Reacquaint with "The Birds"

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2011)

Hitchcock's 1963 drama/horror/thriller "The Birds" details the story of a city woman (Tippi Hedren) going to the rural coastal town Bodega Bay to play a coquettish prank on a lawyer whom she met in San Francisco (Rod Taylor). As she starts to get to know the town the birds mysteriously attack in force.
"The Birds" might well be the first official nature-runs-amok flick, which were made hugely popular a dozen years later with the release of "Jaws," the film that opened the Pandora's box to creatures-on-the-loose flicks.
I believe "The Birds" should be enjoyed at face value as a simple story of birds mysteriously attacking a coastal hamlet, but a more allegorical interpretation is that Melanie (Hedren) represents modern ideas that attempt to infect the rural communities where people live and think in a simpler, more conservative way. The village is not ready to accept and incorporate these "new" concepts and so nature itself attempts to vomit out the infection, irregardless of hometown damage and casualties. Yet this interpretation seems to be rejected by the film itself in the restaurant scene where the mother with two kids hysterically rebukes Melanie for supposedly causing the bird attacks; when Melanie slaps the mother, this irrational notion is 'slapped' out of the viewer as well, as if to say, "That's stupid. Melanie is not the cause of this, literally or figuratively."
WHAT DOESN'T WORK (supposedly):

For the better part of an hour the story plays out as a slow drama, which will likely turn off those with ADHD. Personally, I find this approach refreshing in light of the frenetic editing and absurd action sequences of modern "blockbusters." Films like "The Birds" seem almost daring by comparison; in fact, it's startling. Besides, the beautiful Bodega Bay photography provides some nice backdrop eye-candy to help maintain one's attention with the soap operatics.

One obvious plot hole is: Why do Melanie, the schoolmarm and the kids flee the schoolhouse? Wouldn't it be wiser to simply blockade themselves in an inner room with no windows? Or maybe there isn't such an interior room big enough to fit all the kids; after all, it appears to be a fairly small schoolhouse.

Complaints about Melanie's supposedly lame prank on Mitch (Taylor) are nitpicking at best; and criticisms of Melanie foolishly searching for the source of a mysterious sound -- even though she must know what it is -- can easily be chalked up to curiosity killing the cat (for instance, while stopping by Point Pleasant, WV, on vacation in 2005 I went into an old abandoned building that used to be a home for troubled kids back in the day; my wife refused to go any where near the creepy domicile but I HAD to go in and look around; even the satanic graffiti and shocked birds flying out the windows didn't deter me!).

After recently seeing films like the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", I can hardly find "The Birds" horrifying, although I certainly find it very entertaining. Really, the creepiest aspect of the movie is Mitch's hovering, suspicious mother, played by Jessica Tandy -- whoa, is she scary.

The age difference of Mitch and his sister seems off. Taylor (Mitch) was 33 years-old during filming, although he looks to be more like 40 or older, but his sister in the story (Veronica Cartwright) was only 13. That's a twenty-year difference. I could see her being his daughter, but his sister? Also, if Veronica is 13 that means his creepy mother had sex a mere 13 years before -- and that's a really scary thought!

WHAT WORKS:

As noted above, the slow dialogue-driven drama of the first hour is actually appealing in light of the modern glut of moronic cgi-laden, frenetically-edited drivel, not to mention the awesome coastal Northern California cinematography.

Viewing the film is like going back in time to the early 60s. It's entertaining to see the clothing and decor styles, as well as social interactions, etc.

Although I don't find Tippi sexy, I do enjoy her facial expressions. I know this is an odd comment, but she does have that Paul Stanley pouty lips rockstar expression down pat.

Suzanne Pleshette's in the cast -- now SHE's sexy.

There are numerous memorable and thrilling sequences -- the various bird attacks, the guy with no eye balls, the phone booth scene, etc. I also enjoyed the interesting discussion on birds in the diner sequence.

!!END SPOILER!! I love the mysterious way the film ends with no explanation or dialogue. The sea of birds seem to permit their departure, even though the fowls could easily stop them if they wanted.

The film runs 2 hours.
GRADE: A-