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Bird on a Wire

1990

Action / Comedy

Plot summary


Uploaded by: FREEMAN

Director

Top cast

Mel Gibson Photo
Mel Gibson as Rick Jarmin
Goldie Hawn Photo
Goldie Hawn as Marianne Graves
Christopher Judge Photo
Christopher Judge as Cop at Cafe
David Carradine Photo
David Carradine as Eugene Sorenson
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
825.9 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 50 min
P/S 0 / 3
1.69 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 50 min
P/S 2 / 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Tweekums7 / 10

A good mix of action and comedy

Rick Jarmin, who in the FBI witness protection program, is working in a Detroit gas station under an assumed name. Things are going well until old flame Marianne Graves pulls up and recognises him. He calls the FBI to get relocated but learns his handler has retired. The replacement promises to help but quickly shows himself to be corrupt as he passes Rick's details to two corrupt ex-DEA agents; one who is still wanted the other who has just finished a fifteen year jail sentence thanks to Rick's testimony. The two men quickly turn up and Rick's boss is killed in the shoot-up; after that Rick ends up on the run with Marianne. There are a series of chases till the fleeing duo confront their chasers in a zoo.

This is a fun action comedy. The story is fairly simply but serves to provide a series of enjoyably chases and action sequences. This includes chases in cars, on motorbikes and in aircraft and action that features shooting, explosions and an impressive final confrontation in a zoo, complete with dangerous animals. The laughs come from amusing situations rather than forced gags for the most part... an early gag where Rick tricks his boss may be a little forced but it is also very funny. Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn have a good chemistry as Rick and Marianne. The villains played by Bill Duke, David Carradine and Stephen Tobolowsky are solid enough but get less screen time than one might expect. Overall this might not be a must see film but it provides sufficient laughs and action to make it worth watching if you want decent, not too extreme, action with plenty of amusing moments.

Reviewed by rmax3048235 / 10

Sometimes Amusing Chase Thriller.

There's nothing much that's really new in this film but it is diverting at times, if only because there is so much going on -- and at such a tempo.

Goldie Hawn is fluffy, feminine, and sexy. She wears her blond hair in a kind of lustrous mop with a lengthy cascade down her back. And, as usual, her slightly asymmetrical lips lend her a goofy appearance.

Mel Gibson isn't bad either. In fact, his best scenes involve his being scared half to death. He shakes and stutters magnificently. But what is this thing with his butt? Alright, alright, the ladies seem to love it but do the rest of us have to suffer through Mel's exposure?

Fifteen years ago, the rascally young Gibson character testified against some high-level drug dealers and was whisked off into a witness protection program, forcing him to leave Hawn at the altar. The gangsters are now out of the slams and they and their gang of goons are looking for Gibson. They've also framed him for a murder they committed, so the FBI is in on the case too.

Gibson has had a dozen jobs over the years and is now working as a humble auto mechanic in Detroit. That's where he is when Hawn pulls into the station for some gas. She recognizes him. The thugs have been watching her too, and they attack the gas station, causing the first of several formulaic slow-motion exploding fireballs.

The rest of the movie is one long interstate chase after another, with pauses at some of the places where Gibson has held previous jobs -- a farm, a hair dressing salon, a zoo -- that sort of thing.

There are one or two of the expectable auto chases (one through a narrow alley in Detroit's Chinatown),a helicopter chasing after a crop-duster's airplane, two motorcycles, and a foot chase through an improbable natural history display full of man-eating tigers, alligators, lions, and piranhas.

Neither Gibson nor Hawn shoot anybody. It's not that kind of movie. The bad guys are -- let me think -- killed in crashes of their own making, eaten by fish and lions, or electrocuted. Everyone runs around, shouting and shooting, or, in Goldie Hawn's case, screaming. It ends happily.

The pace is headlong and reckless. The characters are exactly what you'd expect. There is an upskirt shot of Goldie Hawn's barenekkid behind, which is one of the nicer moments. The most memorable of these shots appears just before the couple climb in through the 14th-story window of a convention where a buffet is available. They stop for a moment to hurriedly munch some shrimp and trade wisecracks before scurrying off.

I found it all pretty unimaginative or -- well, that's the wrong word. Rather, it's as if the writers had said, "Let's do a variation on a typical chase thriller, and let's try to make it different. How about if the final confrontation takes place in a zoo in Wisconsin? That's imaginative, isn't it? Does anybody know any jokes we can stick in?"

They missed the scene where a bullet shatters the giant glass aquarium and the fish and octopii flood out onto the miscreants.

Reviewed by ccthemovieman-16 / 10

The Good & Bad Of 'Bird On A Wire'

This was "cute" and "funny" the first time I saw it, but "annoying" on the second look. A big part of that was my pet peeve of hearing God's name used an exclamation all the time and Goldie Hawn was absolutely brutal in that regard. Every time she was in trouble, which was often, it was "Oh, God!, Oh, God!, Oh, God!"

Puh-leeze, stop with the bimbo blasphemy. I am so sick of people doing this, especially women who are the worst abusers and especially dumb blondes. Anyway, the profanity in addition to the above-mentioned, made this film deserve an "R" rating, not "PG-13." How many movies have we seen where that is the case? Parents, beware of films labeled "PG-13."

If none of this stuff bothers you in the least and you like a fun comedy-adventure then I heartily recommend the movie. You'll get a lot of laughs and entertainment out of this. Hawn and Mel Gibson are always in some kind of trouble and they are a likable couple to watch. This movie personifies both actors: Mel, the handsome macho guy with the sense of humor and Goldie the cutie who is smarter than she looks.... and not as innocent, either. She really likes to show off her butt in this film. It's nice, but the fanny jokes are overdone here.

The bad guys in the movie? The DEA, who else? That's Hollywood's most hated group, I think, even more than the military. Anyone who might takes drugs away from them is a definite enemy of movie producers, directors and actors!

In this weak-plotted film, our two "buddies" are chased all over the country and we viewers just go along for the bumpy and crazy ride.

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