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Summary: Alfred Hitchcock rules!
Review: I love this movie! Alfred Hitchcock is my all-time favorite director! How could anyone not like this movie? The ending is super cool, too, cause it lets you finish the story however you want it to end.
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Summary: The Birds is Hitchcock's Classic!
Review: THE BIRDS is one of Hitchcock's most terrifying films, if the most. The smartest choice he made was to have no soundtrack, just the ominous sound of birds flying and cawing. Tippi Hedren does a fine job as snobbish Melanie Daniels, who follows Mitch Brenner out to the Bodega Bay coastal town. The tension mounts slowly. Melanie is pecked by a seagull, a bird unexplicably flies into Annie's door, a man is found with his eyes pecked out, then all hell breaks loose. Birds come through the chimney, attack children at a school, cause an explosion, trash a diner, and then they finally descend on the Brenner farmhouse. Why? That is a question THE BIRDS wisely chooses not to answer. In the diner scene a bird expert says that if birds flocked together mankind would have no chance of stopping them. She says that such a thing can't happen. After the birds frenzied attack on the diner, the woman is shivering with terror. Mankind has no hope against the birds. A wonderfully executed suspense film that is terrifying because its us against nature. And we know that nature never loses. The only flaw in this excellent film is little Cathy Brenner. The girl does nothing but whine and cry, and one almost wishes that the birds would kill her along with Annie. Highly recommended movie from the master of horror, Alfred Hitchcock.
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Summary: YOU GOTTA LOVE IT
Review: OK, this is one bizarre movie, but it does have that distinctive master's touch all over it -- Hitch is at it again. The mysterious but thin plot is aided enormously by the deft camera work and mesmerizing performances of even the worst of the lot (Tippi Hedren is comically self-aware and bordering on camp). The shots of the birds themselves and attending effects have not really dated; there is still an excellent sense of suspense and terror in their growing legion. And that we cannot really unravel the mystery gives the movie an almost mythic quality, as if it means more than it actually does. Jessica Tandy provides a hypnotic and disturbing portrait of a possessive mother (how does this bizarre love triangle fit into the grander scheme of things? -- one of Hitch's tricks) -- and Suzanne Pleshette is excellent as an emotionally devastated schoolteacher -- she blends toughness and vulnerability to perfection in a small role. That the birds flying, flapping and screeching provides the film with its soundtrack only underscores Hitch's sure directorial hand -- who needs a clanging, scary sountrack when the images and well-plotted suspense do it all for you? It's a treat, no matter how you look at it.
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Summary: A Sentimental Favorite
Review: Sure, the acting is a bit stiff at times and the special effects aren't up to today's standards and it's anybodys guess why the birds decided to attack - but Tippie Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette look fantastic... and darn it, this is a good film! Hitchcock does a great job in building the suspense: birds acting strangely at a pet store, Melanie is hit in the head by a gull, the attack at the birthday party - Tippie & Suzanne have a sleep over. My favorite scene is when the main characters have boarded themselves in the house, suddenly one of them notices a small bird sitting on the coffee table - then whoosh! The house is filled with birds flying down the chimney. Also, when the birds are pecking through the front door - I've had nightmares about that for years. And who can forget the bloody man trying to get into the phone booth with Tippie - imagine the gall of that guy! Yes, it looks fake sometimes and the subplot of the love triangle is a bit annoying but there will always be a special place in my heart for "The Birds".
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Summary: HITCHCOCK'S BEST!
Review: This is a classic and the best film that Alfred Hitchcock has made. Even though the film has gotten some negative remarks, I still think it is excellent and has good scenes. Among my favorite are where Melanie slaps the woman in the restaurant and where the children are attacked. You have to really pay attention and find a meaning in the film to appreciate it. Tippi Hedren looks radiant and does a fine job playing Melanie Daniels. ABSOLUTE CLASSIC!
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Summary: How to Make a Horror Movie
Review: 1. Make the movie make SOME sort of sense! As well make the ENDING make sense! However, if you cannot do either, then make a sequel.2. Make sure the Antagonist ISN'T some cute, adorable forest creature... Ok, so it worked for Strays... 3. Please, MAKE SURE THE ACTORS CAN ACT! 4. Please realise that not EVERY horror movie has to star dumb blondes. 5. Don't defy logic. 6. Do away with the skeptics who refuse to believe what's happening despite the glaring proof. Lets see how the Birds stacked up... It doesn't follow rule one (Though I have heard there is a sequel) because it never explains anything. As for Rule two... I made an exception for Strays, I can for this. Does it follow rule three? If you think not having a clue what you're suposed to pretend you're doing constitutes "Good acting"... Lets not forget how either they overdo, or have a complete lack of any emotion... As for #4, Hitchcock apparently didn't realise since the main character just HAPPENS to be a ditzy blond. It definately breaks rule 5. We have birds breaking through wooden doors, coming down chimneys IN FLOCKS, nearly killing people... And it breaks rule six. "Sure, These attacks are only being reported constantly on the radio, but I still refuse to believe them!" See it once, you'll like it, though you'll find it laughable.
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Summary: Hitch's Most Under-Rated Film
Review: The Birds is a HORRIFYINGLY MAGNIFICENT film, and deserves more appreciation than it gets. Even though it is one of Hitchcock's most famous, many people find the plot completely empty. Wrong! This film is more than meets the eye, the birds-eye, if you will. You must watch closely to find the messages, so that you can fully enjoy it. No, The Birds may not be as complex as Psycho or Vertigo, but it is the symolism and sheer TERROR that sets it apart. It's a movie you will watch over and over, and find new things each time. In my opinion, that is the best quality of a film, and there is no film I see it more in than The Birds. That is why it is MY FAVORITE ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOVIE. Don't listen to those who can't get past the literal plot, but look deeper into the messages of the film, and SCREAM your way through it again and again!
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: This is not a quintessential Hitchcock movie. The lack of asoundtrack was the part I appreciated most. The suspense of most ofthe bird scenes was very good. There is one gory scene that I can't believe the censors allowed. It's edited past very quickly, but you still see all you need to see. That said, there are several silly scenes throughout the movie. The diner scene is weak, bringing in a stereotypical Scripture-quoting nut and an ornithologist who refuses to believe that _The Birds_ are on the attack. Ick! Then Hitch follows this up with a typical action movie gimmick, an exploding car. But he redeems this with a terrific "birds-eye" (pun intended) view of the fire, while the birds slowly cluster in the sky and block out our view. The part when the woman slaps Melanie and accuses her of causing the attacks is dumb. The point is of course is that no human is to blame, but the scene is annoying. The end of the movie is just as pointless as the movie itself. They get in a car and get the heck out of Dodge. If _The Birds_ truly represent nameless evil beyond human control (as has been suggested), then the point of the movie is that such evil things happen and that people ought to get together to survive them. There's no need for a two hour movie on the subject. I'm going out to rent Vertigo now.
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Summary: Very Good--------------The Best!
Review: I loved this movie. You cant help but wonder what the birds are going to do next. It was very good. I LOVED every moment of it. Its very shocking to see all the birds attack at once. When the school children are attacked. The best. It's a classic in it's kind
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Summary: An Underappreciated Classic!
Review: Although Psycho is perhaps Hitchcock's most famous film, there is an almost excruciating eerieness and slow, tidal surge of tension in this film that almost no other films approach, and none surpass. The film is part horror fable, part nightmare, and that these visceral emotions can emerge from such prosaic surroundings adds to the almost atavistic effect it has. And it's odd that so many have criticized the characters as shallow: they may be, in the way everyone is shallow, at the beginning: each focussing on his own selfish concerns and agendas; but then the incomprehensible spiral of rising horror shakes them out of their narrowness and makes them reach out to each other. And the horror in this film does that-- rises tidally. The counterpoint of humor and style that always comes through in Hitchcock is a perfect foil for this, and yet always makes a point, too often missed: the scene in the Pet Shop where the canary escapes; in the Restaurant, where all the stock responses are bruited, are sometimes funny, but brilliantly emmeshed with the darker occurrences. That this film has been enormously influential among other filmmakers cannot be denied: the most commonly cited example being George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. But all other horror writers and filmmakers after have been influenced by it in one way or another, from Clive Barker to Stephen King to John Carpenter. And to watch it again is to become a child again, entering that dreamlike and eerie world. Lovecraft, Freud and King have all said, in one way or another, that atmosphere is the most important element in horror, and the sheer elegance and brilliance of this film creates atmosphere like few others. The sequence of Melanie waiting in the schoolyard as the crows gather, the attack on the school, the Restaurant scene, and the attack on the town itself, is unequalled in cinema. And the moment when Hitchcock suddenly lifts you out of the chaos in the village streets, to view it from high in the air (a birds' eye view!)as, from behind you, past the camera, and toward the chaos more gulls swoop, makes the spine prickle. A true and magnificent classic!
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