Only flying is better (1970)

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Movie
German title Only flying is more beautiful / Birds can kill too
Original title Brewster McCloud
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1970
length 105 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Altman
script Doran William Cannon
production Lou Adler
music Gene Page
camera Lamar Boren ,
Jordan Cronenweth
cut Lou Lombardo
occupation

Only flying is more beautiful (alternative title Birds can kill too , original title Brewster McCloud ) is an experimental American film from 1970 directed by Robert Altman .

action

In the first scene, a lecturer gives his students a lecture on the behavior of birds. Then the film jumps to Owlish Brewster, a young man who lives alone and hidden under the Astrodome in Houston , Texas . His dream is to build special wings with which he can fly through the air like a bird. The lonely Brewster only gets support from Louise, a beautiful but mysterious woman who suddenly appears one day. She has scars on her shoulder blades and is apparently a fallen angel. Louise urgently warns him not to lose his virginity , as this could destroy his flying instincts.

While Brewster is working on the wings, a bizarre series of murders takes place in Houston, in which the victims were strangled and covered in bird dung. Haskell Weeks, an influential man in town, makes sure that respected San Francisco investigator Frank Shaft is called in on the case. Shaft soon leads his investigation into Brewster, who, thanks to Louise's help, escapes from the policeman. Louise, at the wheel of a Plymouth Road Runner , escapes Shaft while on a chase. Shaft is seriously injured in the chase and then commits suicide. Meanwhile, Brewster cheats on Louise when he has sex with Suzanne, a pretty usher at the Astrodome. Suzanne takes a liking to Brewster, but does not want to leave her bourgeois life for his adventurous flight plans. She senses that Brewster could be behind the murders and betrays him to the police.

While a horde of police officers enter the Astrodome and try to arrest him, Brewster takes his now completed wings and takes them off into the air. Although he can escape the police, he crashes and falls to the floor of the astrodome. Finally, a circus enters the Astrodome, whose costumed members are played by the cast of the film. The ringmaster names the cast of the film, while Brewster remains crippled on the ground.

background

Robert Altman filmed Only Flying Is Better right after the success of his war satire MASH . In MASH had that here already acted as lead actor, starred Bud Cort still in a small supporting role. Before Altman discovered it for himself, Brewster McCloud's script had wandered unsuccessfully from studio to studio for several years, although Bob Dylan had been interested in it at times . The film shows a “pubescent fantasy of omnipotence”, which is at the same time a return to Greek mythology and the characters of Icarus and Daedalus . Altman plays here "virtuoso with set pieces from different genres and with a wink of the eye dismantles icons of American mass culture".

Only flying is more beautiful contains numerous allusions to film history , for example to the works of Federico Fellini as well as Altman's films made up until then. For example, Altman cites the classic film The Wizard of Oz , as Margaret Hamilton - in her famous role as the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz by Judy Garland alternates red shoes - wearing in this film also red shoes. The hardened cop Shaft's character was a parody of the Bullitt character portrayed by Steve McQueen two years earlier .

Reviews

When it was first released, Only Flying Is Better was received by critics and audiences in a rather mixed and puzzled way. Robert Altman still called the film one of his favorite works, and the film was a niche success at colleges during the 1970s.

At Rotten Tomatoes , Only Flying Is Better , based on 18 reviews, has a positive rating of 83%. The Lexicon of International Films writes: “Deliberately confusing, surrealist satire, formally more indebted to cartoons and the French Nouvelle Vague than to current film conventions. Early, bizarre directorial work by Robert Altman. ” Prisma says:“ Robert Altman's early work is a multi-layered satire on the American dream. This is one of the most original works of the master of the 'counter-film'. Anarchic in its profound narrative structure, the work also fascinates through its actors. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brewster McCloud at Turner Classic Movies
  2. ↑ Birds can also kill on ARD
  3. ^ Brewster McCloud at Turner Classic Movies
  4. ^ Brewster McCloud at Turner Classic Movies
  5. ^ Brewster McCloud at Rotten Tomatoes
  6. ↑ Only flying is more beautiful. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 5, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ Birds can also kill with Prisma