Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...

Bodega Bay, CaliforniaExcept for the opening scene in San Francisco, The Birds is set completely in Bodega Bay, a real town on the California coast about an hour north of San Francisco. Bodega Bay...

Whose Story Is It, Anyway?The narrative progression in The Birds is pretty straightforward in the sense that it's linear—no flashbacks, flash-forwards, or fantasy sequences. Still, Hitchcock does...

HorrorHitchcock was known for his suspense films, and yes, the film has a boatload of suspense.But, The Birds was his first shot at a straight-up horror-genre film. He nailed it: it's chock full of...

The Birds is a pretty straightforward title. You've got a movie about bird attacks here. You don't call it The Chipmunks.The title does reiterate something important, though, which is that those bi...

Great question.The original ending of The Birds was supposed to be a lot more elaborate. Mitch and family were supposed to drive through the town and see devastation and dead people. There were sup...

PG-13Here's the deal: Mitch and Melanie kiss once, and there's a certain understanding that maybe they might want to have sex someday, but everyone is too repressed to say anything about it.But, th...