Bird

Forest Whitaker the title character, sax player Charlie Parker, with wife Chan (Diane Venora), after his release from hospital following a minor crisis, recalling his obligation to friend and trumpet legend Dizzy "Birks" Gillespie (Samuel E. Wright), in Clint Eastwood's Bird, 1988.

Director Clint Eastwood and writer Joel Oliansky extrapolating from real events, their subject the saxophone virtuoso Charlie Parker (Forest Whitaker) admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York, clashing with a patient (George Orrison), his wife Chan (Diane Venora) and a doctor (Arlen Dean Snyder) discussing extreme measures, in Bird, 1988.

Hamilton Camp the hustling "Mayor" of Manhattan's West 52nd Street, meets Keith David as "Buster" Smith (a real person!) who recalls early days in Kansas City with the young Charlie "Yardbird" Parker (Damon Whitaker, nephew of the star Forest Whitaker), in Clint Eastwood's bio-pic Bird, 1988.

Director Clint Eastwood fashions an intriguing opening, introducing his star Forest Whitaker, then the first of many performances using original recordings by the subject, Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, in this case a Lester Young number he often played, in the 1988 bio-pic Bird.

Saxophone great Charlie Parker (Forest Whitaker) builds a career in jazz while fighting drug addiction in Clint Eastwood's Bird (1988).