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Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Veronica Cartwright ... see more see more... , Ethel Griffies , Charles McGraw , Ruth McDevitt , Malcolm Atterbury , Joe Mantell , Karl Swenson , Elizabeth Wilson , Lonny Chapman , John McGovern , Richard Deacon , Doreen Lang , Darlene Conley , Suzanne Cupito , Dal McKennon , Bill Quinn , Doodles Weaver , Suzanne Heshette

The story begins as an innocuous romantic triangle involving wealthy, spoiled Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), handsome Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), and schoolteacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette).... read more read more... The human story begins in a San Francisco pet shop and culminates at the home of Mitch's mother (Jessica Tandy) at Bodega Bay, where the characters' sense of security is slowly eroded by the curious behavior of the birds in the area. At first, it's no more than a sea gull swooping down and pecking at Melanie's head. Things take a truly ugly turn when hundreds of birds converge on a children's party. There is never an explanation as to why the birds have run amok, but once the onslaught begins, there's virtually no letup. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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80% liked it

150,995 ratings

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95% liked it

41 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: March 28, 1963

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DVD Release Date: March 28, 2000

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Stats: 8,267 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (8,267)

  • fb729949618
    May 25, 2012
    fb729949618
    The effects and acting certainly aren't what make the film great, it is the mystery and suspense that do it . As to why the birds attack, we will never know because Hitchcock wanted the audience to be able to make their own conclusion. It will leave you in a guessing game followi... read moreng the film, wondering what happens next and why it happened. It is that judgement and curiosity that make the film a brilliant classic!
  • fb100000040220993
    March 30, 2012
    fb100000040220993
    I have the utmost respect for Alfred Hitchcock. He was a genius. A true testament to the man's brilliance, is that even after nearly 50 years, nothing is able to capture the towering suspense that Hitchcock directed with the semblance of ease It's amazing, given the advancemen... read morets in technology and endless streams of source material, directors currently have at their fingertips. "The Birds" is a horror masterpiece. The movie moves at a deliberate pace, never wasting a single motion, all the while creating a subtle anxiety. Hitchcock never shows his hand too early, and there are no cheap scares. The payoff is well executed, as events erupt into a crescendo of chaos. The most startling scenes occur, when the unlikely antagonists swarm their prey, caging them, while their war cries completely drown out the soundtrack. The film closes with a very appropriate and ambiguous ending. The special effects were state-of-the-art in 1963, but viewers may find them a bit crude by today's standards. If that stops you from enjoying this film, you deserve to watch the found footage paranormal garbage that pollutes today's landscape. "The Birds", is, was, and always will be a perfect movie.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    December 26, 2011
    StarCrossedVoyager
    A brilliant and tense film that gives you everything but then takes it all away with the ending. I detest the unresolved and cliffhanger ending which isn't really an ending at all. What happened to the characters? What happened to the town? Did the birds ever attack again? So man... read morey questions but no answers. This really lets the whole fantastic film down.
  • spielberg00
    November 27, 2011
    spielberg00
    Shockingly gruesome film (especially 1963) is amped-up Hitchcock tension, maybe as amped-up as physically possible.
  • fb1664868775
    October 27, 2011
    fb1664868775
    One of my least favorite Hitchcock films but that still puts it a cut above most.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    June 10, 2011
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "I hardly think a few birds are going to bring about the end of the world"

    A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people ... read morethere in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.

    REVIEW

    Before and since "The Birds", you've had all manner of creatures to make their impact in horror films. The brilliance of Alfred Hitchcock is that he doesn't go for the obvious - the great white shark, the rampaging gorilla, or the Jurassic dinosaur. What could be more welcome than a few songbirds to brighten up and add some cheer to an otherwise ordinary day? As the crows congregated in the schoolyard it seemed like they exuded evil in a strange way, foreshadowing an event outside the normal scheme of things. With all the slash and gore spectacle prevalent in horror films today, one has a keen sense as a viewer that nothing presented on screen is real. But take one look at the plucked out eyes of farmer Dan Fawcett slumped against the wall of his home, and you begin to wonder, wow! could something like that ever really happen?

    Offsetting the grim spectacle of the bird attacks, I thought Hitchcock did a nicely nuanced job with some offbeat humor that might not seem obvious at first. Would a pair of caged lovebirds really respond to inertia the way the ones in Melanie's car did taking those curves on the road to Bodega Bay? I thought that was a neat touch. And how about shortly after the sparrow attack at the Daniels home, when the diner waitress orders baked potato with the fried chicken? Hitchcock's little way of a preemptive strike on the feathered set before things really get going.

    As for the players, Tippi Hedren did a commendable job in virtually her very first screen role. There was something mysterious to her persona that might have been construed as to contributing to the bird attacks. That idea was voiced later in the story by the panicked mother who wanted to leave town as quickly as possible with her daughter. I couldn't really warm up to the idea of Veronica Cartwright and Rod Taylor portraying a brother and sister with the apparent age disparity, but that wound up working out OK.

    Before closing I have to throw out this bit of ornithological trivia, and I'm curious why Hitchcok didn't use it in the film. There was in fact a reference to a flock of crows in the picture, but the more accurate description would have been a 'murder of crows'. Seriously, you could look it up, the term came about because a group of crows is known to kill an already dying animal in order to feed. A whole bunch of them looks kind of spooky too!
  • FiLmCrAzY
    March 29, 2011
    FiLmCrAzY
    OOH man i love Alfred Hitchcock but i do not love this movie. Maybe it was better in its time but i cannot appreciate this movie even a little because its just not that great.
    Although it kept me interested the storyline was pretty terrible and the ending was pretty abrupt as we... read morell.
    Not to sure id recommend this to anyone.
  • ironclad1609
    February 21, 2011
    ironclad1609
    Every time I show this film to a person below 25, it's apparent that viewing habits and audiences have changed in the last 20 years. When I was a kid this was one of the scariest films to stumble upon on a late Saturday night. The horror starts out very slowly, more like a romant... read moreic comedy kind of film. The signs get more and more, though, and once the birds attack it's still as terrifying as it was, even if not all of the special effects aged that well. Hitchcock also made sure to take his characters seriously, not throwing cardboard stereotype persons into this mess, but real complex characters. Plenty of scenes from this have gone down into pop culture, will be quote and referenced for decades. The fact that there is no explanation for the bird's behavior makes it even more disturbing. A classic.
  • sanjurosamurai
    January 15, 2011
    sanjurosamurai
    i really liked this movie a lot. this is a genuine classic with real suspense. the course of events that led ms. daniels to bodega bay was weakly built and the lack of explination of the bird attacks were weak points for me, but this was one of hitchcocks more enjoyable films. ... read more very good stuff.
  • ajv2688
    November 24, 2010
    ajv2688
    I really love the story in this movie, it's based on a short story, it's crazy good. If you haven't seen this movie, please go rent it. It's a classic Hitchcock film, and one of the best horror movies of the sixties.

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Critic Reviews

October 7, 2008
TIME Magazine

The movie flaps to a plotless end. Full Review

Variety Staff
September 21, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

Beneath all of this elaborate feather bedlam lies a Hitch cock-and-bull story that's essentially a fowl ball. Full Review

Dave Kehr
September 21, 2007
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Alfred Hitchcock's most abstract film (1963), and perhaps his subtlest, still yielding new meanings and inflections after a dozen or more viewings. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
January 1, 2000
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Mr. Hitchcock and his associates have constructed a horror film that should raise the hackles of the most courageous and put goose-pimples on the toughest hide. Full Review

Joyce Slaton
January 2, 2011
Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media

Classic Hitchcock horror film still gives the chills. Full Review

Scott Nash
August 17, 2010
Scott Nash, Three Movie Buffs

The only thing dated is the special effects. The suspense holds up very well. Full Review

Cole Smithey
June 17, 2009
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

Although not as horrifically shocking as "Psycho," "The Birds" is a more sophisticated film, and represents a high watermark in the prolific career of a true maestro of cinema. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
November 7, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Perhaps only a director of Hitchcock's caliber can make such a fowl story fly. Full Review

Ken Hanke
September 26, 2007
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Feels like it was made by a brilliant filmmaker who simply felt challenged by the enormity of the task. In that regard, it's close to 100 percent successful. Full Review

September 21, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

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. Full Review

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The Birds Trivia

  • In which Hitchcock movie, does the director make his cameo appearance leaving a pet store with several dogs on a leash?  Answer »
  • in the movie grease, the two groups/clubs are:   Answer »
  • "I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne:'Let my armies be the rocks,the trees,and the birds in the sky.'"  Answer »
  • Which of these films was the first to have an all electronic (no real instruments, all synthesised sound) soundtrack?  Answer »
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