Charlie "Bird" Parker had been a hero of Clint Eastwood's since childhood, and Eastwood, having been disappointed in such jazz biopics as YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, really wanted to make a true jazz fan's movie about the music. He cast Forest Whitaker as Parker, the legendary alto sax player, and Diane Venora as Chan, Parker's wife. The film shows how Parker, a genius who changed the face of modern music, was hampered and eventually destroyed by his appetite for women, food, and drugs. The two leads do a great job giving a recognizable human face to the characters' complex relationship. With wit and warmth, BIRD tells the story in direct and honest terms, avoiding all sentimentality. Eastwood's love of Parker's music comes across in the tremendous care that he and composer Lennie Niehaus took with reconstructing it, using Parker's original solos. Eastwood and cinematographer Jack N. Green also patterned the dark, moody look of the film after old photos of musicians who used to appear in jazz magazines. Music lovers will be thrilled with the result, and movie lovers will find plenty to engage them in this moving tale of a great man battling his demons. (2 hrs. 41 ...

Bringing John BerendtÂ’s international best-selling novel, MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, to the screen must have been a challenge. The book is essentially an anecdotal travelogue of the fascinating city of Savannah, Georgia. The filmmakers decided to add a character, John Kelso (well played by John Cusack), a writer from New York, whoÂ’s meant to represent BerendtÂ’s point of view. They also put most of the focus of the narrative on the murder trial of local millionaire socialite Jim Williams (the redoubtable Kevin Spacey). This is slightly problematic in that Kelso, a mere observer, now becomes the central character of the film. But director Clint Eastwood (straying from his usual milieu, and, atypically, not appearing the film) and writer John Lee Hancock still manage to capture the quirky spirit of the book. TheyÂ’re greatly aided in this regard by the lush images of cinematographer Jack N. Green and the detailed work of production designer Henry Bumstead, who create just the right atmosphere for the small city and its environs. The strong cast, including actual Savannah residents such as sparkplug transsexual the Lady Chablis, makes the film an enjoyable idyll in a strange yet welcoming place. (2 hrs. ...

Clint Eastwood's BRONCO BILLY is a funny and poignant depiction of one man's quixotic devotion to the code of the Old West and traditional American values. Billy (Eastwood) leads his ragtag crew of performers as they travel the countryside, putting on their bare bones Wild West show for sparse crowds. Billy's not an easy man to work for, and he and his bunch barely make a living, but they are pursuing their dreams. When Antoinette Lily (Sondra Locke, in a somewhat shrill performance), a snooty heiress abandoned by her husband, joins the group, their luck seems to run out, and Billy has to find a way to keep them together. As in THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES, Eastwood plays the patriarch of an ethnically diverse makeshift family. It would be easy to dismiss Billy, to laugh at his corny devotion to outmoded values and old-fashioned entertainment. Like Eastwood himself, Billy's not even a real cowboy. But, gradually, the audience comes to admire him for his fierce devotion to his crew and his insistence on showing the "li'l pards" in his audience not just a good time but also a dream of striving to live life as who they want to be. ...

Clint Eastwood's HONKYTONK MAN is certainly one of the actor-director's gentler works. The low-key period film takes place during the depression, with Eastwood starring as Red Stovall, a struggling country singer on the verge of his big break. Red's been invited to audition for the Grand Ole Opry, but as the film opens, he's a long way from success. He shows up at his sister's Oklahoma home drunk, in a stolen car, and suffering from tuberculosis. His sister ends up sending her son, Whit (Kyle Eastwood), along with Red to Nashville to make sure he gets to his audition in one piece. The interaction between Red and his 14-year-old nephew is the focus of the film. Eastwood again plays a rather unreliable type. Red is a bit of a scoundrel, and he and Whit get into quite a bit of trouble on their way to Tennessee, as Red's health deteriorates. At one point, they pick up a teenage prostitute (Alexa Kenin) who begs them to take her along to Nashville so she can pursue a singing career. Eastwood's film captures the period and the desperate straits of his characters perfectly while maintaining a light and humorous tone. (2 hrs. 3 ...

A tough cop and a wisecracking private investigator are forced to work together on a case involving the mob. "City Heat" provides an entertaining combination of action and comedy. (1 hr. 37 min.)

FIREFOX is an entertaining cold war fantasy piloted by actor-director Clint Eastwood. When the Russians develop a Mach 5 jet with thought-controlled weaponry, the free world needs someone to go and steal it from them in order to maintain the balance of power. Mitch Gant (Eastwood) was once a hotshot pilot and speaks fluent Russian, so despite his mental instability (he's suffering from posttraumatic stress as a result of his experiences in Vietnam), he's the man for the job. Gant is really the only character Eastwood has played who doesn't have a problem with authority. His bosses want a job done. They're on the side of right, so he does it. Along the way, he's aided by some Jewish dissidents (including a scientist played by Nigel Hawthorne) who are really a lot more heroic than Gant. Essentially, Eastwood has adapted an espionage thriller by Craig Thomas into a fun action film. The jet itself is, well, neat, and the final dogfight between the two Firefox prototypes is quite thrilling. The effects were produced by John Dykstra's firm, which also worked on STAR WARS, but Eastwood's own down-to-earth sensibility keeps things grounded in some kind of reality. (2 hrs. 16 min.)

Clint Eastwood plays tough-as-nails marine sergeant Tom Highway in HEARTBREAK RIDGE. Highway is tough, but he's got his work cut out for him when he's assigned to whip a platoon of unruly new Marines into shape. He faces his own, often humorous battles with his ex-wife (Marsha Mason) and with his by-the-book commanding officers but still manages to teach his troops discipline and combat tactics. Eventually, their feelings toward him shift from resentment to respect, and all his lessons are put to use when the Grenada invasion unexpectedly brings the platoon into battle. (2 hrs. 10 min.)

A girl kneels over the grave of her murdered dog, praying for a miracle, while off in the distance, a man rides toward town on a pale horse. Clint Eastwood's PALE RIDER was the filmmaker's first Western in nearly a decade. It finds a pleasant balance between the mystical revisionism of films such as HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and the traditional Western. Eastwood stars as the Preacher, who wanders into a dusty California town and tries to rescue a community of gold prospectors that is being terrorized by the local corporate mining operation, which is strip-mining the land. He's taken in by Hull Barrett (Michael Moriarty), who lives with Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgrass) and her 14-year-old daughter, she of the murdered pooch, Megan (Sydney Penny). The Preacher is something of a blend of Eastwood's Man with No Name and the title character of George Stevens's SHANE. The story and treatment are straightforward and entertaining, and the strong performances draw the audience in. The Preacher remains a mysterious character, but in the end, as he takes on the evil mining corporation's hired guns, it's impossible not to root for him. (1 hr. 55 min.)

As he comes closer to apprehending a vicious killer, a police detective slowly realizes that he has much in common with the man he is hunting. A top-notch thriller. (1 hr. 57 min.)

In this slick political thriller, an emotionally disconnected, aesthetically refined master thief is out for one final score before retiring to his treasure-lined hideaway. But during a robbery at a mansion near Washington, he witnesses a bizarre sex murder involving the President of the United States. As the president's slimy handlers frantically cover the crime up, the career criminal--and only outside witness--becomes the Secret Service's prime target. His relationship with his estranged daughter hangs in the balance. Adapted from the best-selling novel by David Baldacci. (2 hrs.)