The troubled life and career of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker (Forest Whitaker).
Director:
Clint EastwoodWriter:
Joel Oliansky
From metacritic.com
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| 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 | |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
See All (31) »
Storyline
Saxophone player Charlie "Bird" Parker (Forest Whitaker) comes to New York City in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict, but his loving wife Chan (Diane Venora) tries to help him.
Plot Keywords:
drug addict | jazz music | saxophonist | african american | interracial relationship |Taglines:
"There are no second acts in American lives." - F. Scott FitzgeraldParents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
30 September 1988 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Yardbird Suite See more »Filming Locations:
Greystone Park & Mansion - 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$9,000,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend USA:
$27,116, 2 October 1988Gross USA:
$2,181,286Cumulative Worldwide Gross:
$2,181,286Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Dolby StereoColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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See more »
Performed by Charlie Parker, John Guerin plus strings
Courtesy of S. J. Records/Ed Chalpin PPX
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Richard Pryor was actually involved in a project to portray Charlie Parker on film at Columbia Pictures in the early 1980s, but had a falling-out with studio executives and left. When Eastwood came on-board to direct, he opted for a lesser-known talent in Forest Whitaker to star. See more »Goofs
When Bird is dictates the telegram to be sent to Chan, it's printed as he speaks. He says "Forgive me for not being in the hospital with you," but the telegram reads "Forgive me for not being there with you while you were at the hospital." See more »Quotes
Charlie 'Bird' Parker: There's going to be a Birdland in every city one day. There's gonna be a Birdland in Chicago, a Birdland in Detroit, a Birdland right across the street from Camarillo. I am the liberator of Paris and you are a motherfucking afterthought!See more »
Crazy Credits
Pre-titles card: "There are no second acts in American lives." - F. Scott Fitzgerald See more »Soundtracks
Parker's MoodPerformed by Charlie Parker, John Guerin plus strings
Courtesy of S. J. Records/Ed Chalpin PPX
See more »
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I feel as though the film did not do justice to the musically phenomenal life "Bird" went through. He was one of the most influential Jazz musicians crating an entire style of music. Which i felt was not portrayed fully. As one of the comments i've heard before stated "it seemed they had a choice between Charlie Parker as a musical genius or Charlie Parker as a junkie and they chose junkie."
I felt as though the musicians playing the bird solo's did a bad job reflecting his "sound." As in Charlie Parker had a sound that filled up an entire room with complicated be-bop phrasings and with a blues background. While the musicians just had him playing fast notes most of the time which was sometimes difficult to hear over back ground noise, very "unbird like".
However i did enjoy moments of the film, that showed even Charlie Parker had to play some weird gigs.
My last point is that it felt as though Chan Parker was portrayed as a stable part of bird's life, and was one of the central idea's of the film. As in the love story between him and his wife, with a love hate relationship. Which i think could have been less focused on and centralized more around Charlie Parkers music.
i do understand that Chan actually helped the script writer to write the film so it may have been a somewhat biased perspective.