Reviews & Ratings for
Birdy (1984)

In a 1960s working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a teenage boy nicknamed "Birdy" befriends his next-door neighbor Al Columbato, and relates to him his fascination with birds and their ability to fly. The two begin pursuing Birdy's hobby of catching pigeons and caging them in a large, wooden aviary that he has built outside his parents' home. One night, they climb atop a refinery building, where Birdy hangs on the ledge to catch the pigeons roosting on it. Birdy loses his grip and falls several stories, but lands on a pile of sand. Slightly dazed, he tells Al that during the fall, he flew. After Birdy is hospitalized for minor injuries, his parents dismantle the aviary.

Birdy concedes to Al's wishes of pursuing another venture. After they purchase a 1953 Ford and restore it, Al's father registers the vehicle. Al drives Birdy to an Atlantic City boardwalk, but they are arrested the next day after Mr. Columbato reports the car stolen. After bailing the boys out of jail, Mr. Columbato sells the vehicle. Birdy later confronts him, claiming that the car was not his to sell, and refuses a sum of money offered to him on principle.

Birdy builds a new aviary in his bedroom and purchases two canaries. He names the female Perta and the male Alfonso after his friend. Upon returning to school, Birdy encounters a classmate, Doris Robinson, and Al encourages him to ask her out on a date. At the prom, Birdy dances unenthusiastically with Doris, leaving her confused and humiliated. Afterwards, Doris drives him to a secluded spot, where Birdy lightly rejects her sexual advances. Birdy returns home to his bedroom and lies down naked in the aviary. In a semi-conscious state, he expresses that he wants to die and be born again as a bird. He then imagines himself flying like a bird around his room, throughout the house and outside in the neighborhood.

Upon graduation, Al enlists and Birdy is drafted into the United States Army. During the Vietnam War, Birdy is placed in a mental hospital after being missing in action for a month. A flashback reveals that he was the sole survivor of a helicopter crash. Al is hospitalized in the same facility, his face heavily bandaged for injuries that he sustained from an exploding bomb. Major Weiss, a military doctor, informs him that, although Birdy's injuries are relatively minor, he has not spoken since he was found. Al speaks to Birdy at length, but grows increasingly frustrated by his lack of response. He is then elated when Birdy smiles at a joke he makes. Weiss dismisses the response as dissociative behavior.

Al suspects Birdy of feigning insanity to hide from the world, and expresses to him that he too wishes to hide due to his own injuries. Birdy unexpectedly responds by telling Al that he is "full of shit". Al alerts Weiss to Birdy's response, but when the doctor arrives, Birdy remains silent. Not seeing any progress, Weiss orders Al to leave, but Al pushes the doctor aside. After Weiss flees, two orderlies are sent in to subdue Al, who fights them off and takes Birdy to the roof of the hospital. Birdy rushes to the ledge, raises his arms and jumps off the side of the roof as if he were about to fly. Al runs over to the ledge and finds Birdy on another level of the roof perfectly fine.