Second Viewing: The Birds (1963)

The Birds is as blunt and stupid as Alfred Hitchcock movies get, but it’s also very well made, and absurdly entertaining.

The movie starts out as this kind of pleasant romantic comedy, with a woman, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), who’s far more sexually independent than you’d expect from a movie from the early ’60s, and a man, Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), who awkwardly lives with his mother and his 25-year-younger sister.

It’s a strange setup, sure, but it is a comedy from the outset. Before the first bird attacks a good half hour in, there is nothing indicating it to be a horror movie.

And a lot of the strength of this movie comes from Tippi Hedren’s character. Not Hedren herself; I think it’s kind of a lame performance in what was her first ever film role. But the character is so likable that it kind of makes the drastic shift in tone and genre. Though her becoming kind of useless in the last act does hurt the movie.

When The Birds does get going as a horror movie, it’s a very good one, though there is an inherent silliness to it as well.

I like the decision to not have any score. It really helps with the aspect of realism, which the plot lacks, but the direction achieves.

It’s far from the best Alfred Hitchcock film, but it’s still very good, and definitely worth watching.

Rating: 8/10