Bird

Theatrical Release Date: 1988 09 30 (USA)

UPC: 883929126392

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Profanity]

Summary: 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 decline of the brand of jazz fathered by Parker, which came to be replaced by more conventional material -- 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, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – null Best Supporting Actress – null Best Director – null Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actor – Cannes Film Festival Grand Technical Prize – Cannes Film Festival Best Supporting Actress – New York Film Critics Circle Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Music-only audio track
Theatrical trailer
Whitaker,

Bird

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 06/01/2010

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 160 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Bird
1. Early Days [1:59]
2. Lester Leaps In [2:10]
3. After-Hours Humoring [5:09]
4. Bad Medicine [1:57]
5. The Substitute Is Pain [3:03]
6. If I'm Straight [3:26]
7. Special, Creative Man [2:05]
8. Mayor of 52nd Street [2:49]
9. Kansas City [4:00]
10. You'll Dig Him [2:59]
11. With Dizzy AT 4 A.M. [3:17]
12. In Pursuit of Chan [4:04]
13. "You Stop Reading My Mind." [5:11]
14. Esteves and Mrs. Berg [3:40]
15. Mounted Homecoming [2:21]
16. Chan's Revelation [3:45]
17. Contributing Factors [1:00]
18. Bebop Invades... [4:58]
19. Calling on Stravinsky [2:24]
20. Bebop Banned [2:11]
21. Recording Studio [3:50]
22. A Reunion and a Ride [4:37]
23. "Don't Ever Leave..." [2:14]
24. Glory in France [3:12]
25. Junkies Abroad [2:58]
26. Society Gig [3:49]
27. South With the Albino Red [5:44]
28. Now's the Time [6:17]
29. The Fix: Bird's Fault [4:42]
30. Back At Birdland [2:48]
31. Rodney Busted [3:30]
32. Laura Montage [3:50]
33. "You Have a Daughter." [3:21]
34. Not the Way It Works [2:40]
35. His Song [2:35]
36. Paradise [1:40]
37. Martyr in the Making [2:45]
38. Teelgrams [5:44]
39. Inside the Melody [4:29]
40. Moving Out of the City [3:31]
41. Rock 'N' Roll [4:02]
42. Showing Up Eventually [3:01]
43. Hating to Hang Up [3:27]
44. Nica's Doorstep [2:45]
45. Balancing Act Over [3:07]
46. Coroner's Report [1:08]
47. Coda, Dedication and End Credits [5:59]

Brendon Hanley

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, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jason Bernard  Actor 
Roger Etienne  Actor 
Richard McKenzie  Actor 
Chris Bosley  Actor 
Natalia Silverwood  Actor 
Don Starr  Actor 
John Miller  Actor 
Gretchen Oehler  Actor 
Bill Cobbs  Actor 
Joey Green  Actor 
Sam Robards  Actor 
Slim Jim Phantom  Actor 
Patricia Herd  Actor 
Richard Zavaglia  Actor 
Peter Crook  Actor 
Anna Levine  Actor 
Diane Salinger  Actor 
John Witherspoon  Actor 
Glenn Wright  Actor 
Hubert Kelly  Actor 
Hamilton Camp  Actor 
Matthew Faison  Actor 
Al Pugliese  Actor 
Ann Weldon  Actor 
George Orrison  Actor 
George T. Bruce  Actor 
Karl Vincent  Actor 
Jo de Winter  Actor 
Billy Mitchell  Actor 
Tony Todd  Actor 
Steve Zettler  Actor 
Johnny Adams  Actor 
Alec Paul Rubinstein  Actor 
Tony Cox  Actor 
Tim Russ  Actor 
Penelope Windust  Actor 
Richard Jeni  Actor 
Lou Cutell  Actor 
Richard Mawe  Actor 
Arlen Dean Snyder  Actor 
Charley Lang  Actor 
Duane Matthews  Actor 
Clint Eastwood  Director 
Clint Eastwood  Producer 
Lennie Niehaus  Composer (Music Score) 
Joel Oliansky  Screenwriter 
David Valdes  Executive Producer 
David Valdes  Producer 
Brad Valdes  Executive Producer 
Forest Whitaker  Actor 
Diane Venora  Actor 
Michael Zelniker  Actor 
Sam Wright  Actor 
Keith David  Actor 
Michael McGuire  Actor 
James Handy  Actor 
Damon Whitaker  Actor 
Morgan Nagler  Actor 

Country: USA