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Rating of
3/4
"The Birds" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/18/2012
Playful heiress Tippi Hedren pursues handsome lawyer Rod Taylor to the sleepy coastal village of Bodega Bay only to become besieged by flocks of killer birds. This film is another of Hitchcock's most influential and its formula pretty much became the blueprint for all disaster/creature features that followed. The premise is of course ridiculous, but this film is more of a showcase for directorial expertise. It begins with the usual soapy set up as we get to know the main characters, and it seems more a breezy romance with some nice snappy dialogue and likable characters. Hitchcock then builds the tension in his inimitable style, as waves of attackers slowly appear, subside and reappear while the increasingly paranoid victims wait for the next onslaught holed up in an isolated house; …
Rating of
3/4
The Birds review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 10/04/2011
Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) sends a gift of lovebirds to his new found Lawyer friend Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). She also befriends Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), a former admirer of Mitch. I have mixed feelings about this horrific flick. I would like to emphasize the good aspects of the picture, which includes the score, cinematography, visual effects and the fear factor that it brings with the believable acting. This has to be the most realistic horror flicks produced, and tension build-up was exceptional. Now for the negative, you really felt the stupidity of certain situations such as bringing out the kids when you can already see the birds outside and Melanie opening the door when she already saw the roof broken by the creatures. Nothing was explained by the director …
Rating of
3.5/4
Where is my BB Gun!
mdtinney - wrote on 10/04/2009
It can't be denied that "The Birds" is still, even after 45 years, definitely one of the very greatest horror movies ever. The big secret behind its unbelievable effectiveness is actually more simple than we think. When filmmakers are shooting horror flicks they usually scare audience by using psychopaths, aliens, dinosaurs, sharks, spiders, snakes...all sort of devilish creatures, horrible monsters or notorious animals people already find frightening. It's a rather easy, unsurprising and tedious solution to do it. Alfred Hitchcock's marvelous idea was totally opposite from this principle. He took the most innocent and harmless creatures we can possibly think of - ordinary birds - and turned 'em into dreadful monsters with no reason what so ever. When a killer beneath the sea or a …
Rating of
4/4
"But it isn't dark, Annie. There's a full moon."
Arbogast1960 - wrote on 03/29/2008
One on Hitchcock's more underrated efforts. In many ways it's Hitchcock's attempt at the then-popular and burgeoning European Art Film. An excellent look at mankind's persistent failures of communication (note how often the characters say "you see" or "I see," and yet no one really does, while the birds, lacking in language, are able to coordinate large scale attacks). Starting out as light romantic comedy is an excellent touch, making the move toward the bird apocalypse all the more harrowing. Also brilliant is the lack of a score--a story such as this devolves so easily into camp, particularly with overbearing music browbeating the audience's emotions, that simply letting the screeching birds provide ambient noise is the wisest choice. As usual, there is much dark humor ("Sam, …
