The Birds (1963)

To me, this movie is perfection.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

3/4The Birds is the subject of an age-old debate that cinephiles often engage in: is The Birds a good or an overrated film? I am one of a neutral party that agrees with both. To me, The Birds is everything that it promised to be, nothing more.There is no debating this: it's not Hitchcock's masterpiece. The plot is this: A woman works a pet shop, she gets an order for love birds, she travels to a coastal town to get the love birds...Birds go wild and ravage the place while she falls in love with the town hunk. Why do these birds go mad? This is one of the many questions the movie will not answer. If you care enough to analyze it, be my guest. This movie does not challenge you to find answers, as it works perfectly fine if you suspend your disbelief.However, the plot is not where the movie earns its merits at all. The film is very surreal, intense, and mildly frightening as Hitch's signature spice. If anything is to be said about this movie at all, the way Hitch shot the Birds was flawless as far as camera work. The way he captured their spirit of destruction through the rule of thirds is truly cinematography in Hitchcock tradition. To me, his portrayal and control of the Birds is what makes the film. The cast (especially Tippi Hedren) are very vibrant characters full of life and genuine emotion. He was able to convey these characters without the use of a musical score was very adept, although it should not go unnoticed that in the school scene the children sing a rhyme to build up suspense. Every component compliments one another in The Birds. There is truly no wasted talent.In conclusion, I find The Birds to be a good movie. Most of all, I find it to be an important milestone in cinematic history simply for the way the birds were captured on-screen. This does not have my vote for Hitchcock's best, or even his second or third best, but it's great for what it is: a landmark movie and a fun thriller.

I cant say much about The Birds (1963) because everyone knows why its so good, everyone knows why its so effective, well written and well directed. Its just a classic horror film that manages to be scary and creepy despite its absurd premise.I believe this is one the movies that inspired all those killer animals films, but this one is one of the better ones in that genre. Probably because most of those other films lack the kind of writing that this one has, they don't develop their characters well enough so by the time something happens to them you really don't care, in The Birds you do care and you root for these people even if they aren't the most likable people on earth. Also, the bird attacks in the film are really well directed, another aspect those movies lacked.

As Francois Truffaut said, cinema was invented so that we could be shown things like the bird attacks in The Birds. The savage, meaningless idea of it is profoundly existential in a way that even Antonioni himself deeply appreciated. Antonioni admired many things about Hitchcock and Hitchcock was himself inspired by Blow-Up. Fellini, himself, called The Birds one of the most BEAUTIFUL movies ever made (?!) and listed it among his top ten favorite films of all time. Having seen this many times I have come to appreciate the small Hitchcock touches - even in the 'notoriously slow' first hour of the film.Hitchcock was a master of sound and all of his films had a separate and carefully orchestrated sound-script which he closely supervised. This included even incidental sounds, doors opening, etc. It is worth your while to re-watch The Birds with the sole idea of listening to every incidental sound on the track.Even Ingmar Bergman was a Hitchcock fan and lifted a scene from The Paradine Case and reworked it into Cries and Whispers! The relationships of The Birds have a 'Bergmanesque' quality as well and the Bodega Bay setting could as well have been Ingmar's Faro island. The film The Passion of Anna, deftly counterpoints the personal relationship with an unknown outside 'monster' who is killing and mutilating animals. Very much like 'The Birds' in spirit.The great directors have been far kinder to this film than many critics.

Usually, master film director Alfred Hitchcock used the psychological approach to filmmaking, crafting thrillers that preyed on deep-seated fears or tension-filled situations. With "The Birds", however, Hitch actually delves into the paranormal a trifle in order to work his cinematic magic.For a basic plot summary, "The Birds" sees young socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), on a vacation in Bodega Bay, become suddenly smitten by local boy Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). However, as the two begin to mingle, the small island town is suddenly beset by bird attacks both large and small, seemingly without reason.As usual, this film is such a classic because of Hitchcock's ability to create tension. By the title alone, the viewer knows that birds will play a large role in this film, so in the early-goings Hitch uses certain scenes/images to foreshadow what is to come. Basically, as a viewer, you know what is going to happen...you just don't know when or from where!The acting in this movie also really stands out. Hedren and Taylor are solid, while supporters such as Jessica Tandy and a young Veronica Cartwright turn in fine performances as well.About the only criticism I have (aka why I can't give it 5 stars) is of the ending, which many will find quite polarizing. Let's just say that, depending on your point of view, a lot of character development may have circled the drain upon the film's conclusion.Overall, though, this is a solid film that deserves a place among Hitchcock's best.