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- 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)
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)
Condemned as being a "disappointing" and "unworthy" Alfred Hitchcock effort at the time of its release, Marnie has since grown in stature; it is still considered a lesser Hitchcock, but a fascinating one. Tippi Hedren plays Marnie, a compulsive thief who cannot stand to be touched by any man. She also goes bonkers over the sight of the color red. Her new boss, Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) is intrigued by Marnie -- to such an extent that he blackmails her into marriage when he stumbles onto her breaking into his safe. Rutland is in his own way as "sick" as his wife because of his fetishist desire to cohabit with a thief. After innumerable plot twists and turns, Marnie is "cured" by a facile but mesmerizing flashback sequence involving her ex-hooker mother (Louise Latham). Among the critical carps aimed at Marnie was the complaint that the studio-bound sets -- particularly the waterfront locale where the film ends -- were tacky and artificial; curiously, this seeming "carelessness" adds to the queasy, off-setting mood that Hitchcock endeavored to sustain. Even when the direction seems to falter, the film is buoyed by the driving musical score of Bernard Herrmann (his last for Hitchcock). Among the supporting actors in Marnie are Mariette Hartley as a secretary and Bruce Dern as a sailor; twelve years later, Dern would star in Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, (more)
- 1965
When an American sleuth acquires a South African estate from an inheritance, little does he know that the estate is headquarters for an elaborate drug smuggling ring. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1967
Charles Chaplin wrote, directed, and scored this old-fashioned romantic comedy, which proved to be his last film. Wealthy American diplomat Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando) is sailing from Hong Kong to Hawaii, where he hopes to meet and reconcile with his estranged wife Martha (Tippi Hedren). However, while the ship takes on passengers in Hong Kong, a stowaway slips into Mears' suite. Natascha (Sophia Loren) is a White Russian countess who was forced to flee the country following the revolution and ended up in Hong Kong, where she earns a meager living as a dime-a-dance girl in a sleazy ballroom. When Mears discovers that Natascha is an uninvited guest in his quarters, she begs him to help her emigrate to the United States; when he refuses, Natascha tries a new tack, threatening to tell Martha that they've been sharing a stateroom if he doesn't cooperate. Mears grudgingly allows Natascha to stay with him and keep her secret until he can figure out a clever way to get rid of her. Margaret Rutherford has a showy supporting role as an eccentric passenger, and Chaplin gives himself a silent cameo as a bumbling porter (no fewer than four of his children also appear). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren, (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
- 1970
George Montgomery directs and stars in in this location-filmed adventure (for reasons unknown, TV prints credit the direction to one "Douglas K. Stone"). Montgomery heads to South Africa when he inherits a Johannesburg estate. But the place is run down, and the overseers seem surly and secretive. Having been a detective in the States, Montgomery puts his deductive skills to work. He soon learns that his estate is a front for a drug-smuggling operation. In between spurts of violence, Satan's Harvest is a disarmingly pleasant travelogue of South Africa. Tippi Hedren, then a resident of the region depicted herein, costars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
When the Italian and British armies are fighting in Africa at the beginning of World War II, a game warden and his wife have their hands full trying to defend the wildlife of Africa against the encroachments of the war. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
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
- 1981
- PG
Wildlife activist and actress Tippi Hedren starred in this comic family adventure written, directed, and costarring her producer husband Noel Marshall and inspired by the surprise success of Born Free (1966). Hedren is Madeleine, a woman who brings her children (including real-life daughter and future movie star Melanie Griffith) to the African jungle for a visit with her long-estranged husband Hank (Marshall). An eccentric scientist, Hank has dedicated the past several years of his life to fighting for the preservation of endangered species. A snafu results in the family being met not by the environmentalist, however, but a pride of ferocious felines. Roar (1981) managed to pull in just $2 million at the box office, a fraction of its $17 million cost. The production was better known for its accident-prone, behind-the-scenes drama, which included a fire, a flood, and a disease that took the lives of several big cat performers. Resulting schedule delays turned the motion picture into an 11-year labor of love for Hedren, whose real-life commitment to protection of big cats extended to the establishment of her own California game preserve called Shambala, later to be the subject of a book by Hedren and a television documentary. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tippi Hedren, Noel Marshall, (more)
- 1984
- PG
The never-smiling Tippi Hedrin plays an ice-queen matron in Foxfire Light. Her daughter (Lara Parker) falls in love while on an Ozark vacation. It's Romeo and Juliet in the hinterlands, as both families oppose the romance. Leslie Nielsen and Barry Van Dyke, generally seen in funnier surroundings, round out the cast. Made in 1981, Foxfire Light was released three years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is the portmanteau pilot film for the subsequent TV revival of Hitchcock's celebrated anthology series of the 1950s and '60s. Four short tales are presented, each of them remakes of earlier Alfred Hitchcock programs. "Incident in a Small Jail," originally presented in 1961 with John Fiedler in the lead, stars Ned Beatty as a traveling salesman who finds himself sharing a jail cell with an accused rapist -- the target of an angry, indiscriminate lynch mob. "Man from the South," based on an oft-adapted Roald Dahl piece, stars John Huston as a cagey gambler who makes a grisly wager with novice Steven Bauer. The original 1959 Hitchcock version of this tale starred Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen; featured in the cast of the remake are former Hitchcock movie leading ladies Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren, as well as Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith. "Bang, You're Dead" is a taut, tension-filled tale of a child who wanders around town with a loaded gun. The child is a little girl (Bianca Rose), but in the initial 1961 version the protagonist was a boy, played by Billy Mumy (who appears in this remake in a small role). The final playlet, "The Unlocked Window," is an abbreviated version of a story first shown on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965. Bruce Davidson is featured in a virtual reprise of that beloved old Hitchcock protagonist Norman Bates. Each of the four stories in Alfred Hitchcock Presents had its own director -- in order of appearance, they are Joel Oliansky, Steve De Jarnatt, Randa Haines, and Fred Walton -- and all were narrated by co-star John Huston. The late Alfred Hitchcock opens and closes each playlet via colorized footage from the original series -- a bizarre touch that "The Master" might have approved of. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Deadly Spygames is a direct-to-video espionager conceived in the spirit of James Bond. The target: A Cuban radar station. The mission: to neutralize the efforts by a group of megalomaniacs to launch a nuclear war. The first complication: the male and female spy (Jack M. Sell--who also directed--and Adrianne Richmond) are former lovers. The reason you'll watch: to see 1960s icons Troy Donahue and Tippi Hedren in supporting roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Troy Donahue, Tippi Hedren, (more)
In the Cold of the Night is an above-average erotic thriller, directed with superb visual style by Nico Mastorakis, but plagued by an uneven, derivative plot. Photographer Scott Bruin (Jeff Lester) is very successful but begins to have frightening visions of himself murdering a beautiful woman. When he meets the woman in those dreams, Kimberly (Adrienne Sachs), they begin a highly charged romance. When Scott becomes suspicious, he finds out information which leads to a "surprise" ending. In the Cold of the Night generated a great deal of controversy when it was originally released, and director Mastorakis had to cut the film to avoid an X rating. Despite the cuts and the weak plot, the extraordinary visual style of Mastorakis, and the haunting cinematography make In the Cold of the Night a treat for fans of erotic thrillers or anyone who appreciates technique and style in filmmaking. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
John Schlesinger directed this upscale horror film about a landlord with the ultimate problem tenant. Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) and Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) are a middle class couple who lie on their financial statement in order to buy an old Victorian house in San Francisco, planning to renovate it and rent it out. Unfortunately, they select as a tenant Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton), a psychotic real estate bargain hunter who plans to drive Patty and Drake into foreclosure proceedings and then buy the house cheap. Carter starts the ball rolling by refusing to pay his rent and driving out a couple who had rented the rear flat by hammering and sawing all night -- and then releasing a tidal wave of cockroaches. What follows is a psychological war between Carter and the Yuppie couple, with Carter succeeding not only in provoking Drake into more extreme means of eviction, but also causing a rift between Drake and Patty. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Melanie Griffith, (more)
- 1990
The cast from the popular television cornball comedy series are reunited when Oliver must save Hooterville from developers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this remake of a classic Hitchcock thriller, a niece begins believing that her beloved uncle is a cold-blooded killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Harmon, Margaret Welsh, (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)
- 1993
In 1944, Angela Lansbury and Mickey Rooney both appeared in the classic racetrack film National Velvet. The two veterans are reunited in this story, which appropriately enough revolves around a thoroughbred horse, and two families who have staked everything in an upcoming race. When her old friend, horse trainer Matt Cleveland (Rooney), is murdered, Jessica (Lansbury) hits the trail of clues and collars the killer in the home stretch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
The murder of a cosmetics company tycoon leads lawyer Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) into a strange case involving a new anti-aging concoction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
The uneasy relationship between a naive shrink and the psychotic husband of one of her patients forms the basis for this thriller. After poor Veronica runs screaming hysterically from a theater she is placed in an asylum. Dr. Marcia Stevens who did the initial observations of Veronica places the distraught woman under the care of Dr. Lisa Kelner, an innocent young psychiatrist in the midst of her residency. Dr. Kelner soon learns that Veronica is being abused by her husband Adam Cestare. Despite strict hospital regulations forbidding personal contact the intrigued young Dr.. visits the husband. Lisa is entranced by the charismatic Adam. For a psychiatrist she is incredibly gullible and masochistic. When Adam sees Dr. Lisa accidentally murder someone, he begins to blackmail her and mold her to suit his will. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maxwell Caulfield, Stephanie Knights, (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)
- 1994
It's the old switcheroo in this action comedy that follows the exploits of desperate extortionists. Gloria is a fluffhead with a Chinese dragon tattooed upon her chest. She wears lovely holograph earrings that just happen to contain classified detail of the U.S. space program. She is taken hostage by the bumbling extortionists and their leader Carl, former head of a freezer treat company. Unfortunately for them, Gloria accidently drowns in their pool when she tangles with a beach ball. Now the crooks must find a look-a-like for Gloria. They find her in Teresa, a college girl with a talent for mathematics. She is captured and tattooed. She soon escapes leading the crooks on a merry chase. Joining in the hunt for Teresa is an FBI agent and her new boyfriend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrienne Shelly, C. Thomas Howell, (more)
The divisive issue of abortion is at the center of Citizen Ruth, a political satire that attempts to subject both pro-choice and pro-life forces to equal ridicule. Laura Dern portrays Ruth Stoops, an irresponsible, unemployed woman who's addicted to inhaling household chemicals and has becomes pregnant, for the fifth time. After she is arrested for substance abuse, the judge offers to lessen her sentence if Ruth chooses to abort her child. Ruth agrees, but that night she encounters a group of pro-life activists. They take her under their wing, promising to help her, while secretly planning to make her case public as a symbol for the pro-life movement . When Ruth discovers the deception, she takes refuge with a pro-choice group, sparking a media frenzy. Yet Ruth soon finds her new friends are also only interested in her value as a media icon. Realizing she has been used as a pawn in the abortion rights battle, the apolitical Ruth turns the tables, offering to join whoever will give her the best deal. What results is a frantic, comedic session of wheeling-dealing which argues that activists on both sides have become more concerned with waging political warfare than helping women. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, (more)
