The Birds (1963)

Usually whenever I watch a so-called "classic" film that I've never seen, just heard about, I always come away disappointed. I remember seeing bits and pieces of this one when I was younger and thinking "why in the hell are these birds attacking everyone"? Well, I was still thinking the same thing some twenty years later, but I'm happy to report that I was not in the least bit disappointed. A small seaside community is stricken with a very serious problem as of late. The local bird population of gulls, crows, finches, etc. has inexplicably started to attack the population. The reason for this is thankfully never explained, and this lack of explanation only adds to the film. It takes a while to get going, but once we get out of that annoying character development stuff and down to some serious bird mayhem, the shit really hits the fan. Loaded with terrific shots of the bird army massing its troops, watch for the part prior to the schoolyard attack scene, where a legion of crows gathers on the school's playground equipment. Cool stuff. The trick photography used to show the birds attacking is done quite well, and in my mind stands up to some of the CGI crap we see nowadays. I also enjoyed the fact that there was no soundtrack to the film, which gave it a very peculiar quality. I really got a kick out of the scene where the birds attack the school kids, something funny about seeing a bunch of ten year olds being swarmed by killer crows and seagulls...or maybe it's just me? Great fun and a classic, of which it lived up to everything I have heard about...and damn is that rare!