The Hairy Bird

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The Hairy Bird
DVD cover
Directed by	Sarah Kernochan
Produced by	Ira Deutchman Michael Mahoney Peter Newman
Written by	Sarah Kernochan
Starring	Kirsten Dunst Gaby Hoffmann Lynn Redgrave Rachael Leigh Cook
Distributed by	Miramax Films (USA)
Release date(s)	1998
Running time	97 min.
Country	Italy / Canada / U.S.A.
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

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.

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.

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.

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.

note: Hayden Christensen had a small appearance in the movie as one of the students from the all male school.