Brewster McCloud

This movie is a million things at once. Some may find that as a bit of a turn-off, but then that's what a cult classic film is really about, isn't it?

Brewster McCloud is a reclusive boy who lives in the basement of the Houston Astrodome. He has a short job as chauffeur for a miserly old man. He is looked down upon for his meek appearance and his quiet manner. He dreams of building himself a set of wings and using those to fly away from all this suffering.

That's how the film starts, anyway. There are three basic stories in the movie: (1) Brewster McCloud's coming-of-age story, (2) the parallel metaphor of Brewster McCloud's dream of flying away from worldly sorrow, and (3) the murders of people who mistreat Brewster and who all die with raven droppings on their faces.

The real irony of this film is how the character of the Lecturer keeps pointing out similarities between the characters and certain birds, and yet the ending comes around, and we learn how unlike birds we are. There is so much information about birds, you wonder if this was an adult remake of an after-school special.

Overall, I'll have to use the word most of the other reviewers have used: quirky. There are things which are very different. There is the Pythonesque beginning where, as a woman sings the National Anthem and the credits roll, she stops, tells the band to try again in the right key, and the credits restart as well as the singing. There are small bits such as when a police officer holds up a lighter when his partner says there's only one way to know for sure if there's marijuana in a cigarette. And there is my favorite character, the Lecturer, who lectures the audience about the behavior of birds while he himself starts making strange noises and begins pecking at seeds...

Bud Cort plays Brewster McCloud. He's a very strange young man who lives in the Houston Astrodome and is building a huge set of wings so he can fly. The movie is about him and his VERY odd assortment of friends and family. And how about the killer running around Houston strangling people and leaving bird droppings on them?

As you can see this is a very strange film. It's unlike anything director Robert Altman has ever done. The film isn't perfect--it's too long, the weirdness wears you down at times, some of the humor is real sick and there are characters that are just disgusting (Stacy Keach) or too flat out weird, even for this movie (Jennifer Salt)! And what's with the circus ending (entertaining as it is)? Still I love this film.

The story rambles all over the place but I was able to keep track of it. Altman packs the movie with plenty of bird imagery and references. He also pays homage to other films also--most notably "The Wizard of Oz" (right up to having Margaret Hamilton in the cast and check out how Salt is dressed at times). This really doesn't pull together in any way but it IS fascinating to watch. Also the cast is great--with one exception--Michael Murphy. He's miscast and looks miserable. But everybody else is perfect. Particular standouts are Cort (very good in a difficult role), Shelley Duvall (who usually annoys me to no end) and Sally Kirkland (looking absolutely stunning). Also there's a very cute injoke--there's a quick shot of the poster for "MASH" in Duvall's apartment!

This film was overshadowed by Altman's "MASH" in 1970. Also, the studio hated it and threw it away. Now, however, it is rightfully considered one of the best films of its decade. I highly recommend this--but not for everybody. If you like a linear plot and easily defined characters, stay away.

Brewster McCloud is a delightful early comic `trip' of one of the best living American directors – Robert Altman. It was made the same year as Altman's masterpiece MASH and got somehow overshadowed by it and probably deservedly so, though Brewster McCloud undoubtedly is one of the most `lunatic' or weird, but at the same time most original Altman's films.

The film's story is centred on a very peculiar young boy Brewster McCloud (Bud Cort) who lives in a fallout shelter of a Huston's Astrodome and whose main passion in life are birds, an obsession that came so far that Brewster dedicates most of his time to developing of wings that will allow him to fly like a bird. He is regularly visited by a pretty young girl, who is in love with him, but because of Brewster's obsession with his dream project, she gets much less attention from him than she deserves, the fact that makes her go on her own sticking to imaginary sexual intercourse every time she visits him.

Meanwhile a chain of strange murders occurs in the city with all victims found with birds' droppings on them. In order to investigate it a police officer (Michael Murphy) who seems to be very obsessed with his looks, arrives from San Francisco, joining the group of peculiars that is already there. The scene is set for the most bizarre, hilarious and very entertaining black comedy. 8/10

This film, televised in Denmark in the mid-seventies, made a great impact on me. The story of Brewster and his dream of flying was wildly funny and poignant. And why it has become so obscure makes me wonder. I have been hoping for an opportunity to see it again. It is truly a great film as is the instructor Robert Altman!

I saw this film long ago, when it first came out in the theaters. One of the things you have to remember is that Altman's style (now copied so much it has become a cliché.. of the odd camera angles, the everyone-talking-at-once dialogue and such) was, at the time, quite new and much different than anything else out there. Thirty years later, this film is still amazing to watch. Brewter McCloud is more like a cartoon, something to be viewed for pure entertainment value, even the dark parts (and there are many of those). Bud Cort (Harold and Maude) is delightful, and the supporting cast (many of whom are Altman regulars) is great......I think that people with little or no sense of humor will not like this movie, but those raised in the post-South Park era will enjoy its wonderful portrayal of neurotic characters...as only Altman can deliver 'em.