Rating: 
Summary: Scary and suspenseful. Great cast.
Review: What a terrific cast! Tippi Hedren is very good in it and, god, is she beautiful! The scene where she is waiting outside the school with the crows collecting on the jungle gym behind her is so damn suspenseful. Interesting that there is no music in it whatsoever. The tension and scares are created by the shrill cries of the birds (real and electronic) themselves -- it had the same heartstopping effect that the violins did in the shower scene in "Psycho."
Rating:
Summary: A classic (better over time)
Review: There are a handful of films that have shaped our view of what film and nature can do, this is one of the best. (For Rod Taylor fans, this is as good as it gets.) See Alfred Hitchcock at the top of his form, see Rod Taylor as the actor and movie star you knew he could be. Watch a classic.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT!! Powerful, maybe more than Psycho!
Review: Best of Hitch! This movie is one inch better than Psycho! Powerful and emotional...!
Rating: 
Summary: Classic film that doesn't try too hard.
Review: A film for anyone who grows tired of the normal "blood everywhere/constant attack" movies. This Hitchcock masterpiece manages to frighten and terrify audiences without forcing it. If you've already seen Psycho and want some more, than this is the movie for you. Though not the factual institute Psycho was, an easy second for Hitchcock's best.
Rating:
Summary: HITCHCOCK MASTERPIECE
Review: Full of the usual Hitchcock touches and magnetic performances from the sound department, special effects and photohraphy. The cast headed by Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy, Ethel Griffth are brilliant, but is really outshone by the lovely and talented newcomer, TIPPI HEDREN. A Classic.
Rating:
Summary: Tense thriller is a winner
Review: This eerie Hitchcock thriller doesn't have a shower scene but is has its fair share of suspense, dread and anticipation as to when the birds will attack. Filmed in color and without the accompaniment of music, the movie builds steadily towards tense and dangerous moments when hundreds of blackbirds swoop down on the human populace and scratch, peck and claw them to shreds without rhyme or reason. Even a lone seagull gets in its licks on Melanie Daniels who has followed Mitch Brenner to Bodega Bay to close in on the handsome fellow. The film has several attacks in which adults and school children are ravaged, and the air assaults are frightening to watch. The dangerous birds' unexplained sheer destructive force is displayed in the attack in a bedroom where the unfortunate Ms. Daniels is trapped, and their determination to destroy every human in their path is awful to behold. The movie's special effects are first-rate, and the gloomy, overcast skies of the Northern California coast add to the depressed mood of the film. The characters all seemed detached and distant from each other and although Ms. Daniels tries very hard to connect with Mr. Brenner, the romance angle is never developed.
Rating:
Summary: Beware THE BIRDS!!!
Review: The Birds is one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films. Perhaps that has a lot to do with the beautiful Tippi Hedren, who shines in everything she does. The gorgeous scenery, adorable costumes, and lavish colors also add to the surreal atmosphere, which quickly gets disrupted by a flock of killer birds. Like many firsts Hitchcock introduced with his films, this is the first "nature run amock" film, just like Psycho was the first "slasher" film. This Psycho follow-up was yet another ground-breaking addition to the horror genre and further revealed the master director's darker obsessions.
Like Hitchcock's fabulous Rebecca and mediocre Jamaica Inn, this is based on a story by the extremely talented Daphne Du Maurier, but Hitchcock was left with the task of fleshing out the short story into a feature film. He did one hell of a job. Hitchcock and screenwriter Evan Hunter borrowed only the title and basic conceit of Daphne du Maurier's 1952 short story, "The Birds." Du Maurier's tale, conventional and utterly humorless, is a Cold War parable that uses the unexplained bird attacks as an apocalyptic metaphor for nature thrown out of balance by technology and warfare. It's told from the perspective of Nat Hocken, a disabled war veteran and farmhand living in a cottage with his family in the British Isles.The film version is set in Bodega Bay and follows bored, spoiled socialite Melanie Daniels (Hedren) as she romantically pursues dashing lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). Tension soon develops among Melanie, schoolteacher Annie Hayworth, Mitch's former flame (Suzanne Pleshette), and Mitch's domineering mother (Jessica Tandy). The emotional interplay is interrupted (and reflected) by the sudden and unexplained attack of thousands of birds on the area.
Hailed as one of Hitchcock's masterpieces by some and despised by others, THE BIRDS is certainly among the director's more complex and fascinating works. Volumes have been written about the film, with each writer picking it apart scene by scene in order to prove his or her particular critical theory--mostly of the psychoanalytic variety. Be that as it may, even those who grow impatient with the slow build-up or occasional dramatic lapses cannot deny the terrifying power of many of the film's haunting images: the bird point-of-view shot of Bodega Bay, the birds slowly gathering on the playground monkey bars, the attack on the children's birthday party, Melanie trapped in the attic, and the final ambiguous shot of the defeated humans leaving Bodega Bay while the thousands of triumphant birds gathered on the ground watch them go.
Eerie, scary, and suspenseful, this is a great film and classic Hitchcock, which highlights his genius. There is no sound track to cue the audience in as to when to be scared. And what other filmmaker could take the simple sound of wings fluttering in a house and turn it into the sheer sound of terror?
Rating:
Summary: When Animals Attack
Review: THE BIRDS, is another classic from "The Master Of Suspense", director Alfred Hitchcock....In pursuit of an eligible bachelor, Melanie Daniels ("Tippi" Hedren) makes her way to Bodega Bay. You see, she has learned that Mitch Brenner, (Rod Taylor) lives there. After a chance encounter on the mainland, she decides to find him so that they can get to know one another better. However, upon her arrival to the town by the sea, she is attacked by a seagull for no reason. At first, the town's citizens dismiss her story, but as more and more folks are attacked, the community is put under seige from thousands of birds. The film is loosely based upon a short story by Daphne Du Maurier. While the film may not have the perfect setup, the middle and end of the movie, are quite memorable. Sure, the F/X are not as good by today's standards, but the underlying fear created in the film still remains pretty much intact. The attack scene that stands out for is the one that involves a vehicle, leaking gas, a live wire, and of course an attacking flock of birds. Hitchcock staged the scene with great timing and top notch film editing in mind. The supporting cast is memorable as well. It includes Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and a very young Veronica Cartwright (from Ridley Scott's 1979 film ALIEN) as Cathy. The "Collector's Edition DVD has some great extras on it. There is an outstanding retrospectuive documentary with cast/crew interviews. This feature runs for over an hour and will give you complete insight into how the film was made. There is also a wealth of archival footage from the film's initial theatrical release. While it's no PSYCHO, THE BIRDS ranks up there as another classic from Hitchcock. So with great extras, this disc is highly recommended, both for fans of Hitchcock and the film
Rating: 
Summary: Watch Out For Those Birds
Review: The Birds just might be the scariest movie I have ever seen. Bodega Bay is under seige by a strange adversary; and no one ever knows why. Classic Hitchcock tale, a most original concept; not equalled before or since. This is Tippi Hedren's first film, and nothing short of a gripping mystery. Amazingly enough, it was the animators of Walt Disney that made the fireplace sequence possible
Rating:
Summary: Funniest Moment
Review: The funniest moment of this film for me is seeing the absolutely goofy, oddball, spaced out look on Tippi Hedren's face just before the gull whacks her in the head. What was she smoking?
Overall the most interesting part of the movie is finding out the personal details of the lives of the characters and how they mix. The birds attacking is secondary. The best bird attack is the girl getting pecked in the head while her legs flail about. That is disturbing but well done.
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