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MOVIES THE BIRDS
A beautiful woman in a pet shop is ridiculed by a stranger. She is a player of practical jokes, and wants to one-up him. The girl, Melanie (Hedren), purchases 2 love birds (for which the man, Mitch (Taylor), was interested in buying) and plans to deliver them to him. However, she learns that he has left for the weekend, so in order for her joke to work (and not have the birds die), she travels to Bodega Bay. The small town is quiet - eerily so, but we are introduced to some characters, and Melanie continues on her quest to pull a prank on Mitch. She rents a boat and travels across the bay to the house in which Mitch, his mother (Tandy) and his child sister live. She sneaks into the house, leaves the birds, and takes off. Mitch figures it out and chases after Melanie (on land). Just as they are about to meet again, a seagull attacks Melanie, cutting her head. From that point on, the birds! of Bodega Bay increase in number and intensity, attacking the populace with no apparent reason. I had obviously heard much of this movie, and I think I've only seen a couple scenes of it in my youth, but I was kinda disappointed watching it now. I expected more from the plot. I don't always need everything in a movie to be wrapped up in a bow, but I do need some explanations sometime, and the ending, while ominous, left me hanging. The story itself was rather simplistic, and I didn't really buy the whole practical joke one-upmanship displayed by Melanie and Mitch. That being said, let's focus on the good points. The direction was fantastic. The bird attacks were scary and harrowing, even if the special effects have been rendered amatuerish by today's standards. There is a good amount of tension and suspence, despite that fact that there was no musical score in the film! Hitchcock brought out some great performances in his actors, too. We get to indentify with the characters, and t! hey do develop through the film, and we learn more about all of them. But, the highlight are the birds themselves. Scenes where they sneakily increase in number. When they attack full force. When they go after children. When they bite and peck any exposed body part. Or even when they are oddly quiet, in mass. It's definitely a landmark film, one that should be watched and enjoyed. Quality: 8.0 Visuals:
7.5 Intensity: 7.5 reviewed
2004
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