Watched this on the color TV last night, surprised I'd never seen it before.
Forest Whitaker gives an amazing performance as Charlie Parker in a role that allowed him an opportunity to really show the breadth of his acting skills. Diane Venora is equally good as his half Jewish wife.
Clint Eastwood continues to amaze me as a director. He has a great talent for setting up an atmosphere and letting his actors just run with it, seemingly without too much interference or overly micromanaged instruction. For a really talented actor it must be a pleasure to work with a guy like that.
Also, the music was awesome. They used actual recordings of this musician who revolutionized jazz in the 40s and 50s and really made it believable that Whitaker was playing the instrument (at least to a non-sax player). It's not that I could sit there and say "yeah he actually played that scale" but the way it was presented, I didn't really notice.
The only drawbacks were that the film was a little long (around 160 minutes) and the script tended to drag sometimes. A lot about Bird's self-destructive behaviour and not enough about why he was so important as a musician.
I've got the movie DVRed and may watch it again tonight.
Bird
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Re: Bird
round midnight is a better flick, but Dexter is not my fave player. his tone is a little over-salacious....but better movie than Bird Imo.Dr_Phibes wrote:life on the edge?Mikey wrote:Watched this on the color TV last night
Check out 'Round Midnight' with Dexter Gordon, it came out just before Eastwood's film. Same feel, better movie I think.
not sure how you make "that movie" anyway. fuck, i saw Sonny Rollins suck live. It was awful. i had to spend an hour outside alone, holding my head. it was bad. I also saw McCoy Tyner blow the world apart at a shit club in Denver....i mean, he played the solo from Mister PC note for note. it was amazing. he says: "this is a song by mister john coltrane...."and just blows it up, note for note.
ridiculous.
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Re: Bird
Over-salacious as a sax player or an actor 
Nice film I thought - it always stuck with me for some reason. I don't think you can make 'that film' at all, in any musical genre - if I'm reading you right. I saw 'The Joe Meek Story' recently and it's the same as any other. I was all geared up for it and it and they took one small aspect of his life, turned it into a major premise and it reduced everything else. Unless it's a documentary - the format just doesn't allow for it.
Nice film I thought - it always stuck with me for some reason. I don't think you can make 'that film' at all, in any musical genre - if I'm reading you right. I saw 'The Joe Meek Story' recently and it's the same as any other. I was all geared up for it and it and they took one small aspect of his life, turned it into a major premise and it reduced everything else. Unless it's a documentary - the format just doesn't allow for it.