Movies:
Bird
DVD Release
- Release Date: 2001
- Languages: English and Français
- Subtitles: English, Français, Español, Portuguese
- Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
- Music-only audio track
- Interactive menus
- Cast/director film highlights
- Theatrical trailer
- Scene access
- Rating:
- Genre: Drama
- Movie Type: Musical Drama, Showbiz Drama
- Themes: Musician's Life, All Washed Up, Bohemian Life
- Director: Clint Eastwood
- Main Cast: Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Sam Wright, Keith David
- Release Year: 1988
- Country: US
- Run Time: 160 minutes
- MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Forest Whitaker stars as the brilliant jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker in this elegiac biopic. Director Clint Eastwood pays full homage to Parker's musical genius, but also devotes ample time to the musician's twin demons--drugs and alcohol-which accelerated his death at the age of 34. In his struggles to gain widespread acceptance for his music, "Bird" is forever stymied by his own self-destructiveness, and forever bailed out by the love of his life, Chan Richardson Parker (Diane Venora). The film bemoans the demise of "cool" jazz in favor of conventional, as illustrated by the "descent" into the mainstream of Parker's mentor Buster Franklin. Also starring in Bird is Samuel E. Wright as Dizzy Gillespie. That's the real Charlie "Bird" Parker on the film's soundtrack, though most of the background music has been re-orchestrated. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
Apart from being a notorious tough guy, actor/director Clint Eastwood is also a notorious jazz aficionado, and Bird is his sprawling, impressive tribute to one of the great jazz saxophonists of all time, Charlie "Bird" Parker. Parker, one of the originators of bebop, died at an early age due to a long-standing relationship with the high life. Forest Whitaker, who won best actor at the Cannes Film Festival for this role, does an excellent job of capturing the larger-than-life, ultimately destructive man whom many credit for inventing "cool." The film follows Whitaker's somber example, eluding explanations or historical documentation. Though Eastwood has made some very fine movies as a director, Bird is certainly his most accomplished and mature visually. He pulls out techniques that one might not have suspected he had. He also breaks away from the straightforward narrative style of his mentors, Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. Eastwood's almost impressionistic memory montage as Bird lays dying is probably the most striking directorial achievement that he has produced. The narrative is a bit too disorganized to deliver the full thematic punch that the movie strives for, but the performances of (Whitaker and Diane Venora as Bird's wife) and the lasting images make it a significant achievement for Eastwood behind the camera. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie GuideCast
- Forest Whitaker - Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
- Diane Venora - Chan Richardson Parker
- Michael Zelniker - Red Rodney
- Sam Wright - Dizzy Gillespie
- Keith David - Buster Franklin
Michael McGuire - Brewster; James Handy - Esteves; Damon Whitaker - Young Bird; Morgan Nagler - Kim; Jason Bernard - Benny Tate; Hamilton Camp - Mayor of 52nd Street; Bill Cobbs - Dr. Caulfield; Tony Cox - Pee Wee Marquette; Peter Crook - Bird's Lawyer; Lou Cutell - Bride's Father; Jo de Winter - Mildred Berg; Roger Etienne - Parisian MC; Matthew Faison - Judge; Joey Green - Gene; Anna Levine - Audrey; Richard Mawe - Medical Examiner; Billy Mitchell - Billy Prince; Al Pugliese - Owner of Three Deuces; Sam Robards - Moscowitz; Tim Russ - Harris; Diane Salinger - Baroness Nica; Arlen Dean Snyder - Dr. Heath; Don Starr - Doctor at Nica's; Tony Todd - Frog; Ann Weldon - Violet Welles; Penelope Windust - Bellevue Nurse; John Witherspoon - Sid; Steve Zettler - Owner of Oasis Club; Richard McKenzie - Southern Doctor; George Orrison - Patient with Checkers; Slim Jim Phantom - Grainger; Glenn Wright - Alcoholic Patient; Charley Lang - DJ at the Paramount; John Miller - Southern Doctor; Johnny Adams - Bartender; Chris Bosley - Doorman; George T. Bruce - Doorman; Patricia Herd - Nun; Richard Jeni - Chummy Morello; Hubert Kelly - John Wilson; Duane Matthews - Engineer; Gretchen Oehler - Southern Nurse; Alec Paul Rubinstein - Recording Producer; Natalia Silverwood - Red's Girlfriend; Karl Vincent - Stratton; Richard Zavaglia - Ralph, the Narc
