Backdrop fallback

Bird

Bird

Share

Bird

""There are no second acts in American lives.""

1988

2h 41m

6.8(362 votes)

Drama

Music

Overview

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.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

Malpaso Productions

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker

Charlie 'Bird' Parker

Diane Venora

Diane Venora

Chan Parker

Michael Zelniker

Michael Zelniker

Red Rodney

Samuel E. Wright

Samuel E. Wright

Dizzy Gillespie

Keith David

Keith David

Buster Franklin

Michael McGuire

Michael McGuire

Brewster

James Handy

James Handy

Esteves

Damon Whitaker

Damon Whitaker

Young Bird

Morgan Nagler

Morgan Nagler

Kim

Arlen Dean Snyder

Dr. Heath

Creative team

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: Joel Oliansky
Produced by: Clint Eastwood

Similar Movies

On Promised Land

On Promised Land

In the 1950s, the Ween family live and work on land that was promised to their family. The landowners, the Appletree family, use the promise of the land to keep the family working for them, putting the transfer of the land in doubt.

Bad Lieutenant

Bad Lieutenant

While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.

Return to Earth

Return to Earth

The story of Buzz Aldrin, the second astronaut to walk on the moon, and the problems he had after his return to Earth, including the breakup of his marriage, a nervous breakdown and his hospitalization for psychiatric problems.

Mister T.

Mister T.

Warsaw, Poland, 1953. Mr. T., a renowned writer, lives in a hotel and earns his living by giving private lessons.

I.Q.

I.Q.

Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by pretending temporarily to be a great physicist.

Rob Roy

Rob Roy

In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honour.

Mona Lisa Smile

Mona Lisa Smile

Katherine Watson is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Determined to confront the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them, Katherine inspires her traditional students, including Betty and Joan, to challenge the lives they are expected to lead.

Jhoomer

Jhoomer

A spoiled bride mistreats her husband, but a chance encounter with a kind village girl in the hills ignites desire, jealousy, and a story of love, class, and destiny.

Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel

The life of Camille Claudel, a French sculptor who becomes the apprentice of Auguste Rodin and later his lover. Her passion for her art and Rodin drive her further away from reason and rationality.

Khashaba

Khashaba

Biopic on freestyle wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav who won a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, making him the first athlete from independent India to win an individual medal at the games.

John Scofield Uberjam Band Live At The Jazz Fest Sarajevo

In early July of 2012, Scofield released, after ten years of record pause of ensemble Uberjam, a new and long-awaited album called Uberjam Deux...

Medeski Martin & Wood - Leverkusener Jazztage

Medeski Martin and Wood at Leverkusener Jazztage - Germany 12 November 2013 Tracklist: - 1969 - Seven Days - Black Elk Speaks - Amber Girls - Nostalgia in Times Square

Incognito - Leverkusener Jazztage

29. Leverkusener Jazztage, 01. November 2008, Germany Tracklist: - Who Needs Love - Talkin Loud - Deep Waters - N.O.T. - When the Sun Comes Down - Colibri - Step Aside - Reach Out - Nights over Egypt - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - Everyday - I Hear Your Name - Always There

The Hudsucker Proxy

The Hudsucker Proxy

A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.

Joe Zawinul & Trilok Gurtu - 25 Festival Jazz Frankfurt

Joe Zawinul & Trilok Gurtu duo amazes everyone! The 25th Frankfurt Jazz Festival in 1994 hosted this superhero duo.

Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

Last week Freddie Mercury would have celebrated his 60th birthday. To mark the occasion, celebrity fans Robbie Williams, McFly and Mike Myers talk about what they think made him so special. Photographs, home video footage and rarely heard interviews with the man himself are featured and some of Freddie's close friends and family reveal the man behind the magic.

Grace

Grace

A 1950s Southern teen questions her faith and sexuality on the eve of her baptism when urged to repent her feelings for her best friend.

High and Low

High and Low

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness

As a seasoned homicide detective, Thomas Craven has seen the bleakest side of humanity. But nothing prepares him for the toughest investigation of his life: the search for his only daughter Emma's killer. Now, he is on a personal mission to uncover the disturbing secrets surrounding her murder, including corporate corruption, government collusion and Emma's own mysterious life.

The Meanest Man in Texas

The Meanest Man in Texas

Convicted murderer Clyde Thompson receives the death penalty for shooting two men in Texas in 1928. When the governor spares his life, Thompson gains a reputation as the meanest man in the state while working hard labor in prison.

Recommended Movies

Born to Be Blue

Born to Be Blue

Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."

The Doors

The Doors

The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

Rocketman

Rocketman

The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.

Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue

A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.

Ray

Ray

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.

Neverwas

Neverwas

Zach Riley is a psychiatrist, who leaves a job at a prestigious university, to take up a job at the privately run mental institution, Millwood. What he doesn't reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson, spent many years of his life.

Lust for Life

Lust for Life

An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustrations with failure. Supported by his brother, Theo, the tormented Van Gogh eventually leaves Holland for France, where he meets volatile fellow painter Paul Gauguin and struggles to find greater inspiration.

Enter the Void

Enter the Void

This psychedelic tour of life after death is seen entirely from the point of view of Oscar, a young American drug dealer and addict living in Tokyo with his prostitute sister, Linda. When Oscar is killed by police during a bust gone bad, his spirit journeys from the past -- where he sees his parents before their deaths -- to the present -- where he witnesses his own autopsy -- and then to the future, where he looks out for his sister from beyond the grave.

Tideland

Tideland

Because of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.

Bad Timing

Bad Timing

Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, their friendship quickly turns into a deeply passionate love affair that threatens to overtake them both. When Milena ends up in the hospital from an overdose, Alex is taken into custody by Inspector Netusil.

Control

Control

The story of Joy Division’s lead singer Ian Curtis, from his schoolboy days in 1973 to his suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980.

Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy

A rebellious teenager, future Beatle John Lennon lives with his Aunt Mimi in working-class mid-1950s Liverpool, England. Mimi's husband suddenly dies, and John spies his mother Julia at the funeral. Despite Mimi's misgivings, John intends to have a real relationship with his mother. Julia introduces him to popular music and the banjo and, though a family conflict looms, young John is inspired to form his own band.

Greta

Greta

A young woman returns a lonely widow’s lost purse, leading to an unlikely relationship between the two — until the young woman discovers the widow might not be all that she seems.

Light Sleeper

Light Sleeper

John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something more acute — and dangerous — when he re-encounters an old flame while a string of seemingly drug-related murders rocks the city.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

Better Man

Better Man

Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.

To Write Love on Her Arms

To Write Love on Her Arms

The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.

Motherless Brooklyn

Motherless Brooklyn

New York City, 1957. Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, tries to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend, armed only with vague clues and the strength of his obsessive mind.

Mo' Better Blues

Mo' Better Blues

Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.