Bird
September 1988
4
4
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Synopsis
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4.5
24 total
5 17
4 5
3 0
2 0
1 2
Variety Staff
Sensitively acted, beautifully planned visually and dynamite musically, this is a dramatic telling of the troubled life of a revolutionary artist.
At last American cinema has done black music proud. Unforgettable.
Janet Maslin
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.
Desson Thomson
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.
Hal Hinson
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.
Roger Ebert
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.
Critic reviews
Variety Staff
Sensitively acted, beautifully planned visually and dynamite musically, this is a dramatic telling of the troubled life of a revolutionary artist.
Janet Maslin
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.
Desson Thomson
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.
Hal Hinson
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.
Roger Ebert
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.
User reviews
![The New Yorker avatar image](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7CsP_Y_QQjo/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAIc4/lVj4DUDWRIw/w48-c-h48/photo.jpg)
Richard Brody writes: “There’s nothing typical about the way that Eastwood depicts Parker’s addiction; what’s typical is the addiction of those (as seen in Eastwood’s depiction of the white trumpeter Red Rodney) who follow in his footsteps and make the mistake of thinking that jazz is nourished by drugs. Parker’s addiction is shown as a distinctively personal matter, his way of contending with, or eluding, his artistic demons.”
Cast and credits
Actors | Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Samuel E. Wright, Keith David |
Producers | David Valdes |
Director | Clint Eastwood |
Writers | Joel Oliansky |
Additional information
Rotten tomatoes® score
Audio language
Subtitles
English
Rental period
Start within 30 days, finish within 48 hours.
Run time
160 minutes
Rating
R
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