The Birds ★★★½ 1963 (PG-13) Hitchcock attempted to top the success of "Psycho" with this terrifying tale of Man versus Nature, in which Nature alights, one by one, on the trees of Bodega Bay to stage a bloody act of revenge upon the civilized world. Only Hitchcock can twist the harmless into the horrific while avoiding the ridiculous; this is perhaps his most brutal film, and one of the cinema's purest, horrifying portraits of apocalypse. Based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier; screenplay by novelist Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain). 120m/C VHS, DVD. Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Veronica Cartwright, Suzanne Pleshette, Ethel Griffies, Charles McGraw, Ruth McDevitt, Lonny (Lonnie) Chapman, Joe Mantell, Morgan Brittany, Alfred Hitchcock;
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock;
Writer:
Evan Hunter;
Writer:
Robert Burks;
Cameo:
Bernard Herrmann.
