hello, mrs. macgruder, have you ever seen so many gulls?
what do you suppose it is?
you said three o'clock.
well, this one won't be a chick, will he?
and he'll talk?
yes.
i think maybe you'd better deliver him. let me give you my address.
well, all right, but.
what?
yes, what was it you were looking for, sir?
lovebirds, sir?
well.  yes, sir, there are.
i understand completely, sir.
no, of course not.
i think so, sir. now then, let me see.
no, sir, those are.  redbirds.
yes, we call them that too. ahhh, here we are, lovebirds.
doesn't what make me?
well, we can't just let them fly around the shop, you know.
oh, certainly. it's to protect the species.
yes, that's a particularly dangerous time.
some of them are.
well.  they get a sort of hangdog expression.
are you sure you wouldn't like to see a canary instead? we have some very nice canaries this week.
here, birdie. here, birdie, birdie.
oh! ohhhhh!
there we are!
what did you say?
but how.  how do you know my name?
hey, wait a minute!
i don't know you.
how?
we never met in court or anyplace else.
when?
i didn't break that window!
what are you? a policeman?
what do you call your lovebird story if not a practical.
you knew i didn't work here. you deliberately.
i think you're a louse.
and i'm glad you didn't get your lovebirds!
that.  that.  who was that?
have you got a pencil?
no, you'd better send him. may i use your phone?
do you have any lovebirds?
how soon?
immediately. is this the daily news? melanie daniels. would you get me the city desk, please?
that would be just fine. hello, charlie, this is melanie. i want you to do a favor for me. no, this is a small one. pressure you? why, charlie darling, would i try to pressure you? will you call the department of motor vehicles for me and find out who owns this license plate? dkq dash one seven six. yes, a california plate. no, i'll stop up there in a little while. is daddy in his office? oh. no, no, i don't want to break in on a meeting. just tell him i'll see him later. thank you, charlie.
now. what time tomorrow morning?
yes.
that's all right.
monday?
well, i.
well, where did he go?
bodega bay? where's that?
sixty.  oh.
oh.
yes. yes, someone's got to feed them.
oh, shut up!
good morning.
i wonder if you could help me.
i'm looking for a man named mitchell brenner.
do you know him?
where does he live?
yes, but where?
where?
yes?
yes?
that's where the brenners live.
the brenners? mr. and mrs. brenner?
the two kids?
i see. how do i get down there?
the front door. isn't there a back road i can take?
you see, i wanted to surprise them.
i didn't want to come right down the road, where they could see me.
it's a surprise, you see.
where would i get a boat?
of course.
thank you.
daniels.
i wonder if you could tell me.
the little girl's name.
yes.
are you sure?
i need her exact name, you see.
yes?
thank you.
can i have the boat in about twenty minutes?
how much for the phone calls?
me!
miss hayworth?
i'm melanie daniels. i'm sorry to bother you, but.
the man at the post office sent me. he said you'd know the name of the little brenner girl.
the one who lives in the white house across the bay?
they seemed sure it was either alice or lois.
well.  not exactly.
no, not really.
it's a lovely garden.
no. just a few hours.
well.  something like that. i'm sorry. i don't mean to sound so mysterious.
yes.
yes.
now you sound a bit mysterious, miss hayworth.
lovebirds.
thank you.
what made it.
what's that?
so you're a lawyer.
do you practice here?
what kind of law?
is that why you'd like to see everyone behind bars?
only violators and practical jokers.
that's right.
ouch!
didn't you see the lovebirds?
to bring your sister those birds. you said it was her birthday. besides, i was coming up anyway.
to see a friend of mine. will you please be careful?
why.
annie. annie hayworth.
yes.
we.  we went to school together. college.
just a few.  just a day or two.  the weekend.
oh, no you don't!
yes.
why would i want to see you, of all people?
it was no trouble at all. i simply called my father's paper. besides, i was coming up here anyway, i already told you.
i loathe you. you have no manners. and you're arrogant and conceited and.  i wrote you a letter about it, in fact, but i tore it up.
none of your business. am i still bleeding?
i can't say i like your seagulls much, either. i come all the way up here to.
i was! and all i get for my pains is a.  a.  a hole in the head!
look, mr. brenner.
i'm sorry. i couldn't possibly.
yes, but.
certainly, but.
with.  with annie, of course.
annie.  annie may have made other plans. i'll have to see. besides, i can find my own way.
i'm sure.
maybe.
it's nothing, mrs. brenner. a gull hit me, that's all.
yes, i did.
i was wondering.
that sign. do you think i could have the room for a single night?
i would appreciate it. i've tried everywhere in town, and they're all full.
i just picked up some things for the night at the general store. you see, i hadn't planned on spending much time here.
yes. may i use your phone? i'd like to call home.
hi!
yes?
well, i suppose.
famished.
your brother told me.
no, not exactly.
why did he shoot her?
what?
oh, i suppose so.
i don't think your mother would like that.
i know.
i don't think so. i have to get back to san francisco.
darling, of course i do!
i don't know yet.
i guess it does get a little hectic at times.
i don't think so, cathy.
oh, yes.
will i be seeing you again?
san francisco's a long way from here.
how does mother know what i like to do?
oh. that. rome.
in case you're interested, i was pushed into that fountain.
without any clothes on?
with all my clothes on! the newspaper that ran the story happens to be a rival of my father's paper. anything they said.
i'm neither poor nor innocent, but the truth of that particular.
yes, but.
yes.
yes, that's the truth. but i was pushed into that fountain, and that's the truth, too.
no. at least, i didn't until i came up here.
no.
no.
yes, i was lying.
i wrote the letter.
it said, "dear mr. brenner, i think you need those lovebirds, after all. they may help your personality." that's what it said.
yes.
because it seemed stupid and foolish.
i told you what happened in rome!
i don't give a damn what you believe!
why?
that might have been good enough in rome last summer. but it's not good enough now.
but not for me.
i thought you knew! i want to go through life laughing and beautiful and jumping into fountains naked! good night!
yes.
no, it's not the cut that's bothering me.
if you have some, i'd.
no, thank you. won't you call me melanie?
thank you.
i think so.
i despise it.
where are you from originally, annie?
how'd you happen to come here?
i suspected as much.
annie -- there's nothing between mitch and me.
what do you mean?
when was this?
different?
a trifle.
and what had you done?
then what was it?
then why did she object to you?
afraid you'd take mitch?
i don't understand.
annie, that adds up to a jealous, possessive woman.
someone ought to tell her she'd be gaining a daughter.
what about mitch? didn't he have anything to say about this?
i see.
then what are you doing here in bodega bay?
i'm sorry. forgive me.
i did.
and the second?
hello? yes, this is melanie. fine, thank you. no, no trouble at all. i simply followed the road. it's a very bright night. what? oh. well, there's no need to apologize. i can understand.  well.  that's very kind of you. no, i'm not angry. i couldn't. i'm afraid i have to get back to san francisco. no, i wouldn't want to disappoint cathy, but.  i see. i see. well, if you really.  all right. yes, i'll be there. good night, mitch.
he wants me to go to cathy's party tomorrow afternoon. i said i would.
it seems so pointless. i think i'll go to sleep. this has been a busy day. my luggage.
do you think i should go?
it's really up to lydia, isn't it?
yes.
thank you, annie.
look.
but.  it isn't dark, annie. there's a full moon.
i really shouldn't have any more. i'm a little tipsy already.
i couldn't possibly. i have to get back.
cheers.
what's in this? nitro-glycerin?
well.  i have to get to work tomorrow morning, for one thing.
i have several jobs.
i do different things on different days.
on mondays and wednesdays, i work for the travelers' aid. at the airport.
yes.
and on tuesdays, i take a course in general semantics at berkeley. that's not a job, of course. i just take it because.
on thursdays i have my meeting and lunch. i'm chairman of a group that's sending a little korean boy through school. we plan how to raise funds and.  things like that.
nothing. i go to bird shops on fridays.
do you know what i was doing in that shop?
i have an aunt, you see. aunt tessa. she's seventy years old, and veddy prim and strait-laced. she's coming back from europe at the end of the month, and i'm going to give her a myna bird that'll talk to her.
you'll think me very bold, sir.
that's silly, isn't it? teaching a bird to shock my aunt. that's just silly and childish. maybe i ought to go join the other children.
yes.
i.  i am. mitch, is.  mitch, this isn't usual, is it? the gull yesterday when i was in the boat, and the one last night at annie's, and now.
a gull smashed into annie's front door. mitch.  what's happening?
no, i have my things in the car.
no, thank you.
if i go across to santa rosa i'll come onto the freeway much earlier.
i'll get it.
mitch.
mitch!
mitch! the curtains!
i'll take cathy up to bed.
i think i should, don't you?
i'll get my things from the car. do you want to walk with me, cathy?
mitch?
mitch?
chee-chee-chee-chee-chee.
it's hard to believe anything at all happened yesterday, isn't it? it's so beautiful and still now. i think i've got it all figured out, by the way.
it's an uprising.
certainly, of birds.
it all started several months ago with a peasant sparrow up in the hills, a malcontent. he went around telling all the other sparrows that human beings weren't fit to rule this planet, preaching wherever anyone would listen.
yes, of course, he had to have a beard! 'birds of the world, unite!' he kept saying, over and over.
not at first. oh yes, a few sparrows out for kicks.
sure. but eventually, even the more serious-minded birds began to listen. "why should humans rule?" they asked themselves.
why should we submit ourselves to their domination?
and all the while, that sparrow was getting in his little messages. birds of the world, unite!
you have nothing to lose but your feathers.
mmm?
with my little sparrow leading team.
it was like that yesterday.
after the gulls attacked.
it makes you feel as if they're.  they're waiting or.  resting.  or.
they were angry, mitch. they came out of the chimney in fury. i had the feeling they wanted each and every one of us dead.
i'm frightened, mitch.
i'm frightened and confused and i.  i think i want to go back to san francisco where there are buildings and.  and concrete and.
everything i know.
oh damn it, why did you have to walk into that shop?
yes. i was just taking her in some tea.
be careful. please.
no, it's me, mrs. brenner. i thought you might like some tea.
al malone wanted him out at the fawcett farm.
he was calling from the farm, mrs. brenner.
he must have. he sent for the santa rosa police.
what?
yes, i'm sure she's fine.
no.
try not to think of that, mrs. brenner.
annie's there. she'll be all right.
yes.
would you like to rest now, mrs. brenner.
why, mrs. brenner?
is that so important, mrs. brenner? you liking me?
and if you don't?
i think it might also matter to mitch.
why don't you try to sleep now, mrs. brenner.
would you like me to go for her?
i don't mind, really.
i'll just clear up here, and then dress.
outside.
we've got to get the children out of here. these big windows.  there's no way to board them up.
hurry!
daddy, there were hundreds of them. no, i'm not hysterical, i'm trying to tell you this as calmly as i know how. all right, daddy. yes daddy. just now. not.  fifteen minutes ago.
at the school. no, i don't. just a minute. what's the name of the school?
the bodega bay school. could you turn that down, please?
i don't know how many children. thirty or forty. yes.
no, the birds didn't attack until the children were outside the school. crows, i think. i don't know, daddy. is there a difference between crows and blackbirds?
they're different, daddy. thank you. i think these were crows. yes, hundreds of them. yes, they attacked the children, attacked them. daddy, a little girl was sent to the hospital in santa rosa. well, all right, but you act as if i'm.  all right, all right. no, i can't come home now. i just can't, daddy. how is it there? i mean.  are there birds? in the sky? but no trouble. well, i hope.  i don't know when. i simply can't leave now. tell mother not to worry. all right, daddy, good-by.
thank you. do you know dan fawcett's number?
i just came from the school, madam. i don't know about their brain pans but.
hello, may i speak to mitch brenner, please? yes, i'll wait.
mitch? i'm glad i caught you. something terrible has happened.
yes, all right, i'll wait for you. good-by.
these weren't a few birds.
have you had trouble with gulls?
what were the crows after at the school?
daniels. i think they were after the children.
to.  to kill them.
i don't know why.
no one called it a war!
have you ever seen a jay protecting a nest?
maybe they're all protecting the species. maybe they're tired of being shot at and roasted in ovens and.
i don't know anything about birds except that they're attacking this town.
this isn't a few birds! i keep telling you that! these are gulls and swifts and crows and.
maybe! is it impossible?
at annie's house. she's all right.
listen to him, please.
look!
mitch! mitch!
don't let's take any chances.
careful, mitch. the crows may be back in the play yard.
mitch! don't!
please! get cathy! let's get out of here!
mitch, you can't leave her out there.
you drive, mitch.
i don't think they're coming.
the town looks clear.
how long have they been gathering there?
i keep thinking of annie.
even the birds sitting out there. it does look very much the same, mitch. this could be last week.
look. they're still coming.
i tried a little while ago. the phone's dead.
yes. i'm tired, mitch. i'm so very very tired.
where are they heading?
santa rosa?
that's the last of it.
and locked it.
i'll go with you.
when will they stop?
what time is it?
you must be exhausted.
i don't want to be safe. i want to be with you.
mitch.
no.  wait. hold me.
mitch?
mitch?
i'm.  i'm.
please don't mess me up with bandages, mrs. brenner.
please.
mitch, if they hear the car starting.  if they see movement.
can we turn back?
then go ahead, mitch.
mitch!