"Why are they doing this.....the Birds?"

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2005)

Each time I see "The Birds" I am enthralled. And yet each time I get annoyed. I am one of those viewers duly recognizing the eternal genius of Hitchcock--and The Birds is right up there with the best of his films. For film magic to really take effect--one of course has to suspend disbelief. And while there are moments that I quibble with in each of his films in terms of common sense or in terms of the way people would really talk or react in the given situations--with "The Birds" there are so many more of those moments. OK--here goes:
What I love about "The Birds" 1. that famous scene of the birds circling down from the heavens over the burning gas station. 2. The great schoolyard scene--what a visual jolt the first time both Melanie Daniels and the viewer sees the full scope of the perched birds. (In that scene I even like that dumb song the kids are singing--I could sing it right now!!) 3. At the end of the scene where the family, in their own household cage, are surrounded by the frightening sounds of the bird attacks, and each character comes into view with the camera down below looking up at their eerily lit and haunted visage. Disorienting and Intriguing as could be. 4. The variety of the bird attacks--no two are the same--each one grows in intensity--and is so singular. One doesn't really prepare the viewer for the next one. 5. The electronic score. Mesmerizing--right from the word "Go"! 6. That well-needed moment of repose in the seaside diner with the assorted town characters all chattering away. We're in the middle of a cataclysm, in the middle of our roller-coaster ride, but we enjoy the humor, irony, and sort of comfort of these people all gathered together. (We would not want to be alone during an attack like this--we crave human contact.) 7. The beautiful visuals--whether of the ride up the coastal highway, or the curving Bodega Bay, or the School's majestic position on the hill. 8. The final, eerie landscape of the birds in closeup around the house--to an infinite distance. 9. The intriguing ending--leaving it all up to our imagination as to "what happens"--and making us want to see the film all over again to search for clues to what indeed happens. 10. Hitchcock's genuinely funny appearance at the beginning walking out the store with his two funny white dogs. Incongruous and adorable.
What I find annoying about "The Birds" 1. I'm sorry-- I know, I know--the opening helps set the mood, and there is lots of symbolism, and lots of Red Herrings as to where the plot might go--but it is still too damn long before anything "good" happens! 2. Some of the acting is just execrable. Tippi Hedron is beautiful--but that voice!! 3. The whiny kids! They had me rooting for the birds sometimes. 4. Why does Melanie leave the diner for the phone booth? Oh--the visuals in the phone booth are spectacular. But why did she do that? 5. Why does Mitch spend ALL that time hammering wooden boards onto the outside windows of his house, when he should have just taken his family and gotten the Heck out of there? (Of course that would have deprived us of some additional spectacular scenes.) But it just seems silly what he is doing. 6. The sound of Cathy throwing up. (As she delicately coughs a couple of times. If you listen really hard--you do hear the sound of a bit of a "throw-up sound"--but that may be wishful thinking! I say its just coughing!!) 7. Lydia's character. What an annoying human being. 8. Mitch's opening nastiness to Melanie. Melanie has to have real co- dependency issues to be drawn to him after that unpleasant exchange! I didn't buy it. 9. Some awkward camera shots--when the car explodes in flames, there are three frozen scenes of Teppi Hedron looking from her right to her left--it looks sort of silly. Also, the cook at the end of this scene suddenly runs in saying that the birds are leaving after everyone has already accepted that fact. It comes out inadvertently funny. 10. Cathy's immortal line: "Why are they doing this....the birds?"
It's a classic and a great movie, and who knows? Maybe some of the "lesser moments" adds to its classic, unforgettable reputation. I've seen this film more times than I can count--and if it were on tonight--I'd watch it again!