Bird

Pros: Charlie Parker's music, Jack Green's cinematography, Forest Whitaker's likability
Cons: screenplay (was there one? for so methodical a director, there must have been one)

The 1988 movie "Bird," produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, looks and sounds very good and has a very fine performance in the title role by Forest Whitaker as bebop inventor, saxophonist Charlie Parker, but is unsatisfying. The movie runs 160 minutes, ...

Pros: score, direction, cast, originality
Cons: story could be tighter

"Bird" is director Clint Eastwood's tribute to bebop jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker (Forest Whitaker). Although lengthy, and often dwelling on the more lurid aspects of Parker's life, it is an excellent film. Parker comes alive, as an artist...