The Hairy Bird (also released as Strike! and All I Wanna Do) is a 1998 film written and directed by Sarah Kernochan and starring Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Lynn Redgrave, and Rachael Leigh Cook. See also: 1997 in film, other events of 1998, 1999 in film, list of years in film. Events February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein Top grossing films Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks Armageddon Theres Something About Mary, starring Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz A Bugs Life... Sarah Kernochan (born December 30, 1947 in New York City) first gained prominence as co-director of the 1972 film Marjoe (about evangelist Marjoe Gortner), which won an Academy Award for best documentary. ... Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey) is an American actress. ... Lynn Redgrave (born March 8, 1943) is a British actress. ... Rachael Leigh Cook as Lisa Calighan in AntiTrust Rachael Leigh Cook (born on October 4, 1979) is an American actress. ...

The film is set during the early 1960s, at the fictional "Miss Godard's Preparatory School for Girls"; the setting is based loosely on Kernochan's experiences at Rosemary Hall during those years. Redgrave plays the headmistress of the school, students of the school are played by Dunst, Hoffman, and Cook, among others. Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... In the United States a preparatory school, or prep school, is usually a private secondary school (or high school) designed to prepare a student for higher education. ... Choate Rosemary Hall is a prep school in Wallingford, Connecticut. ... In the UK and elsewhere, a head teacher is the most senior teacher in a school. ...

The first part of the film provides a glimpse into life at an elite New England boarding school during the period between the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the first appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show; as the story progresses, the comedy becomes broader when the school's precarious financial situation forces it to consider a less-than-equals merger into a coeducational institute. Modern New England, the six northeastern-most states of the United States, indicated by red The New England region of the United States is located in the northeastern corner of the country. ... A boarding school is a self-contained educational total institution where students not only study but where some or all students may live. ... The Bay of Pigs Invasion (also known in Cuba as La Playa Girón after a beach in the Bay of Pigs where the landing took place) was a United States planned and funded landing by armed Cuban exiles on southern Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban socialist government... The Beatles (L-R, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, John Lennon), in 1964, performing on The Ed Sullivan Show during their first United States tour, promoting their first U.S. hit song, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... Ed Sullivan The Ed Sullivan Show was an American television variety show that ran from June 20, 1948, to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by Ed Sullivan. ... Coeducation is the integrated education of men and women. ...

The song "The Hairy Bird" plays during the film's end credits; the song was written by Kernochan and sung by a group which includes Kernochan and five of her Rosemary Hall classmates, including Glenn Close. Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American film and stage actress. ...

External links and references

• Redeemable Film's webpage (http://www.redeemable.com/aiwd_synopsis.htm) for All I Wanna Do
• Script for the film (http://www.sarahkernochan.com/film/scripts/hairy-bird.pdf), in PDF format, from the director's website
• Lyrics and MP3 for the title song (http://www.sarahkernochan.com/lyrics/hairy-bird.html), also from the director's website
• Strike! (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120692/) at the Internet Movie Database
• Girls school rules (http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/int/2000/05/17/kernochan/), a May 2000 interview about the film from Salon.com