirl in the air. A swarm of {{w|House sparrow|sparrow}}s swoops down a chimney and whirrs madly through the living room. And, then, before we know it, he is flying in shock waves of birds and the wild, mad, fantastic encounter with a phenomenon of nature is on. There may be no explanation for it (except that symbolic one, perhaps), but the fierceness and frightfulness of it are sufficient to cause shocks and chills. And that is, no doubt, what Mr. Hitchcock primarily intends. ...The cast is appropriate and sufficient to this {{w|melodrama}}tic intent. {{w|Tippi Hedren}} is pretty, bland and wholesome as the disruptive girl. {{w|Rod Taylor}} is stolid and sturdy as the mother-smothered son. {{w|Jessica Tandy}} is querulous as the mother, and pretty {{w|Suzanne Pleshette}} is pleasant but vaguely sinister as the old girl friend.

Taglines ...And remember, the next scream you hear could be your own!

Taglines Nothing you have ever witnessed before has prepared you for such sheer stabbing shock!

Mitch Brenner I think we're in real trouble. I don't know how this started or why, but I know it's here and we'd be crazy to ignore it... The bird war, the bird attack, plague - call it what you like. They're amassing out there someplace and they'll be back. You can count on it... Unless we do something right now, unless we get Bodega Bay on the move, they... Mrs. Bundy said something about Santa Cruz, about seagulls getting lost in a fog and then flying in towards the lights... Make our own fog... we can use smoke pots the way the Army uses em.

Melanie Oh Daddy, there were hundreds of them... Just now, not fifteen minutes ago... at the school... the birds didn't attack until the children were outside the school... crows, I think... Oh, I don't know, Daddy, is there a difference between crows and blackbirds?... I think these were crows, hundreds of them... Yes, they attacked the children. Attacked them!

Mrs. Bundy There is very definitely a difference, Miss... They're both perching birds, of course, but quite different species... I would hardly think that either species would have sufficient intelligence to launch a massed attack. Their brain pans are not big enough... Birds are not aggressive creatures, Miss. They bring beauty into the world. It is mankind, rather... It is mankind, rather, who insists upon making it difficult for life to exist on this planet. Now if it were not for birds...

Deke Mrs. Bundy, you don't seem to understand. This young lady said there was an attack on the school.

Mrs. Bundy Impossible!

Melanie Mitch? Oh I'm glad I caught you. Something terrible...

Drunk It's the end of the world. Thus sayeth the Lord God unto the mountains and the hills, and the rivers and the valleys. Behold I, even I shall bring a sword upon ya. And I will devastate your high places. Ezekiel, chapter six.

Waitress Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink.

Drunk Isaiah, chapter five. It's the end of the world.

Mrs. Bundy I hardly think a few birds are going to bring about the end of the world.

Melanie These weren't a few birds!

Deke I didn't know there were many crows in Bodega Bay this time of year.

Mrs. Bundy The crow is a permanent resident throughout his range. In fact, during our Christmas count, we recorded...

Sebastian How many gulls did you count, Mrs. Bundy?... The ones that have been playing devil with my fishing boats... Oh, a flock of gulls nearly capsized one of my boats. Practically tore the skipper's arm off.

Mrs. Bundy The gulls went after your fish, Mr. Sholes. Really - let's be logical about this.

Melanie I think they were after the children...to kill them.

Mrs. Bundy Birds have been on this planet, Miss Daniels, since Archaeopteryx, a hundred and forty million years ago. Doesn't it seem odd that they'd wait all that time to start a...a war against humanity.

Salesman Your captain should have shot at them... Gulls are scavengers anyway. Most birds are. Get yourselves guns and wipe them off the face of the earth.

Mrs. Bundy That would hardly be possible... Because there are eight thousand, six hundred and fifty species of birds in the world today, Mr. Carter. It is estimated that five billion, seven hundred and fifty million birds live in the United States alone. The five continents of the world...

Salesman Kill em all. Get rid of them. Messy animals.

Mrs. Bundy ...probably contain more than a hundred billion birds.

Drunk It's the end of the world.

Sebastian Those gulls must have been after the fish.

Mrs. Bundy Of course.

Boy Are the birds gonna eat us, Mommy?

Mrs. Bundy The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn't have a chance! How could we possibly hope to fight them?

Mitch I wonder if you could help me?

Melanie Just what is it you're looking for, sir?

Mitch Lovebirds.

Melanie Lovebirds, sir?

Mitch Yes, I understand there are different varieties. Is that true?

Melanie Oh yes there are.

Mitch Well, these are for my sister, for her birthday see, and uh, as she's only going to be eleven, I, I wouldn't want a pair of birds that were too demonstrative.

Melanie I understand completely.

Mitch At the same time, I wouldn't want them to be too aloof either.

Melanie No, of course not.

Mitch Do you happen to have a pair of birds that are just friendly?

Cathy Mitch, why are they doing this, the birds?

Mitch We don't know, honey.

Cathy Why are they trying to kill people?

Mitch I wish I could say.

Cathy I-I'm sick, Melanie.

Annie That makes three times.

Melanie Mitch, this isn't usual, is it? The gull when I was in the boat yesterday. The one at Annie's last night, and now...

Mitch Last night? What do you mean?

Melanie A gull smashed into Annie's front door. Mitch - what's happening?

Melanie On Mondays and Wednesdays I work for the Travelers Aid at the airport.

Mitch Helping travelers?

Melanie No, misdirecting them.

Quotes about The Birds The most striking image of all is a {{w|Bird's-eye view|bird's eye view}} from high above the town, including a pair of {{w|gull}}s who drop into the shot from each side of the frame. As one critic noted, the town as seen in the overhead shot does not actually exist. It was an {{w|Albert Whitlock}} {{w|Matte (filmmaking)|matte painting}}, into which a {{w|backlot}} fire was inserted, filmed from a hill overlooking the {{w|Universal Pictures|Universal}} car park. The gulls were filmed from a clifftop on the {{w|Santa Cruz Island|island of Santa Cruz}}, west of ], and {{w|Rotoscoping|rotoscoped}} into the shot. ...

Cathy Mitch, can I bring the lovebirds in here?

Lydia No!

Cathy But Mom, they're in a cage!

Lydia They're birds, aren't they?

Mitch Let's leave them in the kitchen, huh, honey?

Melanie Daniels I'm neither poor nor innocent.

Taglines It could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made!

Annie Well, you needn't worry. It's been over and done with a long time ago.

Melanie Annie, there's nothing between Mr. Brenner and me.

Annie Isn't there? Well, maybe there isn't. Maybe there's never been anything between Mitch and any girl.

Quotes about The Birds * Joel Waldo Finler, {{cite book|title=Alfred Hitchcock: The Hollywood Years|publisher=Batsford|year=1992|isbn=9780713467192|page=141}} ;

Melanie Daniels So you're a lawyer.

Mitch Brenner That's right. Of course I usually defend people, Miss Daniels, but if I were prosecuting...

Melanie Daniels Do you practice here?

Mitch Brenner San Francisco.

Melanie Daniels What kind of law?

Mitch Brenner Criminal.

Melanie Daniels Is that why you want to see everyone behind bars?

Mitch Brenner Oh, not everyone, Miss Daniels.

Melanie Daniels Only violators and practical jokers.

Mitch We met in court... I'll rephrase it. I saw you in court... Don't you remember one of your practical jokes that resulted in the smashing of a plate-glass window?

Melanie I didn't break that window. What are you, a policeman?

Mitch No, but your little prank did. The judge should have put you behind bars. I merely believe in the law, Miss Daniels... I just thought you might like to know what it's like to be on the other end of a gag. What do ya think of that?

Melanie I think you're a louse.

Mitch I am.

Quotes about The Birds * , {{cite journal|title=What Got into Hitchcock's Birds'?|journal=Los Angeles Times|date=January 8, 2011|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-08-la-sci-birds-sidebar-20110108-story.html}}

Mitch Doesn't this make you feel awful... having all these poor little innocent creatures caged up like this?

Melanie Well, we can't just let them fly around the shop, you know.

Mitch No, I suppose not. Is there an ornithological reason for keeping them in separate cages?

Melanie Well certainly, it's to protect the species.

Mitch Yes, I suppose that's important, especially during the moulting season.

Melanie That's a particularly dangerous time.

Mitch Are they moulting now?

Melanie Some of them are.

Mitch How can you tell?

Melanie Well, they get a sort of hang-dog expression.

Taglines Suspense and shock beyond anything you have seen or imagined!

Melanie Have you ever seen so many seagulls? What do you suppose it is?

Mrs. MacGruder Well, there must be a storm at sea. That can drive them inland, you know.