The most beloved film character

According to the survey presented last summer the old beggar woman from Mary Poppins was chosen as the most beloved film character. Congratulations, Mrs. Grandma.

This woman sells bags of breadcrumbs on the steps of Saint Paul's Cathedral. She has everything pigeons like: tenderness, food provisions and close contact. For this commendable action pigeons will love her forever.

Links: post, video

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Moonraker: the pigeon double take

Title: Moonraker

Year:  1979

Director:   Lewis Gilbert

Running time: 126 min.

Country: United Kingdom

This film contains a very elaborate pigeon appearance which deep down, has some technical and artistic relevance. Let's first introduce the scene:

James Bond is -again- in big trouble: this time he is in Venice and is escaping  in a motor gondola from a group of bad guys who are chasing him. The very idea of being followed by two armed guys who are very bent on killing you would cause me terrible stress. However, James Bond doesn't show any sign of discomfort. In fact, he seems to be enjoying it.

When he reaches the end of the canal, his gondola is converted into a hovercraft which allows him to get into St. Mark's square. People are amazed to see a gondola crossing the square. The scene depicts many surprised reactions from the people around the square. Nowadays it seems a bit outdated and naive but I have to admit that I smiled when I saw it. 

Now, let's focus on the pigeons. In the scene we can see plenty of pigeons roaming around the square. Probably, it was not so much fun for them: they were scared by this unusual vehicle. In the film we can see large flocks of pigeons flying away. Pigeons are not fans of Bond. 

 

But there is one pigeon that is not flying. Instead of that, it is watching the gondola guy. The pigeon is watching Bond double-take style. According to Wikipedia, a double-take occurs when a person glances at something, turns away, then realizes that what he has just seen is unusual or surprising in some way, and turns back to look at it again, often adding additional body language to express surprise. In Moonraker, we can observe a pigeon practising this style. This is the result:
 

Nice pigeon eyes,  aren't they. The complete scene can be seen here.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Moonraker. Starring moment: 0:39:44.
• Pigeon activity: They are pigeons that live in St. Mark's square, Venice. They are suddenly scared by a guy driving a gondola.
• Symbolism: They are playing common pigeons. It is interesting to see the use of animals (a pigeon and a dog) to show astonishment. 
• Relevance: None. James Bond doesn't need the help of any pigeon -yet- for accomplishing his mission and pulling the girl. 
• Training level: None. Probably they are wild animals that live in the filmming area as there have always been plenty of pigeons in this square.

Special thanks to Chao from The Killer Reviews.
 

Safe house: pigeons in action films

Title: Safe House

Year:  2012

Director:  Daniel Espinosa

Running time: 115 min.

Country:  United States

This film has plenty of action scenes where violence is exchanged between spies, turned spies, semi-professional killers, innocent civilians and four scary pigeons. Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is a turned agent who is chased by a well organized band of villains. During his escape, Tobin experiences an disasterous driving experience which ends up in a car accident. At the time of the car crash we can see in the distance a pigeon flying away from the scene. The nodding head is Mr Frost's. It is not worth mentioning the copilot nor the blood on the windshield.

After many chases, deaths and destruction, the second pigeon appearance occurs in a Parisian street. Again, as part of the city's atmosphere (two bicycles, an old-fashioned motorbike... where is the guy with the accordion?) we can observe a flock of pigeons flying away. This creates a very cool and peaceful feeling, which is a big contrast compared with the rest of the movie.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Safe House. Starring moment: 0:10:30 and 1:48:43
• Pigeon activity: Several street pigeons that fly away from the scene.
• Symbolism: In both cases, pigeons are used for providing extra realism. In the first case, the bird flies away due to a car accident. I wonder why the pigeon waits so long (until the car stops) to fly away from the scene. The second ones are mere film extras.
• Relevance: Low. Pigeons are not involved in the film plot.
• Training level: Very good. In both cases the pigeon exhibit a good level of training. The perfect dispersion (in three different directions) set against the Parisian scene shows the superb training of these animals. 

Third Edition of Pigeon Quest: spot the movie!!

Welcome to the Third Edition of Pigeon Quest. Here, instead of finding the pigeon in the film, you have to find the film with the pigeon.

Just write in the comments the film name with a recognized user name. An anonymous comment will produce an anonymous winner. The first one in succeeding will win and receive an honorary certificate. 

The quest is now closed. One anonymous reader got it right. The post about the film can be see here. 

You can see other editions of this Quest here.

These are the movie photograms: 

A guy with a gun leaning out of a window.

An he is suddenly scared by flying pigeons:

Very scared indeed..... is this appropriate behaviour for a tough guy?

Caramel: a wedding and some pigeon droppings

Title: Sukkar banat (Caramel)

Year:  2007

Director:  Nadine Labaki

Running time: 96 min.

Country:  Lebanon

A wedding is time for celebration and joy, and nothing can spoil it. Not even a pigeon performing a carpet bombing of the guests. This film presents the life of five women in modern Beirut. I really enjoyed how it combines comedy and drama. I also was delighted when I found a pigeon appearance which I'll describe here:

At a certain point of the film, there is a wedding and the bride throws the bouquet from a balcony. Several of the guests are women that are grouped with great expectation for being the one who catches it.

But instead of that, a woman receives a dropping directly on her face. This is a very unpleasant situation. Try to imagine how such dropping can spoil a dress that was carefully chosen for the celebration or cause a serious makeup disorder.

Very nasty.....

What we see is a pigeon flying away in the distance. It is the culprit of this wedding madness.

Immediately, the panic spreads among the guests and everybody looks upwards looking for the source of the dropping.

After that they realise that the danger was over and now, all of them are safe from further droppings. The joy comes back again, the woman cleans her face and the celebration resumes with full intensity. The complete scene can be seen here.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Sukkar banat (Caramel). Starring moment: 1:25:06
• Pigeon activity: It is a pigeon which performs an on-the-fly deposition over the wedding guests.
  
• Symbolism: Low. In this case, this situation that is used to show us how an awful situation can be overcome by a positive attitude.
• Relevance: Low. Despite the pigeon intervention at a critical point of the wedding, the women managed that with good humour and the joyful situation was soon restored.
• Training level: It is difficult to analyze the pigeon's training level because of the short appearance. It is probably a wild animal. 

Back to the Future tribute

Dr. Emmett Brown was one of my favorite characters during my childhood. This is my special tribute to him.