Poster from TMDB
OverviewAI-generated
Birdy is a 1984 American war, drama, and action film directed by Alan Parker and produced by Alan Marshall. The movie features Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, Karen Young, and Bruno Kirby in the cast. Peter Gabriel composed the score, while Michael Seresin served as director of photography and Gerry Hambling as film editor. Columbia Pictures and A&M Films were involved in production, with TriStar Pictures and Netflix handling distribution.
The narrative is set in Philadelphia and a jungle, focusing on the Vietnam War. Filming locations included New Jersey, California, and Philadelphia. The film has a runtime of 120 minutes and was released in 1984, with subsequent dates in 1985. It received the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix and was named a National Board of Review Top Ten Film.
The production had a budget of 12,000,000 and generated 1,400,000 in revenue. Review scores include 7.4 out of 10, 84%, 7.131, and 7.2. The soundtrack was released under the title Birdy. The film is available via video on demand and is presented in English.
Synthesized by Vinony from 38 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.1Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam War. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through?
Cast
- Matthew Modine as Birdy
- Nicolas Cage as Sergeant Al Columbato
- John Harkins as Doctor Major Weiss
- Sandy Baron as Mr. Columbato
- Karen Young as Hannah Rourke
- Bruno Kirby as Renaldi
Themes
- vietnam war
- lunatic asylum
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Key facts
- Directed by
- Alan Parker
- Screenplay by
- Sandy Kroopf Jack Behr
- Based on
- Birdy , by William Wharton
- Produced by
- Alan Marshall
- Starring
- Matthew Modine Nicolas Cage
- Cinematography
- Michael Seresin
- Edited by
- Gerry Hambling
- Music by
- Peter Gabriel
- Production companies
- A&M Films , Delphi III Productions
- Distributed by
- Tri-Star Pictures
- Release date
- December 21, 1984 ( 1984-12-21 ) (United States)
- Running time
- 120 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $12 million
- Box office
- $1.4 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- action film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Main subject
- Vietnam War
- Director
- Alan Parker
- Cast member
- Richard Mason
- Composer
- Peter Gabriel
- Producer
- Alan Marshall
- Production company
- Columbia Pictures
- Cinematographer
- Michael Seresin
- Narrative location
- Philadelphia
- Filming location
- Philadelphia
- Duration
- 120
- FilmAffinity ID
- 671252
- Distribution format
- video on demand
Show 7 more facts
- publication date
- 1985-09-19
- film editor
- Gerry Hambling
- title
- Birdy
- distributed by
- Netflix
- soundtrack release
- Birdy
- set in environment
- hospital
- review score
- 84%
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
~22 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Birdy is a 1984 American drama film based on William Wharton's 1978 novel. Directed by Alan Parker, it stars Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage. Set in 1960s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the film focuses on the friendship between two teenage boys, Birdy (Modine) and Al Columbato (Cage). The story is presented in flashbacks, with a frame narrative depicting their traumatic experiences serving in the Vietnam War.
Parker initially turned down an opportunity to direct, believing that the complex book could not be successfully adapted for a feature film. The project resurfaced in 1982 when A&M Films, a subsidiary of A&M Records, acquired the film rights and commissioned Sandy Kroopf and Jack Behr to write the screenplay. Upon reading the script, Parker returned as director, and the film continued development at Tri-Star Pictures. Principal photography began in May 1984 and concluded in August of that year. Filming took place on locations in Philadelphia and Santa Clara, California. The film is notable for being the first to be partially shot with the Skycam, a computer-controlled camera system created by Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown. The score was composed by Peter Gabriel.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Birdy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.