Bird (1988 film)

Bird
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Written by	Joel Oliansky
Produced by	Clint Eastwood
Starring	Forest Whitaker Diane Venora
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Edited by	Joel Cox
Music by	Lennie Niehaus
Production company	Malpaso Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	September 30, 1988 (1988-09-30)
Running time	160 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9–14 million[1][2]
Box office	$2 million[3]

Bird is a 1988 American biographical musical drama film about jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker, directed and produced by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Joel Oliansky. The film stars Forest Whitaker as Parker, and Diane Venora. It is constructed as a montage of scenes from Parker's life, from his childhood in Kansas City, through his early death at the age of 34.

The film moves back and forth through Parker's history, blending moments to find some truth to his life. Much of the film revolves around his only grounding relationships with wife Chan Parker (Venora), Bebop pioneer trumpet player and band leader Dizzy Gillespie (Wright), and his influence (both musically and into the world of heroin addiction) on trumpet player Red Rodney (Zelniker).

Despite a lukewarm commercial performance, the film was critically well-received, with particular praise toward Whitaker's performance, for whom the film became a breakthrough. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the 46th Golden Globe Awards, while Eastwood won the award for Best Director. Cahiers du Cinéma ranked Bird at #5 on its end-of-year Top 10 List.