Tippi Hedren

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2004)

The Birds is no doubt a very good Hitchcock film that has stood the test of time pretty well. Some of the Special Effects are a bit amateurish by modern standards, but get the point across well enough in my opinion. I have to strongly disagree with many of the comments here regarding Tippi Hedren. I think her performance was quite good, especially for a first major role. She was just absolutely stunning to look at, especially in the opening scenes of the film in the Bird Shop. The basic premise of her character (i.e. the outwardly cool and confident female beauty possessing a core of vulnerability) was not new or groundbreaking. Grace Kelly made a brief and meteoric movie career playing this type of character, well before Tippi was discovered by Hitchcock. But Tippi was a beautiful and classy woman who gave a fine and appropriate performance in my opinion. Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette are great too. I was not real impressed with Rod Taylor's performance, but his character was possibly stiff and measured intentionally, as opposed to being poorly played. Great movie, a must see for all movie buffs and fans of classy old movie stars like Tippi Hedren.