Bird (1988)

Regisseur:

Clint Eastwood

Drehbuchautor (WGA):

Joel Oliansky (written by)

Premierendatum:

30. September 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Biographie | Drama | Musik

Werbezeile:

"There are no second acts in American lives." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot:

The troubled life and career of the jazz musician, Charlie "Bird" Parker.

Plot Keywords:

Saxophonist | Drug Addict | Drug Addiction | Eiffel Tower Paris | Electroconvulsive Therapy

Filmpreise:

Won Oscar. Another 7 wins & 6 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

Ornithology

Besetzung

Forest Whitaker	...	Charlie 'Bird' Parker
Diane Venora	...	Chan Parker
Michael Zelniker	...	Red Rodney
Samuel E. Wright	...	Dizzy Gillespie
Keith David	...	Buster Franklin
Michael McGuire	...	Brewster
James Handy	...	Esteves
Damon Whitaker	...	Young Bird
Morgan Nagler	...	Kim
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Dr. Heath
Sam Robards	...	Moscowitz
Penelope Windust	...	Bellevue Nurse
Glenn Wright	...	Alcoholic Patient (as Glenn T. Wright)
George Orrison	...	Patient with Checkers
Bill Cobbs	...	Dr. Caulfield

Alternativ:

Bird (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

161 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby

Altersfreigabe:

Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:12 | UK:15 | Spain:13 | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-10 | Norway:10 | Sweden:11 | USA:R | Germany:12 | Iceland:12

Drehorte:

Birds Landing, California, USA

Firma:

Malpaso Company, The

Dies und das:

Clint Eastwood approached Chan Richardson, Charlie Parker's common-law wife on whose memoirs the script was based, for input. She gave Eastwood a collection of lost recordings unlocked from a bank vault.

Pannen:

Anachronismus: When Charlie Parker goes to Dizzy Gillespie's house in the middle of the night and asks Dizzy to write down a tune, the year is 1953. The tune is "Now's the Time", which was published and recorded in 1949.

Dialogzitate:

Chan Parker: Dizzy sent you a birthday card. Seems he's back in town. Do you owe him a phone call?
Charlie Parker: I owe Dizzy everything...except a phone call.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Ausschnittsweise enthalten in "The Blues" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Why Do I Love You

Ornithology

"Bird" will probably be most appreciated by jazz fans who come to it already familiar with Charlie Parker and his incalculable contributions to jazz and influence on generations of musicians that continues to this day. The script contains many shorthand references that might be lost on the average moviegoer -- e.g., Parker calls Dizzy Gillespie "Birks," which was his middle name, but many people probably don't know that.

But there is the music, and tons of it. There are extraordinary performances by Forest Whitaker as Parker, and Diane Venora as his common law wife, Chan. In many ways the film seems more a love story than the standard musical biopic. Chan was unfailingly supportive of Bird, despite his self-destructive drug use, alcoholism and chronic infidelity. He loved her in his own way, and I think she realized that she was in love with a genius who would forever be plagued by demons, and that she couldn't have one without the other.

Clint Eastwood's love of jazz is well-known, and in "Bird" he provides a wealth of wonderful music, beautifully performed. The actual playing of Charlie Parker is augmented by accompaniment from contemporary musicians, and Parker has never sounded better. Eastwood also provides an unflinching portrayal of the complicated lives of jazz musicians, and the addictions to which so many succumb.

Despite the mess that Bird made of his life, he remains a charming and sympathetic figure. And his music, years ahead of its time, and so complex that countless fledging saxophone players have attempted to copy his recordings note for note, will forever live on.