The Birds (1963)
Along with Psycho, Vertigo and North By Northwest, The Birds is the most well known of all Alfred Hitchcock's work but it's the subject matter of birds violently attacking the residents of small Californian coastal town Bodega Bay that gives it it's classic status rather than the actual film itself because as far as classic Hitchcock suspense goes it comes in way below any of the other three.
It takes the first hour of it's two hour running time before there's a bird attack but then it's all full throttle until the end. Lead actress Tippi Hedren comes across as unlikable for the most part while Rod Taylor is wooden as the heroic male.
The Birds is also a film not best served by high definition as the special effects often look clunky and the model work stands out for all the wrong reasons but looking beyond that the bird attacks are well crafted and suitably chilling. The actual footage of masses of birds, often sitting in their thousands on buildings and telegraph wires are excellent and make the film genuinely memorable. The best scene for me of birds in the film is the two Love Birds caged in Hedren's car on the journey to Bodega Bay swaying from side to side in tandem as she takes the corners on the picturesque coastal highway.
As far as American horror of the sixties goes The Birds is good but as far as Hitchcock goes it's slightly above average.
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