Tippi Hedren Movies
Blonde actress/model Tippi Hedren lists the year of her birth as 1935, which means that she would have been 14 or 15 when she appeared fleetingly in her first film, The Petty Girl (1950). Hedren did not resurface on the movie scene again until 1963, when she was "discovered" by Alfred Hitchcock. The official story is that Hitchcock wanted to mold Hedren into a new Grace Kelly; rumors persist that his interest in the actress went way beyond professional, and that he made a few clumsy advances towards her on the set. Whatever the case, Hedren starred in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). She was criticized for being too impassive in the former film and too expressive in the latter, though it isn't fair to pick on her for the shortcomings of the script and direction. Hedren was under contract not to Hitchcock but to his home studio of Universal; thus, she was obliged to appear in a 1963 Kraft Suspense Theatre episode and in director Charlie Chaplin's A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), acquitting herself nicely in both instances. She curtailed her film appearances in the late 1960s when she married her second husband, Noel Marshall. The Marshalls then proceeded to pour 11 years' work (and $17 million!) into Roar (1981), a film based on their own real-life efforts on behalf of the African wildlife preservation movement. Even three decades after the fact, Hedren can't quite shake her earlier relationship with Alfred Hitchcock: she played a murder victim in the 1990 TV remake of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, and starred in the made-for-cable The Birds II: Land's End (1994). Tippi Hedren is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The story begins as an innocuous romantic triangle involving wealthy, spoiled Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), handsome Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), and schoolteacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette). The human story begins in a San Francisco pet shop and culminates at the home of Mitch's mother (Jessica Tandy) at Bodega Bay, where the characters' sense of security is slowly eroded by the curious behavior of the birds in the area. At first, it's no more than a sea gull swooping down and pecking at Melanie's head. Things take a truly ugly turn when hundreds of birds converge on a children's party. There is never an explanation as to why the birds have run amok, but once the onslaught begins, there's virtually no letup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, (more)
- 1994
Produced for cable TV, this feeble follow-up to the classic Hitchcock thriller transfers the avian carnage from Bodega Bay to the New England fishing town of Land's End, where a young couple and their two daughters are besieged by squadrons of malicious gulls and their assorted winged cousins. Despite some opening scenes suggesting an actual motivation for the bird attacks -- something Hitchcock left eerily ambiguous -- there is little variation on the formula, which overstays its welcome long before the lackluster climax (which owes more to The Killer Shrews than to The Birds); the pointless proceedings are further bogged down by a dreary adultery subplot. Even the presence of Tippi Hedren fails to provide even a slightly clever nod to the original, as she is wasted in a minor role as the proprietor of a local diner who has her own theories about the cause of the bird attacks. Direction was credited to standard DGA pseudonym Alan Smithee when Rick Rosenthal withdrew his name from the final cut. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Johnson, Chelsea Field, (more)
Kiefer Sutherland and Bridget Fonda star in this thriller with Fonda playing an abused housewife who is forced to deal with a constant stream of lies and violent confrontation from her psychotic husband. Things only get worse when she discovers dead bodies are appearing at their home, a large sum of money is missing, and it becomes obvious her husband's bad side runs deeper and more dangerous than she imagined. The supporting cast includes Steven Weber, Penelope Ann Miller and Tippi Hedren. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Bridget Fonda, (more)
- 1999
The fact that Tippi Hedren is cast as the grandmother of the protagonist is hardly the only Hitchcock reference in the made-for-cable thriller The Darklings. While bedridden with a case of mono, teenager C.J. (Ryan DeBoer) glances out his window, and sees--or thinks he sees--next-door neighbor Clayton Shepherd (Timothy Busfield) murdering his wife Emily (Suzanne Somers). Of course, when the authorities are summoned, there is no evidence of any murder--and in fact there's no body. Further developments suggest that C.J. was simply imagining things, but he refuses to accept this explanation. In league with his youthful pals Jessie (Meghan Ory) and Josh (Ben Johnson), C.J. is determined to bend and even break the law to prove that Shepherd is a killer. Martin Sheen also stars in this delightful blend of TV-style teen angst, light humor and dastardly deeds. The Darklings premiered February 14, 1999 on the Fox Family channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Directed by Iwerks' granddaughter, this documentary seeks to highlight the cinematic accomplishments of Ub Iwerks, a forgotten genius overshadowed by the towering presence of Walt Disney. The details include his early life in Missouri, his teaming up with Disney, and the creation of his most famous work: Mickey Mouse. The film provides an in-depth look into the world of American animation during the '20s and '30s, including some rarely seen animated gems. After Iwerks left Disney to set up his own company, he became one of the key innovators of animation and helped train a future generation of cartoon masters, including Chuck Jones. Also featured are interviews with film critic Leonard Maltin and animators Mark Kausler and John Lasseter. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelsey Grammer
In The Harrad Experiment, young men and women attend Harrad College for what is essentially a one-year "control group" trial in pre-marital sex, to be overseen by Prof. Philip Tenhausen (James Whitmore) and his wife, Margaret (Tippi Hedren). Although initially paired off for the first month, they will be free to change partners once a month if they so desire. The film focuses on two couples, the somewhat shy Sheila (Laurie Walters), who is paired with the rich and swaggering Stanley (Don Johnson), and alluring Beth (Victoria Thompson), whose roomie is the awkward Harry (Bruno Kirby). The two couples don't get off to a good start, as Stanley is disappointed in his partner and Harry intimidated by his. There's a great deal of tension as the partners consider whether they have been paired off appropriately, and the jealousy and discomfort they feel comes to the surface in an improvisational exercise overseen by Philip. Whether this is all a result of mismatched pairs or more a result of Stanley's inability to "feel" is the subject of some debate, and leads to a number of confrontations and scenes (not to mention nude yoga classes and discussions of group marriage). Stanley also attempts to interest Margaret in having sex with him, but when she suggests that they do so freely and openly on the lawn, he can't go through with it. Stanley decides he wants to leave Harrad, but at the last minute changes his mind and joins Sheila, Beth and Harry for a group hug. Based upon Robert Rimmer's best-seller, Harrad was followed by a sequel, The Harrad Summer. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
A man finds himself torn between the love of his homeland, the love of his family, and the love of a woman in this period drama based on a true story. Robert Adams (Julian Adams) is a Southern gentleman who is helping to run the plantation run by his grandfather (Weston Adams) as the Civil War looms on the horizon. At a party, Robert meets Eveline McCord (Gwendolyn Edwards), a beautiful and intelligent schoolteacher from the North. Robert falls deeply in love with Eveline and asks for her hand in marriage, but not long after that, war breaks out and Robert's loyalties to family and home lead him to become a captain in the Confederate army, while Eveline stands by her family in the North. As Robert bravely fights for a failing cause and is captured and imprisoned by Union troops, he struggles to stay in contact with Eveline, with her love becoming the only thing he can still count on. Strike the Tent was written, produced, and co-directed by Julian Adams, who also played Robert Adams, his real-life great-great-grandfather; the supporting cast includes Mickey Rooney, Tippi Hedren, and musician Edwin McCain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Adams, Gwendolyn Edwards, (more)
- 1950
Back in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, artist George Petty was famous for his "Petty Girl" illustrations; lovingly detailed renderings of ripe young damsels wearing next to nothing, and sometimes not even that. In The Petty Girl, George Petty is portrayed by Robert Cummings, while Joan Caulfield co-stars as strait-laced college professor Victoria Braymore. The plot contrives to have Petty abandon his nubile creations in favor of avant-garde art, all because he's been told to do so by his new patroness (Audrey Long). Somewhere along the way, Petty and the prim Miss Braymore find themselves in a compromising situation at a Greenwich Village nightclub. Thus it is only a matter of time before Petty goes back to the sort of artwork he does best, and Miss Braymore loosens her inhibitions -- and everything else -- to serve as Petty's latest model. Incredibly, this amusing exercise in old-fashioned male chauvinism was based on a story by novelist Mary McCarthy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Cummings, Joan Caulfield, (more)
- 1992
- R
A woman is terrorized by her former lover in her apartment, which he remodeled to his own specifications. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dean Anderson, Marg Helgenberger, (more)
- 1970
- PG
In this crime drama, a Vietnam vet goes to his California hometown and discovers that two Mexicans have murdered his brother, the chief stockholder in a successful racetrack, during a robbery. The vet begins investigating and discovers that the theft was a cover-up for the killing and that another shareholder is behind it all. The vet then engineers a confession from the culprit. Unfortunately, the shareholder is then found dead. Enlisting the aid of an ex-lover, the vet resumes his investigation and soon finds the mastermind, whom he kills during a fight. Later the vet, being the only remaining shareholder, takes over the track. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
