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...

It's hard to talk about a film as unparalleled as Brewster McCloud. It creates its own world out of element from the world we know so well. It plays with everything, including its self-consciousness about being a movie. It weaves together many threads into a lovely, heart-breaking snapshot of a moment in America.

The situation: The world has gone mad. The wicked witch is wearing the Ruby slippers, and has become a beloved social icon. Who wouldn't want to fly away?

Enter Brewster McCloud, a young man who plans to do just that. He is hiding out in the basement of the Astrodome in Houston, working on building his wings. The kind you wear. Like Icarus did. His plan is all feeling, very focused, but doesn't take him past the immediate "How?" He is under the tutelage and protection of a sort of Bird-Goddess/Angel (played by Sally Kellerman) who walks around wearing absolutely nothing but a red plastic raincoat. When she takes it off, you can see the long, curving scars where her wings were removed. She also drives around in a small red car whose license-plate reads "BRDSHT".

Lest you think I've given away too much, let me assure you this barely scratches the surface. Who is responsible for the wave of mysterious murders? What of the presidential candidate who's all over town, is he an assassination target? What is the connection with the horny young girl (Shelly Duvall, in her first movie role - I believe she was discovered by Altman when he attended a party at her house during the location shoot in Houston) who comes to visit Brewster but can't ever really get his attention?

A wonderful, under-rated film worth seeing.

Bud Cort is the title character, an eccentric oddball secretly living in the Houston Astrodome who believes he has figured out how to fly like a bird. He is protected by a guardian angel (Sally Kellerman) with clipped wings. He then becomes a suspect in a series of murders of people who are found strangled and covered in bird droppings.

An aggressively quirky counterculture time capsule, many modern viewers will be turned off by the bizarre story and outre characters. I happen to like it, and rank it among Altman's best. I enjoy the cast of weirdos, from Shelley Duvall (in her debut) as a stock-car driving tour guide who falls for McCloud, to Michael Murphy playing a San Francisco "supercop" named Shaft who sports turtlenecks and piercing blue eyes, to Margaret Hamilton as one of the murder victims who is found wearing ruby slippers. Stacy Keach is unrecognizable under heavy old age make-up, playing a miserly parody of Howard Hughes.

Here's an interesting story I read shortly after watching this oddball experiment of a black comedy. The conceiver of this film, Doran William Cannon, had written the film during the 1960s while trying to make his name as a unique filmmaker during said time. Fast forward to the tail end of said decade and after a lot of hustling to get his project off the ground, it gets bought by new rising director Robert Altman who took the source material lightly and revamped it into his own version. What follows is Cannon publicly discussing his frustrations with his vision being changed against his wishes and the tough realization he had to encounter when giving your babies away to someone else.

Why am I bringing this up? Because this is one of the strangest experiments of a motion picture I've seen in quite some time, even after watching a few of Altman's 70s works following the death of Shelley Duvall (who made her screen debut here). Imagine trying to tell the story of a reclusive bird obsessed human who wishes to fly all the while becoming the chief suspect in a series of bird-related murders. There's no way you could take the premise to heart unless it were in someway tongue in cheek, and fortunately Altman elevates Cannon's material into a bizarrely surreal meta commentary on bird related activity and human compulsion, blending reality with surreality. This is accompanied by the editing which is as bombastic and jumbled as the intentionally scattered events we're witnessing on display.

The best way to describe Brewster McCloud is part dark comedy, part experimental mystery, part human reflection, part romantic ingenuity and part musical nightmare. Considering that well known record / film producer Lou Alder was behind this, as well as John Phillips of Mamas & Papas fame, some internal American music is laced underneath the film's surface and the numerous actors on screen. Bud Cort in particular is as adorably intriguing as he is disturbingly odd playing Brewster, and seeing notable Altman collaborators Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, John Schuck, Bert Remsen, Duvall and more act in ordinance with one another so naturally keeps the film grounded in a believable Houston setting while still keeping the pacing brisk and cluttered all at once.

In all honesty, I can't not recommend checking this film out at least once. Regardless of your tolerance for experimental oddities in film, there's something so innately imaginative about this bizarre concoction that must be seen in order to be believed. It's not everyday that a film about a human being with the obsession of flying getting caught up in a crimewave can be so inspiring for all the right and wrong reasons. Whether or not Cannon's original material was better or worse than Altman's version, this kind of work is unlike anything out there and anyone curious enough to check it out will be pleasantly surprised in more ways than one.

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.