MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 7 this week

The Birds (1963)

7.8
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.8/10 from 84,817 users  
Reviews: 394 user | 146 critic

A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.

Director:

Writers:

(story), (screenplay)
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 964 titles created 10 Mar 2012
 
a list of 1269 titles created 6 months ago
 
a list of 138 titles created 10 months ago
 
a list of 1270 titles created 10 months ago
 
a list of 223 titles created 8 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Birds (1963)

The Birds (1963) on IMDb 7.8/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Birds.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The Hunger (1983)
Fantasy | Horror | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

The Egyptian vampire lady Miriam subsists upon the blood of her lovers. In return the guys or girls don't age... until Miriam has enough of them. Unfortunately that's currently the case ... See full summary »

Director: Tony Scott
Stars: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon
The Exorcist (1973)
Horror | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

Director: William Friedkin
Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb
Halloween (1978)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.

Director: John Landis
Stars: Joe Belcher, David Naughton, Griffin Dunne
The Innocents (1961)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.

Director: Jack Clayton
Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins
Dracula (1992)
Drama | Horror | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

The vampire comes to England to seduce a visitor's fiancée and inflict havoc in the foreign land.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

After Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula at his castle (apparently somewhere in Germany), the vampire travels to a nearby city, where he preys on the family of Harker's fiancée. The only one ... See full summary »

Director: Terence Fisher
Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough
1408 (2007)
Horror | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.

Director: Mikael Håfström
Stars: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack
Horror | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

After a teenager has a terrifying vision of him and his friends dying in a plane crash, he prevents the accident only to have Death hunt them down, one by one.

Director: James Wong
Stars: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of the brutest torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died ... See full summary »

Director: Roger Corman
Stars: Vincent Price, John Kerr, Barbara Steele
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

Dr. Caligari's somnambulist, Cesare, and his deadly predictions.

Director: Robert Wiene
Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher
Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes to plan.

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Stars: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Melanie Daniels (as 'Tippi' Hedren)
...
...
...
...
...
...
Doreen Lang ...
Hysterical Mother in Diner
...
...
...
Deputy Al Malone
...
Drunken Doomsayer in Diner
...
Helen Carter
Lonny Chapman ...
...
Edit

Storyline

Melanie Daniels is the modern rich socialite, part of the jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favor. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends the weekends with his mother Lydia and younger sister Cathy. Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. A seagull attacks Melanie as she is crossing the bay in a small boat, and then, Lydia finds her neighbor dead, obviously the victim of a bird attack. Soon, birds in the hundreds and thousands are attacking anyone they find out of doors. There is no explanation as to why this might be happening, and as the birds continue their vicious attacks, survival becomes the priority. Written by garykmcd

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Nothing You Have Ever Witnessed Before Has Prepared You for Such Sheer Stabbing Shock! See more »

Genres:

Horror | Thriller

Certificate:

TV-PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

30 May 1963 (Argentina)  »

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds  »

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Westrex Recording System) (uncredited)

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

When audiences left the film's UK premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further. See more »

Goofs

After the seagull attacks Melanie on the boat, her hair appears disarranged. The next shot shows her hair neatly arranged again. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Melanie Daniels: Hello there, Mrs. MacGruder.
Mrs. MacGruder, pet store clerk: Oh, hello, Miss Daniels.
Melanie Daniels: Have you ever seen so many gulls? What do you suppose it is?
Mrs. MacGruder, pet store clerk: Well, there must be a storm at sea, that can drive them inland, you know. I was hoping you'd be a little late because he hadn't arrived yet.
Melanie Daniels: Oh, but you'd said three o'clock...
Mrs. MacGruder, pet store clerk: Oh I know, I know. I've been calling all morning. Oh, Miss Daniels you have no idea. They are so difficult to get, really they are. We have to get them from India, when they're just baby chicks,...
[...]
See more »

Crazy Credits

There were no ending credits. And in the opening credits the title "THE BIRDS" was slowly pecked a way by the passing crows. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Willard (2003) See more »

Soundtracks

"Arabesque nr. 1 in E"
(1888) (uncredited)
Claude Debussy
Played on the piano by Tippi Hedren
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

A Masterpiece
20 August 1999 | by (London, England) – See all my reviews

Another film to prove that Hitchcock really was one of the most gifted film makers ever. His films are more 'fresh' today than any of current Hollywood megabuster.

The screeching bird soundtrack in itself was chilling.

The absence of backgound music added a sense of calm before the storm which made the bird attack scenes all the more intense.

The film builds up slowly and that serves to build up the tension and edginess.

The most chilling scene was definitely when Melanie (Tippi Hedren) was waiting outside the school while the singing was going on in the school. At each loop of the song, a few more crows would perch on the climbing frame. The site of them was truly grotesque. This scene is a lesson to all the "subtle as a sledge hammer" so called 'thrillers' that are churned out today.

By the end of the film, there is no conclusion, no neat result. It is somewhat uncomfortable watching a film like this and not seeing a conclusion. How will it end? Why did the birds attack?

Why spoil the film with an explanation?


55 of 79 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
extremelly dissapointed in this movie mcfrlgr
why does the old birdlady say: birds of the FIVE continents? zyggums
The new restoration debuts tonight. If you see it... Stuart Gardner
Dropping a match into gasoline astro218
Extremely overrated Rudykb
Theory: Lydia is Melanie's Mother? debasernyc
Discuss The Birds (1963) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?