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Movies / On DVD / Bird
Bird

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Bird (1988)

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Reviews Counted:18

Fresh:13

Rotten:5

Average Rating:6.4/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Charlie "Bird" Parker had been a hero of Clint Eastwood's since childhood, and Eastwood, having been disappointed in such jazz biopics as YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, really wanted to make a true jazz... Charlie "Bird" Parker had been a hero of Clint Eastwood's since childhood, and Eastwood, having been disappointed in such jazz biopics as YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, really wanted to make a true jazz fan's movie about the music. He cast Forest Whitaker as Parker, the legendary alto sax player, and Diane Venora as Chan, Parker's wife. The film shows how Parker, a genius who changed the face of modern music, was hampered and eventually destroyed by his appetite for women, food, and drugs. The two leads do a great job giving a recognizable human face to the characters' complex relationship. With wit and warmth, BIRD tells the story in direct and honest terms, avoiding all sentimentality. Eastwood's love of Parker's music comes across in the tremendous care that he and composer Lennie Niehaus took with reconstructing it, using Parker's original solos. Eastwood and cinematographer Jack N. Green also patterned the dark, moody look of the film after old photos of musicians who used to appear in jazz magazines. Music lovers will be thrilled with the result, and movie lovers will find plenty to engage them in this moving tale of a great man battling his demons. [More]

Starring: Forest Whitaker, Diane Verona, Michael Zelniker, Keith David

Starring: Forest Whitaker, Diane Verona, Michael Zelniker, Keith David

Director: Clint Eastwood

Director: Clint Eastwood

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jan 30, 2001

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Bird

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1 - 18 (sorted by date)
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Sensitively acted, beautifully planned visually and dynamite musically, this is a dramatic telling of the troubled life of a revolutionary artist.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The greatest strength of Clint Eastwood's bio-pic tribute to jazz saxophone great Charlie 'Bird' Parker, is its dark and haunting mood.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
06/05/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

At last American cinema has done black music proud. Unforgettable.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out

Eastwood shows a Parker that is haunted by his boyhood addiction, and shows off the innumerable people who loved his talent who were let down by him time and again.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Brad Laidman
Brad Laidman
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
07/14/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
02/18/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Eastwood made the switch from Hollywood icon to great world director with his viciously underrated Bird.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/15/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Overlong, and reeking of prestige.

comment Comment
03/18/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Eastwood clearly is committed to presenting Bird to his audience with all of his complexities and contradictions intact.

Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
01/03/04
Jeremy Heilman
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com

No review available.

comment Comment
11/13/03
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Whitaker gives a towering performance as the tortured musical genius, and Venora is equally impressive as the independent, compassionate Chan.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/30/03
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Bird is less moving as a character study than it is as a tribute and as a labor of love. The portrait it offers, though hazy at times, is one Charlie Parker's admirers will recognize.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

"a well-produced downer that moves like a funeral procession"

comment Comment
07/29/02
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Las Vegas Mercury

Reduced to the bare bones of people and plot, the film winds up dancing around the edges of questions it doesn’t answer -- straight-ahead rhythm coupled with straight-ahead melody, and not quite enough depth to either one.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
04/11/01
Scott Renshaw
Scott Renshaw
Apollo Guide

Whitaker sweats, vomits, blows and wails as the Bird (so named for hanging around jazz clubs like a yardbird), laying in some minor-key grace to Parker's self-destruction along the way. But he never lets you into his darkest fears.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Even though, thematically, the movie won't come clear, Eastwood has succeeded so thoroughly in communicating his love of his subject, and there's such vitality in the performances, that we walk out elated, juiced on the actors and the music.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Hal Hinson
Hal Hinson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Whitaker occupies this world as a large, friendly, sometimes taciturn man who tries to harm nobody and who cannot understand why the world would not let him play his music. Neither can we.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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