Product Details

• Actors: Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron, Karen Young
• Directors: Alan Parker
• Writers: Jack Behr, Sandy Kroopf, William Wharton
• Producers: Alan Marshall, David Manson, Ned Kopp
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Portuguese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Georgian, Chinese, Thai
• Dubbed: Portuguese
• Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: February 15, 2000
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003L9CH
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,665 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Birdy" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Based on William Wharton's transcendent novel of the same name, this film is about many things: friendship, war, and, of course, birds. The framing device is an effort by a horribly scarred combat soldier (Nicolas Cage) to break through to his best friend, Birdy (Matthew Modine), hospitalized after seemingly being driven mad by fighting in the Vietnam War. Cage then flashes back to their boyhood, where Birdy, a canary aficionado, was considered the school weirdo but managed to be a solid companion nonetheless. Directed by Alan Parker, it works best as a coming-of-age story, but misses the bizarre psychological transferences of the book, in which Birdy imagines himself within the world of canaries he creates in his bedroom at his parents' house. Modine is fine as an out-of-it misfit enraptured by his own little universe. --Marshall Fine

Product Description

This is a 120 minute feature film DVD starring Matthew Mod ine, Nicolas Cage, and John Harkins.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful film about friendship and being "normal" July 31, 2003

By Daniel S. Russell

Format:DVD

I first saw this film in college, and I have never been able to forget it. Both Cage and Modine give outstanding performances at this early time in both of their careers. The intense and even intimate friendship they share is both touching and inspiring. I wish I were still that close with many of the friends who I thought would be "brothers" of mine forever. I'll admit that I am moved to tears several times in this film after dozens of viewings.

Peter Gabriel's soundtrack is haunting, as are many of the visual images. Yes, it definitely has one of the most "controversial" endings of any film I have ever seen. You and your friends will talk about this one for quite a while! Even if you hate the ending, don't let it ruin the rest of the film.

Spoiler: I think that at the ending Birdy is helping Al understand that his behavior -- flying and catatonia -- haven't been all that strange or even that inappropriate. When Al freaks out over his leap from the roof, he doesn't understand why. He's fine. So he simply says, "What?" It doesn't matter if the hospital orderlies catch them. What matters more is that Al might begin to understand how "normal" Birdy really is.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly and evocative movie of friendship and devotion! July 13, 2004

By Distant Voyageur

Format:DVD

?Birdy? gets my nod as one of the greatest and most compelling movies of all time in so many ways. While it is like many that focus on the effects of the war in Vietnam, this movie is the most unique story of friendship, the effects of military combat, and eccentricity like no other movie of the 1980s or ever for that matter.

Nicholas Cage and Matthew Modine star in ?Birdy? as two lifelong friends from the run-down industrial ghettos of Philadelphia where they have played baseball together and ?Birdy? has had a huge passionate obsession with birds throughout his life and has dreamed of being able to fly like a bird. However, the two friends are recruited into the U.S. Army and are involved in the fighting in Vietnam and when they return, both are horribly scarred. One has suffered physical wounds with face wounds while the other has mental scars (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and being driven mad from the horrors of fighting in Vietnam, has almost withdrawn into his own ?birdland? and acting like a bird and not responding to outside social stimuli. As a result, Birdy has been hospitalized in a decrepit mental institution. Now Al Columbato must try to get his friend Birdy to be able to emerge from his catatonic state if he wants to leave the mental hospital and return to a normal life. During all of this, we can be able to see the flashbacks into Birdy and Al?s past and see how ?bird boy?s? obsession with birds grew increasingly strong and started to strain his social life with his friend and others around him but yet see very compelling acts of bonding between the two unlikely friends and how they?ve gone through so much together even before the war.

The characters are among the most compelling I?ve ever seen in a drama movie ever. This might be considered a ?coming of age? movie but it?...s so much more than just your average teen angst movie. ?Birdy? delves into some of the strangest and most unique perspectives of obsessive people with their subjects of interests and the things that true friends go through in order to stay bonded forever. The photography is stunningly brilliant and stunning beautiful thanks to ironically, it?s relatively primitive filming technology that was used in filming it. The grittiness of the movie while it may be a bit irritating, gives this movie a strangely opaque feel and some of the scenes which are throughout this film are absolutely moving and will tug at your heartstrings. All of the scenes of the birds flying into the air are perfectly filmed and enhance the movie?s emotional quality even more. While this movie is very heavy in it?s bittersweet plot, there are some really smart and honest comedic elements that are really funny without detracting anything from it?s dramatic tone and the funnier parts make this movie ever more bittersweet. Sometimes I would go far enough to say that this almost has high amounts of both even though there is far, FAR more drama. ?Birdy? is bizarre, psychotic, happy, sad, dark, bright, and a whole lot of other positive things.

Director Alan Parker creates one of the most compelling movies of all time. While nothing could ever go wrong with this movie, his directing made it so much more powerful, moving, funny in odd ways, and yet very vivid on such high levels unparalleled. This movie centers on some of the more unattractive areas of Philadelphia (At least at the time, I?m not sure about today) like industrial junkyards, landfills, and run down neighborhoods, but centering on one like these areas makes this movie so much more interesting and from my standpoint, aims to dispel the notion that all poor areas are necessarily dangerous and crime-ridden. While it was centered on Philadelphia, this movie reminds me of what many areas of Chicago looked like during my childhood memories: Weed-ridden, extremely gritty, seedy, and depressed (Many of them have seen serious gentrification in recent years), at least at the time.

Nicholas Cage and Matthew Modine in their earliest days of their acting careers are absolutely amazing as Al and ?birdy?. The interactions between the two characters in the movie are absolutely realistic and really bittersweet. While not throwing a beating by any means at his later movies, I personally think that Nicholas Cage?s acting hasn?t reached the early pinnacle as on ?Birdy? but sometimes there?s the saying that it?s ?Never as Good As The First Time? and it surely applies here. Matthew Modine is the most compelling lead in this movie as his portrayal of Birdy is incredible, vivid, and believable. By the way, he?s the guy on the album cover of the soundtrack by Peter Gabriel which brings to mind the soundtrack.

The music along makes this movie really vividly bittersweet with really powerful background music that perfectly fits with the movie?s really obscure tone with songs like ?Under Lock and Key? and ?Close Up? which is actually expanded from the 50 second version on the CD and includes the chord progression of it?s parent track ?Family Snapshot? and it?s absolutely haunting and thought-provoking. Most of the songs on the soundtrack can be heard in the background if one listens carefully and it?s absolutely haunting and makes the various scenes even more compelling. What?s even more unique is how this movie doesn?t seem to rely on generic orchestra background music for a change. The haunting music at the beginning has the haunting eerie song ?Slow Water? mixed with the song ?Quiet & Alone? and combining the two songs makes it so amazing like no other movie opening theme.

?Birdy? wasn?t a massive hit in the USA due to it?s unconventional nature and lack of a ?formulaic plot? especially when ?Terminator? and ?Temple of Doom? were riding high, but this has become one of my favorite movies of the decade. If you can find this movie on DVD, then you MUST buy this ASAP. It may be a bit slow paced at first but it allows a lot of character development and allows you to know them very well and ?Birdy? will ultimately be one of the most rewarding movies you?ll ever see. It is intense without being violent or bloody, or even immensely depressing.

This is quite simply the most brilliant and evocative masterpieces of the 1980s and one of histories lost treasures. I could go for a very long time with this review but since there is only a limited space for reviews on here, I have no choice but to end it here. Read more ›

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Movie About Strength and Resilience October 28, 1999

By A Customer

Format:VHS Tape

A tremendous film that captures the coming of age of two men, one man who is psychologically mature but socially withdrawn and the other man, his opposite. Together they find and draw strength from each other in order to survive the traumas of their lives, from the simple yet deep traumas of high school to the essential trauma of how does a man survive in a world of death and chaos. Modine and Cage are excellent in these early roles, with Modine especially interesting to watch in comparison to his role in "Full Metal Jacket". Technically, the film is excellent as well with Peter Gabriel's score adding an emotional overlay to key parts of the film. It is hard not to be moved by his score as we look through the bird's eyes in its headlong rush towards death. Those few seconds of film perhaps encapsulate most fully the fate that awaits innocence at the hands of war and the need of every being to seek solace and commiseration from those close to the heart.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a word about the ending... April 17, 2000

By DANIEL J. ANTIL

Format:VHS Tape

I can't really add much more to the wonderful things already said about this movie, except perhaps to point out some wonderful scenes; like the intense scene where Birdy jumps off a scaffolding, and the quirky scene with Birdy and his date in the car. But, speaking of great scenes (the movie is full of them), by far the best scene in this or any movie ever made, as well as the best ending for a movie came at (what else?) the end. Of course, I'd love to tell you the ending, but that would spoil it for those who haven't seen it. Those who have know what I mean. It's a miraculous look at the lives of two friends, a great character study, and a powerful vehicle for both Modine and Cage. By the way, kudos to Peter Gabriel's musical score, and to the use of La Bamba for the ending, which was so perfect as an end song. Buy it! Rent it! Whatever. Just watch it!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I Believe I Can Fly February 14, 2004

By gonn1000

Format:VHS Tape

This sleeper and not very recent movie should get more recognition than it gets, since it`s a moving, well-crafted piece of film-making above most overhyped flicks around. It focuses the relationship of two friends, one (Nicolas Cage in one of his first roles) that has recently returned from Vietnam and "Birdy" (an excellent Matthew Modine), who is kept in an hospital due to (apparent) psychological disorder.
The pacing is slow (pherhaps a bit too slow during the first half), presenting Cage`s character visit to his friend in order to help him and some flashbacks that showcase their teenage relationship.

As the story unfolds, Birdy`s past is foreshadowed and the viewer comes across his passion, curiosity and obssession with birds, that starts to increase and soon reduces his bonds to other people and experiences.
Birdy has his own little world and soon gets stuck in it, and one of his few contacts with "common reality" is his only friend that struggles to understand his point of view.

Director Alan Parker manages to bring a deep, powerful and subtle movie that expertly deals with isolation, insanity, friendship, freedom, alienation and connection.
The story wisely avoids sappy and easy melodramatic fluff, delivering a strong and honest character study that lies in the range of its two leads. Modine, in particular, is utterly convincing as the fragile, confused and innocent Birdy, providing a compelling portrayal of a youngster that percieves his own peculiar universe.

This picture is also a stunning coming-of-age tale, avoiding predictable and tired cliches and presenting a unique, memmorable and sincere friendship between the two characters....
The slow pacing and the beautiful cinematography help the creation of a captivating, haunting and eerie mood to the movie, becoming weirdly unsettling at times.

"Birdy" has much to recommend and really carries a feel of its own, being a great cinematic experience for those who have ever felt "different", misunderstoodand and seem to be outside.
This is quality cinema. Highly recommended. Read more ›