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starring: Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Samuel E. Wright, Keith Daviddirected by: Clint Eastwood
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301313612
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 6301313615
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: July 01, 1991
Running Time: 161 minutes
Sales Rank: 16739
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: September 30, 1988
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Clint Eastwood's moody, evocative direction and Forest Whitaker's strong, sensitive performance are the chief proponents to recommend an otherwise muted biopic of '40s jazz legend Charlie Parker, who fell victim to his chemical excesses and convinced the doctor who pronounced him dead that he was a good four decades older than he actually was. The film doesn't try to assign clear blame for Parker's demons, though the era's racism is addressed unflinchingly. Clearly a labor of love, Eastwood's movie structurally attempts to ape the angular music of bebop itself (there are flashbacks within flashbacks, which gets a little confusing), but doesn't quite capture the smolder of the period. Diane Venora registers strongly as Bird's wife, Chan, the woman who can't rescue Bird from the abyss into which he peers. --David Kronke
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Honoring Charlie Parker
This is a fantastic movie with lots of special features. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of Forest Whitaker as an actor, Clint Eastwood as a director or Charlie Parker as an artist (which I am, am and am now). It's just a great movie that honors a man who greatly influenced jazz and influenced all modern music. You'll see some important history from that era.
Rating: - Bird movie DVD
so pleased to find this great old classic and in such good condition for gifts!
Rating:  - Dark
I love this film and the review that follows is for the DVD quality only. Some have said that the DVD is a little dark in places. Others have claimed that the film was meant to be dark because of its subject matter. Well, to say that this DVD is a little dark in some scenes is a gross undersatement. It is so dark that you cannot see any of the people in these scenes. I have the laserdisc of the film and it is no where near as dark as this DVD. This DVD needed to be recalled!! It is a joke ... Read More
Rating: - First Class
First Class Film Making by Clint Eastwood. You can tell by the quality of this film that Clint is a JAZZ Lover Extraordinary!!!!!
Dark presentation which really detracts from the film but had it been less difficult to view i would have given it a 10 out of 5 !!!!!!!!!!! I am a little miffed why this was allowed to be released with such a dark presentation especially after the professional attention given a film before release!!!!!!!????????
Rating: - Essential Ornithology
Some time after Unforgiven in the 90s I began to revise my thoughts about Clint. I had been used to him being the prototype of the mindless wordless macho or the rightwing law and order guy. Hard to take him seriously. Then he became somebody else. I heard that he had made a film about Charlie Parker in the late 80s, but I never found that one. Well, now my daughter found it for me somewhere in Shanghai. I watched as immediately as possible. Alone, as none of my women could be moved to share my interest. ... Read More
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