Birds of Prey Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Birds of Prey Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 3, 2026

José Giovanni's "Birds of Prey" (1968) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Sam Deighan and remastered original trailer. In French and Spanish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The French import

In the summer of 1938, Mexican poachers operating a small fishing boat reach Vera Cruz and unload a former French prisoner-turned-professional assassin known as The Vulture (Lino Ventura). From there, while constantly using different secondary roads, the assassin moves south and, eventually, crosses the border of an unnamed country, where a trusted contact picks him up. Some hours later, in a rural town, the assassin is greeted by Calvez (Augusto Benedico), who has hired him to do a job.

But while expressing his satisfaction that the assassin has reached his destination, Calvez describes a different, far more complicated and dangerous job than the one they have shaken hands on. Now, the assassin must take out the country’s president, who will soon secretly visit a middle-aged socialite (Rosa Furman) living in the area, not a local dignitary moving around with his bodyguards. The killing of the president is expected to ignite a revolution, managed by Calvez and his associates, that will install the country's next leader, the grandson of the former president, praised as a young visionary ready to represent the interests of its people and consequently transform the entire region. Calvez then introduces the next leader of the country, Chico (Xavier Marc), who has been quietly standing next to him.

After forcing Calvez to hand him all $20,000 for the upgraded job in advance, the assassin and Chico begin waiting for the president to appear in the area.

In the hours that follow, the two men make fascinating discoveries about each other. The assassin realizes that Chico, despite coming from an aristocratic environment, genuinely believes in the revolution and explicitly trusts Calvez and his associates to reset the balance of power in the country for the benefit of its people. Chico also realizes that the assassin is not just a traveling executioner, but a seasoned pragmatist with an impressive knowledge of politics.

At the right time, the assassin puts a bullet in the president’s head. Then, as the assassin has predicted, he and Chico become targets for Calvez and his associates.

Reformed gangster Jose Giovanni’s second feature film, Birds of Prey, is his most unusual because it is a contemporary western disguised as a crime thriller. In fact, it has so much in common with Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dynamite that it genuinely looks and feels like a small French prelude to the notorious spaghetti western masterpiece.

Ventura’s assassin is a smaller, rougher replica of Rod Steiger’s bandit. Both characters are outsiders and ruthless pragmatists who describe the revolution as a giant scam initiated by ideological manipulators and hypocrites and carried out by naïve peasants trading their lives for utopian lies. Before Ventura’s assassin reaches the rural town, the hypocrites are even seen discussing the giant scam and how his unavoidable elimination benefits them. Ventura’s assassin is simply not as outspoken and cynical as Steiger’s bandit.

Of course, Giovanni, as a director, is not in the same league as Leone, either. While looking beautiful, Birds of Prey does not produce the same grand visuals seen in A Fistful of Dynamite. In a few places, it is oddly edited as well. However, it has Ventura at his prime, and the great French actor effortlessly transforms it into a special film.

Birds of Prey is loosely based on Scottish crime novelist John Carrick’s book The Vulture, published in 1964.

Birds of Prey Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Birds of Prey arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release introduces a recent 4K restoration, completed on behalf of StudioCanal. When compared to older presentations of Birds of Prey, the 4K restoration is an undeniable upgrade in quality. However, it is not the all-around stunner that it could and should have been. It produces stable, usually attractive visuals, all boasting solid density levels. Also, it is not plagued by problematic digital corrections such as degraining, sharpening, contrast boosting, etc. The inconsistencies in its quality are a byproduct of a less-than-ideal color grading job, which does not set all primaries and supporting nuances exactly where they need to be. For example, primary blue is often quite weak, while different ranges of green and yellow nuances impact the overall color temperature of the film. (This is a common occurrence on select new 4K restorations completed on behalf of StudioCanal. It is also present on the 4K restoration of Can't Stop the Music). As a result, in some areas, featuring outdoor and indoor footage, color balance and the dynamic range of select visuals do not impress. Fortunately, there are no serious anomalies, and even with the inconsistencies highlighted above, Birds of Prey still retains a rather decent period appearance. There are no distracting cuts, debris, marks, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Birds of Prey Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with substantial portions of Spanish). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is very healthy. I had the volume of my system turned up quite a bit and did not notice any age-related anomalies to report in our review. A modest music score by François de Roubaix (Le Samouraï) does not create any memorable dynamic contrasts, either. However, the action material has a rather impressive authentic quality. The English translation is excellent, but the size of the English subtitles is a bit too small for my taste.

Birds of Prey Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Samm Deighan.

• Trailer - presented here is a restored original trailer for Birds of Prey. In French, with English subtitles. (5 min).

Birds of Prey Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Lino Ventura dominates Birds of Prey in the same manner he does The Big Risk. However, Birds of Prey is a very different film, and not only because Ventura is not in the company of various other great actors. Reformed gangster Jose Giovanni's second feature film is a contemporary western disguised as a crime thriller, surprisingly easy to describe as a small French prelude to Sergio Leone's masterpiece A Fistful of Dynamite. Kino Lorber's upcoming Blu-ray release introduces a recent 4K restoration, completed on behalf of StudioCanal, that should have been more convincing. However, it is the best presentation of Birds of Prey I have seen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.