Two 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?
Acting
Modine's physical transformation is genuinely unsettling.
Direction
Parker intercuts war trauma with actual bird footage—somehow works.
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI bird POV shots that still feel immersive.
Director
Alan Parker
Matthew Modine
Birdy
Nicolas Cage
Sergeant Al Columbato
John Harkins
Doctor Major Weiss
Sandy Baron
Mr. Columbato
Karen Young
Hannah Rourke
Bruno Kirby
Renaldi
Nancy Fish
Mrs. Prevost
George Buck
Birdy's Father
Dolores Sage
Birdy's Mother
Pat Ryan
Joe Sagessa
Maud Winchester
Doris Robinson
Marshall Bell
Ronsky
Elizabeth Whitcraft
Rosanne
Sandra Beall
Shirley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Modine kept a bird on his shoulder throughout filming to maintain the physicality; crew reportedly hated it.
The film adapts William Wharton's novel, itself written by a WWII veteran processing his own trauma through fiction.
US
