A
beautiful woman named Melanie Daniels
(Tippi Hedren) encounters a bachelor
named Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) who
enters her bird store but comes off the
wrong way but however, she does go to
Bodega Bay where he resides to give him
love birds that he ordered. Yet she is
attacked by a seagull.
Suddenly afterwards she spots a flock of
birds in her town near schoolyards and
other areas as they viciously attack and
kill people.
Soon Melanie and Mitch are brought
together more so as they are fighting for
their lives along with Mitch's family as
these birds can't be explained for their
nasty behavior.
This film
by Alfred Hitchcock adds suspense to it here and there with
good romantic moments but however he
doesn't add on as much horror to it like
he did in Psycho but it does start to happen a quarter way
through the film.
There's a perfect scene
between Mitch Brennar and Melanie Daniels at the bird store when he
asks for love birds making out that he
was being fresh and trying to pick her
up. It is quite funny when they have a
dispute. The timing is great by what we spot here. Also beforehand when he enters the store he sees a flock of birds swarming in the air as it left a creepy impression by what will happen later on in the story.
There's a good camera shot on Melanie in a boat and a seagull swoops in her
face. This for sure left a great suspense by making you think that this is just the beginning on what these animals will do later on in the story.
There's a great setting in a house
between Melanie playing the piano
and Cathy Brennar mingling
with her as it looked natural. All of this looked peaceful and uplifting to watch all of these scenarios coming together.
It's Cathy's birthday as she plays games with her friends at her party with her family preparing the cake and other stuff outside and that's when the terror starts with seagulls attacking everyone as it kept me in good suspense as to whether or not these people will make it into their house for safety or not.
Nice shots on a flock of birds
standing on the telephone pole and the
wires as well as at playgrounds and on
roofs of houses too which gives the movie
a horror feel to it.
Certainly I had a deep scared feeling when Melanie tries to warn some children at the school to run as fast as they can when it's time to go home as the settings looked good with the birds
attacking people outside.
I had to admit there was a situation with sparrows entering from the chimney of a home and attacking some people quite hilarious to watch. It didn't scare me at all but it was done in nice taste.
We see a perfect shocked reaction on Lydia Brennar's face with an o shaped look
out of pure shock when she sees her dead
feather lying in his room with some dead
seagulls and then she goes ballistic
later.Great horror timing with this happening indeed.
A well remembered moment is when Melanie is up in the bedroom attic and the seagulls attack her from the window there and she has a hard time trying to get out in which there's careful camera shots on her trying to turn the door knob but is failiang as it made me wonder as to whether or not she will escape.
Melanie and Mitch look very
adventureous when running to get away
from the seagulls and trying to rescue Cathy.
Melanie and Mitch go to a diner to warn people about birds attacking and we have a local drunk warning that the end is near which we often have these types in horror flicks as it worked greatly in a story.
We spot a perfect frightened shot on a waitress in a diner
going crazy by
accussing both Melanie and Mitch for having these seagulls attacking which looked good to watch.
There are perfect shots on the birds
going into the house and attacking Melanie. A great suspenseful shot on Mitch when
he tries to block a window and a seagull
attacks his hand.
One of the best scene's is when Mitch and Annie Hayworth are holding Melanie while finding some way of escaping the
house and Melanie herself is looking
terrified by all of this.
They are cautious when the birds are nestled on the ground when they try to find their way to get in their car which left me watching and wondering if they will attack or not as the camera shots and scenery really drew me in while watching bit by bit as to what will unravel here.
Bottom line is that this seemed like a
romantic drama to start with as it took
forever for the horror to start and
although the movie was well done in some
ways it lacks in other spots as you
wonder what the point to this film is.
It does get better and more enjoyable with the birds
invading the small town and good
reactions from people too as this film
became a classic.
The acting is
marvelloussly well done by a great cast
of legendary actors in this film. Rod Taylor (Mitch
Brenner) knew his craft as a smart
aleck but charming young man in the film
as his personality really shines in the
film. He shows it off nicely as a guy next door type making what he does convincingly likeable with his wit and intelligent type of behavior.
Another cast member who shines just as
well is his fellow actress Tippi
Hedren (Melanie Daniels) in her first starring role as
she remained an icon for this film. She
does well playing a woman who is
sensitive but really speaks her mind and
not scared about what she says. She looked good at
freaking out from the birds attacking her especially. She also does a great job by acting terrified by what is going on.
Jessica Tandy (Lydia Brenner) plays a nice family woman as she offers a great mellow and calm type of personality along with showing off a good friendly attitude whenever she needed to behave this way. Plus does great with her emotional sobbing when the terror strikes. I really liked on what she did here.
Suzanne Pleshette (Annie Hayworth) had a great sharp and outgoing personality as she really shines off by what she did here. She stood out strong in her speaking as well as doing a good job by getting to the point with stuff and studied this role incredibly well.
We also have a very young performance by Veronica
Cartwright (Cathy Brenner) who is believeably
charming as a young teenage girl and
stands out well plus has a ton of energy
with her scared emotions bringing a perfect intensity too as she
usually has been pitted against
terrifying incidents in other films.
Eyes are plucked
out of a corpse
There are bloody bite marks on people
Melanie Daniels:
Just what is it you're looking for, sir?
Mitch Brenner: Lovebirds.
Melanie Daniels: Lovebirds, sir?
Mitch Brenner: Yes. I understand
there are different varieties. Is that
true?
Melanie Daniels: Oh yes, there
are.
Mitch Brenner: Well, uh, these are
for my sister, for her birthday, see, and
uh, as she's only gonna be eleven, I, I
wouldn't want a pair of birds that
were... too demonstrative.
Melanie Daniels: I understand
completely.
Mitch Brenner: At the same time, I
wouldn't want them to be too aloof,
either.
Melanie Daniels: No, of course
not.
Mitch Brenner: Do you happen to
have a pair of birds that are... just
friendly?
Mitch
Brenner: Be able to find your way
back all right?
Melanie Daniels: Oh, yes.
Mitch Brenner: Will I be seeing
you again?
Melanie Daniels: San Francisco's a
long way from here.
Mitch Brenner: Well, I'm in San
Francisco five days a week with a lot of
time on my hands, I'd like to see you.
Maybe we could go swimming or something.
Mother tells me you like to swim.
Melanie Daniels: How does Mother
know what I like to do?
Mitch Brenner: I guess we read the
same gossip columns.
Melanie Daniels: Oh, that. Rome.
Mitch Brenner: Yeah, I really like
to swim, I think we might get along very
well.
Melanie Daniels: In case you're
interested, I was pushed into that
fountain.
Mitch Brenner: Without any clothes
on?
Melanie Daniels: With all my
clothes on. The newspaper that ran that
story happens to be a rival of my
father's paper.
Mitch Brenner: You're just a poor,
innocent victim of circumstances, huh?
Melanie Daniels: Well I'm neither
poor nor innocent, but the truth of that
particular...
Mitch Brenner: Truth is you were
running around with a pretty wild crowd,
isn't it?
Melanie Daniels: Well yes, that's
the truth, but I was pushed into that
fountain, and that's the truth, too.
Mitch Brenner: Uh huh. Do you
really know Annie Hayworth?
Melanie Daniels: No. At least I
didn't till I came up here.
Mitch Brenner: So you didn't go to
school together?
Melanie Daniels: No.
Mitch Brenner: And you didn't come
up here to see her.
Melanie Daniels: No.
Melanie Daniels: You were lying!
Melanie Daniels: Yes, I was lying.
Cathy
Brenner: [while Melanie is playing
the piano] I still don't understand
how you knew I wanted lovebirds.
Melanie Daniels: Your brother told
me.
Lydia Brenner: Then you knew Mitch
in San Francisco. Is that right?
Melanie Daniels: No, not exactly.
[grabs a cigarette out of an ashtray]
Cathy Brenner: Mitch knows a lot
of people in San Francisco. Of course,
they're mostly hoods.
Lydia Brenner: Cathy!
Cathy Brenner: Well, Mom, he's the
first to admit it. He spends half his day
in the detention cells at the Hall of
Justice.
Lydia Brenner: In a democracy,
Cathy, everyone is entitled to a fair
trial. Your brother's practice...
Cathy Brenner: Aw, Mom, please. I
know all that democracy jazz. They're
still hoods.
[Mitch comes in]
Cathy Brenner: He has a client now
who shot his wife in the head six times.
Six times! Can you imagine it? I mean,
even twice would be overdoing it, don't
you think?
Melanie Daniels: [to Mitch]
Why did he shoot her?
Mitch Brenner: He was watching a
ball game on television.
Melanie Daniels: What?
Mitch Brenner: His wife changed
the channel.
[laughs and leaves]
Cathy Brenner: Are you coming to
my party tomorrow?
Melanie Daniels: I don't think so.
I have to get back to San Francisco.
Cathy Brenner: Don't you like us?
Melanie Daniels: Oh, darling, of
course I do.
Cathy Brenner: Don't you like
Bodega Bay?
Melanie Daniels: I don't know yet.
Cathy Brenner: Mitch likes it very
much. He comes up every weekend, you
know, even though he has his own
apartment in the city. He says that San
Francisco's like an anthill up the foot
of a bridge.
Melanie Daniels: Well, I suppose
it does get a little hectic at times.
Cathy Brenner: Well, if you do
decide to come, don't say I told you
about it. It's suppose to be a suprise
party. You see, they've got this whole
complicated thing figured out, where I'm
going to Michele's for the afternoon, and
Michele's mother will say she has a
headache. Would I mind very much if she
took me home. And when I get here, all
the kids'll jump out! Oh, won't you come.
Won't you please come?
Melanie Daniels: I don't think so.
Cathy Brenner: Mitch, can I bring
the lovebirds in here?
Lydia Brenner: No!
Cathy Brenner: But Mom, they're in
a cage.
Lydia Brenner: They're birds,
aren't they?
Mother
in Diner: Why are they doing this?
Why are they doing this? They said when
you got here, the whole thing started.
Who are you? What are you? Where did you
come from? I think you're the cause of
all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!
Cathy
Brenner: Mitch, can I bring the
lovebirds in here?
Lydia Brenner: No!
Cathy Brenner: But Mom, they're in
a cage.
Lydia Brenner: They're birds,
aren't they?
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