Forest Whitaker
Charlie 'Bird' Parker
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Drama
Music
Saxophone player Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker comes to New York in 1940 and is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
Top Billed Cast
| Release Date | 1988-06-01 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 2h 41m |
| Directors | Clint Eastwood, Jack N. Green |
| Producers | David Valdes, Clint Eastwood |
| Writer | Joel Oliansky |
I personally found 'Bird' - directed by Clint Eastwood - to be an absolute slog to sit through.
It's an interesting story no doubt, but it's told in the most mundane and boring way possible. I didn't know anything about Charlie Parker beforehand, which is what kept that aforementioned interest there. I'm no jazz fan either, but I am always happy to listen to it when it comes up though.
Despite that, I just couldn't get into the film itself. It just felt like it was 160 minutes (!) worth of the following on repeat: performance, drunk and/or depressed, performance, drunk and/or depressed etc. I didn't feel like I was learning anything about Parker and his life. I literally gave an internal cheer when the credits finally rolled around.
I do enjoy Forest Whitaker as an actor and he is probably the reason I'm not rating this lower. As for the rest, I don't even recall any of them - though I'm putting that down to what I've already noted, as opposed to the cast themselves who I'm sure tried their upmost.
Way too long, in short. As I said it's an intriguing person to make a film about, an around 100 minute production would've been perfect in my opinion. A shame, all in all.
— r96sk