THE BIRDS (1963)
Hitchcock’s daring experiment with animal actors would have worked so much better if not for the fairly sloppy use of Disney’s fairly sloppy sodium vapor process effects, the kind used in Mary Poppins. There’s no denying the creepiness of some iconic sequences or the originality of The Birds, but unless it’s cartoon penguins you’re dealing with, these effects look really, really unconvincing. The Birds‘ over-the-top hysteria is compromised by way-too-obvious matte work, children running on a treadmill while birds are thrown at them, and yet another disturbing ice-queen rape scene (also with birds thrown) that seems just downright sinister in retrospect. Otherwise, a pop masterpiece and unlike anything before or since. Veronica Cartwright Award for the presence of the incomparable Veronica Cartwright.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrN_U830_Gc
The Birds (Collector’s Edition)
Thats a great selection and the inclusion of Airport 75 is genius.
Guess you don’t watch a lot of foreign cinema 😉 I can name a number of bonkytits pictures that leave most of these in the dust. Week End (1967), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Diabel (1974), The Laughing Woman (1969), Last Year at Marienbad (1961), anything by Lars von Trier… And how come Zabriskie Point (1970) didn’t make this list? Classic.
You forgot the award in Magnolia: The Tom Cruise Award for the presence of the incomparably self-important Tom Cruise. I know… it’s so obvious it’s redundant…