Remembering Rod Taylor: A look at Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'

From the moment the late Rod Taylor walks into the pet store at the start of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, the Master of Suspense has the audience wondering how this is supposed to terrify them.

Taylor, playing Mitch Brenner, and Tippi Hedren, starring as socialite Melanie Daniels in her first film, play off each other in almost a parody of countless other playful scenes between men and women in Hitchcock films. Is Taylor just trying to be Cary Grant and instantly sweep Hedren off her feet?

No, that’s not what Taylor tries to do. In fact, Taylor is one of the rare Hitchcock male characters who isn’t stuck in circumstances of his own creation. He’s not James Stewart trying to investigate a murder he has nothing to do with in Rear Window. He’s not Henry Fonda, bumbling through an investigation into a crime he didn’t commit in The Wrong Man. And he’s certainly not suave Cary Grant, who can’t help but keep trying to figure out why people are after him in North By Northwest. Mitch is a Hitchcock man who isn’t the central character of his movie and he certainly can’t help it if birds are after his entire hometown.

The Birds starts in San Francisco, the site of Vertigo, where Mitch and Melanie meet. Mitch only followed her into the pet store so he could meet the socialite who makes headlines. That whole opening scene is perfectly written by Evan Hunter as a playful throwback to Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, but it’s made different because of Taylor. He had such a unique, but dashing look. At once, he’s built to be both an action star and romantic idol. Hitchcock has him play both in The Birds, especially at the end, when he’s forced to save his family from the onslaught of birds.

I have to admit, the first time I saw The Birds, it wasn’t my favorite Hitchcock. I didn’t get why it moved so slow and was certainly annoyed by the lack of an ending. But after watching it several times since, it’s easy to understand what Hitchcock was doing. The horror of The Birds unfolds in a realistic way - it’s not like the birds suddenly show up in giant flocks to attack Bodega Bay. Instead, they slowly come to the town and their attacks come in short bursts.

Hedren’s Melanie is actually more like a typical Hitchcock male character. She’s the one getting involved in a mess she has no need for. She’s the one obsessed with trying to one-up a man she just met that day. It’s an obsession that nearly kills her and - if you think the birds were following her - nearly kills an entire isolated town.

Taylor, who died last night at the age of 84, was an interesting pick for Hitchcock and his performance makes you wish they made another film together. The Australian actor could pull off that humor with a wink to the audience in a way that Hitchcock needed in his later films.

“There are so many incredible feelings I have for him. Rod was a great pal to me and a real strength, we were very, very good friends,” Hedren said in a statement to People. “He was one of the most fun people I have ever met, thoughtful and classy, there was everything good in that man."

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